The Illusion Of Normal: Everything Is NOT As It Appears To Be.

Imagine for a moment that I was bi-racial, half African American. Genetics being what they are, it is theoretically possible for me to appear totally white. Imagine the comments that could be made in front of me because people didn't know WHO I was. This is the closest analogy I can think of for my situation. People who know me now, or see me in a picture, don’t know WHO I am. They only know the illusion of who I appear to be. To a certain extent that can be said for anyone. However, I feel like I am a more extreme case. Take a look:

This is from 10 years ago. I have continued to struggle with my weight since then, just not to that extreme, typically I have a 30 pound swing. Right now, I am down almost 60 pounds. While I am not skinny, I guess I am finally what you would call normal weight (less than 10 pounds overweight according to “the charts”). But this is still a huge (excuse the pun) part of who I am, how I see myself and how I perceive the world. The interesting part of this dating website is that they ask many questions about weight in their initial survey, so you can see what people think about the issue. Unlike racism, which is socially unacceptable, you can say that you wouldn't like someone based on their weight. So what do I do with information like this??

My initial reaction is to cross him off of my list of possibilities. How do fat people annoy you?  That is absurd.  However it occurs to me that perhaps I am being as narrow as I am assuming he is. It was a yes or no question, maybe fat people annoy him because they remind him that he has put a few pounds, it could be as simple as that. I try really hard not to fault people based on their preferences for a certain body type, attraction is a very individualistic thing. However, how do I weed these people out? Even though I hope to never be heavy again, I don’t want to be with someone for whom physical perfection is such a priority. So, I guess I should be thankful that people honestly answer these questions.  However, I feel like a fraud somehow when this kind of stuff randomly comes up in conversation. I AM this person you're talking about being disgusted by. Also, what if it never comes up naturally in conversation? Is their some screening questions I can ask to get a definitive answer so nobody is wasting their time?

Thoughts? Feel free to post back on Facebook if you don't have a google account.