Self confidence
13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl is the story of a girl as she grows and learns about herself through the eyes of her weight. From the early stages of her life, she is self-conscious and doesn’t wish to show neither her body nor tell her weight to anyone, as she doesn’t believe she is beautiful because of it. She learns to love herself and that she is beautiful no matter her weight through the course of the book.
Love and family
Elizabeth, the main character, doesn’t love herself, which is why she starts dieting. She is married to her husband, Tom, who really adores her for how she looked when he first met her. Her family is also proud of her, no matter her size. Elizabeth doesn’t realize how blessed she is before she loses everyone that loves her and needs to learn to lover herself.
Health
Health connected to morbid obesity is also a theme discussed in the book, as Elizabeth’s mother, her only known parent, dies as a course of it. Elizabeth has to reevaluate her life and her health to make sure she doesn’t end up as her mother, especially as she is heavily burdened from her mother’s death and doesn’t wish for anyone else to feel the way she felt.
