In other words, the controlling factor isn't whether or not someone does well in high school, but what decisions they make during and after high school.    My parents weren't stupid enough to give bad advice like "high school is the best years of your life," but they were still a classic example of peaking in college.  They weren't hot, but my mom was thin and had nice hair, my dad had a mustache and strong sense of personal style (and no rosacea).  There's no reason that they couldn't have just ended up being a gray-haired wrinkly version of their wedding pic, but instead my mom blames "thyroids" and children for getting fat and having bloated skin that looks like shit--as if she were incapable of talking to the doctor about hypothyroidism symptoms from the get-go like you're supposed to.  My dad went the Rod Fleming route--started out with a mustache and nicely parted hair, ended up clean-shaven with a fat face and lazy haircut.  He doesn't even have male pattern baldness like his dad does, he just got lazy about his appearance.  These are the kind of idiots who use the "wait till you have kids" line.  On a side note, I'm so fucking glad the guy at the convenience store thinks my boyfriend is my dad, because I'd rather be associated with a perfect-looking handsome guy with nice hair like my boyfriend than with my actual parents.  Being associated with people like that implies that I'm not a shitlord about appearance. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, but the impression I get--especially from firsthand experience being on the track team in high school--is that your parents were enrolled in athletics where being fit was mandatory and they weren't given the option of being lazy and making bad choices.    Also, I took too long to post this in another thread, but you should hit your mom back if she hits you, you'll get a much better response than if you accept it.  School bullies work that way.  My dad got a lot more respectful when I was violent back.  Him getting mad and hitting me is the reason I'm such a pinko anti-corporal-punishment when CringeAnarchy commenters post about how if parents hit their kids more the kids would be nicer people.  My dad hitting me didn't make me a nicer person, it made me more likely to use violence as a response--and I know where he got it from, because his parents were 1950s-style assholes who just happen to be much, much nicer to their grandkids.   Reading those comments is like reading "you deserved your rape."