She may not (quite) be Gwyneth Paltrow but the Derby Telegraph’s Wendy Roberts knows exactly how the star felt in her latest film role, donning a “fat suit” to give the illusion of piling on the pounds.
Gwyneth appears in Shallow Hal but Wendy, a slimline size 12 in real life, spent a day in Derby city centre pondering life as a size 22 – and found her fame in the pages of the Telegraph.

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Admit it. We women are never happy with our weight. Whatever our shape and size, females always believe there is room for improvement. And I’m no different.

I have never been beanstalk thin – then again I have never been heavily overweight.

But then I was asked to experience something completely new. I had to wear a ‘fat suit’ – to balloon my body from its normal size 12 to a 22. Then, I had to go shopping.

Would people stare? How would I cope if I see someone I know? Would I fit through shop doors? These were some of my fears as I prepared to show off my new shape.

I was actually dreading going to town. And having a few days to ponder over my mission – I was even more nervous when the day arrived.

Between nibbling on my nails, forewarning my family about my latest task and trying to find something to wear over the flabby suit, the days went by in a flash.

What I had not really considered was how I felt about being big. Ladies who are already large live with it day in day out. But for me, it was going to be a real learning experience.

I had set myself a few tasks while I was in town. The first was walking across Derby’s Market Place.

People were quite clearly looking at me waddling along. And I dare not make eye contact with my audience.

Some stared, others waited for me to walk by and then turned their heads in disbelief.

I started to blush. I stepped up my pace, but it is not even easy to walk quickly when you are carrying extra weight.

There was no way of hiding my size.

My next task was going into Birds and buying some cakes, to see how people would react.

I joined the queue and watched people watching me. Waiting to be served I could not help but overhear one of the sale assistants talking to a woman next to me.

“Sorry about the wait,” she smiled innocently.

Then she started to blush. It seemed saying the word ‘wait’ embarrassed her, then it embarrassed me.

I wanted to see people’s faces when I tucked into my mid-morning snack.

Just as soon as I sat down, I started feeling like the centre of attention again.

“Have you got one for me,” shouted one passer-by, just as I took a huge bite.

“Surely you’re not going to eat them all,” he joked.

Blimey. This guy was sure I was going to scoff a boxload of cakes and that is probably because he assumed I had the room to put them all away – and then still eat two packets of sandwiches from Marks and Spencer.

I offered him a cake, and he walked over to talk to me.

I could not hide my secret any longer. I could not bear to think that this guy thought I was really overweight.

I confessed to wearing a fat suit.

“No way,” said Mick Bull. “I like my ladies well-built,” he smiled.

A part of me felt relieved to have told a complete stranger that I was only pretending to be fat. Then I was annoyed at myself for caving in and not keeping up the act – which, after all, was my challenge for the day.

I revealed my true size for selfish reasons.

My padded figure was obviously convincing and I am ashamed to say that I am that vain it did bother me.

Before getting back to the office, there was just time for me to make a couple of promises.

One, I will never, ever moan about the size of my bum. Two, I’ll try never to stare at a fat person again…

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