The reason I never took it off was too embarrassing to admit until one joke from a friend changed everything.
An oversized hoodie, olive green and faded at the sleeves, stayed on my body through humid Mumbai summers that most Mumbaikars can’t survive in a T-shirt.
Though nobody questioned me about it. Maybe people just assumed it was my fashion choice, or I liked it too much, or they simply didn’t care. No one found out the reason, because the actual reason was too embarrassing to admit.
I was hiding from my manboobs and my big fat belly.
What the hoodie was actually doing
Almost every morning, I had the same uninteresting routine. Stand in front of the mirror, try several T-shirts, look at how they fit around my chest and belly, take em off, and jump on to the same hoodie.
Every single day, almost for years. Even if I wore a T-shirt underneath, I would cover myself with the hoodie.
The hoodie worked more like armour for me because nobody could see the shape of my body. Not in photos, not at family gatherings, not even my parents at home.
I told myself I just liked oversized clothes. That was the story I told everyone, including myself, for longer than I’d like to admit.
The moment that actually broke it
It was not a serious health problem or a doctor’s visit, but it still hit me harder.
A friend, without thinking twice, joked, “Bhai, is that hoodie glued to your body or what?” Another friend laughed. I giggled along with them too. But that same night, I sat there overthinking longer than I wanted to.
I realized I had been wearing that hoodie for years because I only wanted to avoid looking at my chubbier body. I had built my entire wardrobe and my whole week around avoiding my body.
Why this kind of hiding feels easier than fixing it
Avoiding the mirror is easier than facing reality. Wearing something loose is easier than dealing with why you need it to be loose. That’s the trap.
Every day you hide yourself, it feels like relief at that time. But it’s really just deferring the same discomfort to tomorrow, with interest added on.
I know now that this wasn’t really about the hoodie. It was about my habits and not having a plan I actually followed consistently.
Every time I’d tried to “eat healthy”, it was random, unclear, something I would do for some days and then quit after 2 weeks. So hiding felt safer than trying and failing again.
What actually changed things
It was nothing fancy or complicated, just a clear, actionable fat loss protocol I didn’t have to think much about every day. One page with no confusion that I could follow even for months without torturing myself.
It actually changed things for me because I stopped seeing “healthy eating” or “losing fat” as something I had to keep starting and stopping, which we call yo-yo dieting.
It didn’t fix everything overnight, but it gave me something solid to hold onto, instead of another oversized excuse.
The hoodie is still in my closet
I’ve still kept it. Not to wear it now, but to remember it as a close memory.
Some days I still see it stuffed among the other clothes, and I remember the version of me who needed it to go out in public, even during summer.
I don’t feel shame looking at it anymore. Just a quiet reminder of how far one honest decision, followed daily, can actually shape you.
Regards,
Fitness HN