Competition for the most deformed self image.

As a supply I work in a variety of institutions and one thing seems to be ever present. I will sit in the staffroom for 30 minutes reading my book and I will be able to hear groups of people talking. More than likely one or other of these groups will be talking about their weight. Far enough you think but it always seems like a competition. I sat in the staffroom of a nursery I work at quite often. I know the staff and i would like to think they like me. One of the girls who works there is large. She's actually really stunning and one of the most attractive people working there but she wants to diet.
Now I have no issue with her dieting. It's totally her choice. I wouldn't like anyone to think that just because I am ok with my weight that I judge anyone who isn't. Anyway this women was talking about a diet she was planning to try called the Cambridge diet (http://www.cambridge-diet.com/). It's basically a diet where you don't eat you only have 'formula food' which is basically nutrients added to water. She has tried the diet before but didn't realise the effects it would have. After two days i was working on my own with her and she was so faint that she couldn't work. Bear in mind we work with children, it's not in any way safe, so she had to eat a banana (a big no no). This time she was planning to take a few days off as apparently after a week the dizziness goes and the pounds just drop off.
The other women she was talking to, all between a size 10 and 14 I'd guess, were all talking about their dislike of their bodies and about how much weight they needed to lose. I was sat there thinking what the fuck! How deformed must these womens self images be? Honestly
the next time a skinny person complains about how fat and hideous they are I'm just going to lift my top up and show them my stomach. I'm that fed up
I sometimes think that maybe i spark these conversations. The women look at me and think well at least I'm not that fat but I need to lose more weight so i don't end up like her. And when i'm feeling really paranoid, come on we all get it, i think that maybe they want me to overhear so that i will realise just how big they see me if they think that their size 12 frame is too big, either that or maybe they want me to join in so they can find out that i'm doing to combat my weight problem. Answer I'm not, simple as that. Your inane conversation will only persuade me that i should have that piece of chocolate. And what really surprises me is that i've gone from being just like them.
I always worried about my figure and i'd always be on some diet or another. I couldn't really have been more than a stone above the majority of my friends yet i felt awful. Now i'm a lot bigger than the majority of people and i'm more confident with my body that most women. I was shocked to hear that a large percentage of women will not actually let their partners see them naked. This is not just women who have only just started dating, that i can understand, this is women who have been with their partners for years. What do they do? How is that possible? I will admit that I was shy when me and Rich first started dating but after a few months i couldn't have cared less.

I do have one little victory. I have talked to this women about my weight and I'd explained that I was happy and finally confident, I had a boyfriend who loved it and had been offered modeling work etc. I thought nothing of it to be honest but the next day she came in to work and said that she'd thought about me that night. She thought that my confidence was great and had wished that she could be the same. I was so surprised and very pleased that I had made her think about it. Society is so negative to even an once of fat that no one ever has the chance to become confident. Most guys I talk to find confident women really attractive regardless of their weight so why not try to help women not make them feel like they are not worthy of anyones attention.