Quote Originally Posted by sunrise View Post
The comments here have been extremely helpful to me already. Thank you all!

The reminder that people will comment on my weight, no matter what, is something I really needed to hear, I think. It's not right, and, really, people should mind their own business, but it happens. It's something I'll have to deal with whether I am racing my bike, or just going about my everyday life. There's bound to be comments, and it's probably not possible for me to avoid them completely. But, it is possible for me to change how I react to them, and, in particular, how much I let them affect my life.

After reading the responses here, I am considering writing a letter to the camp director, or possibly the organizing body that runs these camps. I don't think I'm courageous enough to include my own story, but I think the way that the weigh-ins were run could be potentially damaging to others at camp too. I don't think that weighing a bunch of teenage cyclists in front of each other, posting the list of weights publicly, and commenting on weight of specific athletes is helpful for anybody, really, but I know that they needed to get that information. I think I'd suggest that they weigh each of us individually, don't post the list of weights, don't comment about weight, and/or provide individuals the option to opt-out of weighing in. I might just be over-sensitive to this issue though. What do you all think?
This brings back memories! My ballet teacher got the brilliant idea to weigh each of us in front of the class. How awful is that!? In my case, no one from my dance class went to school with me, so even though it (getting on a the scale) caused huge anxiety, I got on, thinking, at least it would be contained to this place. Wrong! One of the girls was the cousin of a girl in my class. I went to school the next day, and she announced my weight (I was over 100 lbs. Everyone else was under 100) to everyone. It was humiliating. I never told my mother that was the reason I wanted to (and did) quit ballet. In hindsight, it was a great decision, since even trying to get back into it for fun as an adult was harmful to my body image. I can't imagine what I'd feel like if I kept at it through puberty (did you see "the Black Swan"!).

I think writing the letter would be cathartic. Probably if this guy knew what you've gone through from what was probably an off the cuff remark would be an eye opener to him, and may help some other women. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt that he didn't know he was in dangerous territory, and had not meant you needed to lose 30 lbs.