Chelsey, 13, Student
Mom and sister harass her about her weight
5’3” and 170 lbs.

Chelsey says that her mom and her sister verbally assault her about her weight and that it’s taking its toll on her. She says that her mom and sister’s constant barrage of weight slurs is discouraging her from losing weight. She wants to lose weight, but she won’t commit to an exercise regimen that will allow her to succeed.

WHAT DOES YOUR MOM SAY TO YOU ABOUT YOUR WEIGHT?
She sits there and calls me “fat.” Other times I just sit there and walk away. When she gets fed up with me, she’ll call me “lazy heifer.” She’ll call me fatso, or “you’re so fat and lazy.” That makes me feel bad and cry sometimes. It really gets me down and I wish that she would stop it.

WHAT DOES YOUR SISTER CALL YOU?
She calls me “fat ass” and “fat bitch.” My sister calls me fat pregnant beast and my brother calls me ogre of the forest. Sometimes I get to the point where I pin my sister down because she calls me the nastiest names.

HOW DOES YOUR MOM AND SISTER’S NAME CALLING MAKE YOU FEEL?
It’s kind of hard when you’re sitting there thinking about all the negative things your mom is telling you. I go to school and think about what she says. It’s hard to get motivated to lose weight when I hear so much negativity at home.

WHY DO YOU THINK YOU’VE GAINED WEIGHT?
My real dad doesn’t claim me. He calls Shalee all the time and sends her $50 for her birthday. People at school talk about how nice their dad is or how much fun they had with their dad. I last saw him 7-8 years ago. He lives in Maryland. When I was 2, I saw him and locked myself in bathroom. It makes me less active because I sit at home depressed.

WHAT’S YOUR WEIGHT GOAL?
I’d like to get down to 110 pounds. I’m making an exercise program in health class, and I hope I can lose some weight with it. I’m not sure why I’m not losing weight right now. I haven’t eaten a lot lately. I’m just not active enough.

WHAT DO YOU EAT IN A TYPICAL DAY?
I don’t eat as much as my mom does. I don’t eat as much as she says. I sometimes give my food away because I can’t finish. I couldn’t eat anything the last couple days. I even threw up a salad. For breakfast, I have an English muffin with cheese, egg and ham at school with chocolate milk. At lunch I have a cheeseburger. For dinner, it’s whatever my mom cooks. I’ll have a yogurt after school for a snack. I don’t eat a dinner-sized snack like my mom says. Dinner is a pork chop and mashed potatoes. My favorite food is Chinese. I get sweet and sour chicken and some chow mein. My favorite dessert food is a chocolate cake.

WHAT DO YOU THINK WOULD MAKE YOU HAPPIER?
I’d be a lot happier if my mom and sister stopped harassing me about my weight. I’ve been doing a lot of exercising at school. We do push-ups, curl-ups, crunches and a lot of exercising. Even though she doesn’t think I do.

WHAT GRIEF DO YOU GET AT SCHOOL?
I don’t get much grief. There are a lot of people who are a lot bigger than I am, so they don’t say anything to me. But I still wish I looked better. I’d love to look like Angelina Jolie.