Basic Trope: Character who is thin reveals that they used to be fat.
- Straight: Alice, a thin woman, reveals that she used to be fat.
- Exaggerated: Alice, a rail-thin supermodel, reveals that she used to be considered "morbidly obese" by her doctor's standards.
- Downplayed:
- Alice reveals that she recently lost 15lbs.
- Alice, a pro athlete and fitness model, reveals that she used to be of average build and physical capability.
- Justified:
- Alice was on an effective weight-loss plan.
- Alice was ashamed of being fat, and that gave her motivation to lose weight.
- Inverted:
- Alice, who weighs a healthy amount, reveals that she used to be unhealthily thin due to being anorexic.
- Alice, a fat woman, reveals she used to be thin.
- Subverted:
- Alice tells people she used to be fat, but when she shows a picture of herself at that time, she doesn't look fat at all. Alice just has a warped self-image.
- Alice loses weight, but she doesn't successfully keep it off.
- Double Subverted:
- Except that she photoshopped that picture to destroy the evidence.
- After another attempt, she keeps the excess weight off for good.
- Parodied:
- Alice's fat self is played for comedy.
- Alice's fat self is a stick figure.
- Alternatively, all the characters in Alice's Flashbacks are literal stick figures which may or may not include Alice herself.
- Alice, a petite 4'5'' (1,35 meters) girl, was once as wide as a house.
- Alice has been a living skeleton all her life and somehow she managed to be fat in her youth.
- Alice, who is quite hefty, says she has lost weight. To prove it she shows a photo of herself from yesterday!
- Alice used to be five pounds heavier, and bursts into tears whenever it is mentioned.
- Zig Zagged:
- Alice claims that she's lost weight, but old photos show that she was just as fat. More recent photos, however, show that she did lose weight for a while.
- Alice was Hollywood Pudgy as a child, which drove her to anorexia as a teenager. After entering therapy and recovering, she deliberately gained weight in college order to prove to herself that being Hollywood Pudgy again wouldn't be the end of the world. This helped her to get over her weight issues, and now she maintains a healthy weight by healthy means.
- Alice used to be inactive and visibly overweight, until she decided to train and built some muscle mass. As a result, she is now built like a powerlifter, so her overweight isn't so obvious anymore.
- Averted:
- Alice has maintained a thin figure for her whole life.
- Alternatively, Alice is still fat.
- Enforced: Martha, Alice's actor, was fat herself during seasons 1 and 2 and the executives demanded that Alice make a Continuity Nod to that era.
- Lampshaded:Bob: Wow, Alice, you used to be fat. I mean, really really fat like a submarine.
Charlie: Woe, woe, hey, you shouldn't say that! Since when were submarines fat? - Invoked: Alice's mom, Karen, tries to help Alice go on a diet.
- Exploited: Claire uses the fact that Alice used to be fat to lower Alice's self-esteem.
- Defied: Alice refuses to lose weight because she is Fat and Proud.
- Discussed: "Don't worry, Melissa. I bet that mean old bully used to be a fat chick when she was younger."
- Conversed: "I bet the writers just made her past-self fat to garner sympathy points, either that or make a bunch of fat jokes. I don't know which."
- Deconstructed:
- Alice lost all that weight owing to severe problems with self-esteem. She's now at a healthy weight, but honestly can't get herself to believe it.
- Alice lost all the weight due to peer pressure and wanting to impress a shallow guy. She got friends and the guy, but now she feels like a hollow, fake, unhappy version of her past self.
- Alice resorted to extreme measures to lose weight. She successfully lost the weight but developed physical or mental health issues due to abusing her body to lose weight.
- Reconstructed: Alice eventually gets over her self esteem issues and learns to be happy with herself the way she is, feeling better socially and physically, as well as mentally thanks to the help.
- Implied: Alice, a thin woman, opens a closet to pick out clothes... but for some reason, along with many other kinds of clothing, we see 5XL jeans in said closet.
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