When Jesse Alejandro Cottrell started fielding unsolicited comments about his body, he gained a new perspective on what he had lost.
A couple years back, my friends and family started congratulating me for finally losing weight, which weirded me out. I hadn’t known that anyone was rooting for me to lose weight in the first place.
I wasn’t even sure at first that they were talking about my weight. A good friend would say something like, “Wow, Jesse you’re looking great these days,” or a cousin would tell me, “You’re lookin’ so good in that shirt.” Vague compliments that I was happy to accept, even if I wasn’t sure what they were talking about.
It wasn’t until I visited a particularly blunt-talking friend in LA that I realized what was behind all this flattery. “Finally got rid of that potbelly, huh?” he said, as he slapped my stomach like an unruly teenager who’d gotten their act together.
That shook me. Because it felt like I’d lost a part of myself I’d never even been aware of. Don’t get me wrong, I knew I’d lost some weight. But I’m 6 foot 3 inches, so I didn’t think anyone else would notice me losing a few pounds.