In her late elementary and early middle school years, there was nothing like her hearing it's time for "back-to-school clothes shopping." After dragging out in the August heat, her thighs rubbing against the in-seams of her polyester shorts, Lil' Hilde entered THE PRETTY PLUS SECTION in Sears, located by the Mall exit and right across from the THE HUSKY SECTION for boys. It was a tiny section; four or five carousels with a range of drab-colored blue or black polyester pant

Diet culture was pretty intense back in the 70s and 80s and you learned the sh*tty diet phrases young. By 12 years old, Lil' Hilde had memorized her mother's two diet magnets that adorned the refrigerator. The fat smiling pig told Lil' Hilde to "Don't be a Pig." The other slogan warned her that if she let anything fattening touch her mouth...she was doomed to keep it on her hip area foreeeeevvvver. By the time she turned 13, Lil' Hilde was a member of a weight loss progra