When Joshua Lim, 23, was younger, his friends and relatives would make fun of him for being too skinny.

'I had nicknames like 'Scrawny Josh', and 'Teck Ko (Hokkien for bamboo pole) Lim',' said the student.

When he was in Secondary 1, Joshua was 165cm tall and weighed 45kg.

His skinny frame stuck with him all through Secondary School.

Joshua said that he was the butt of numerous jokes. 'It was mostly harmless teasing, about my frame... even the bigger girls could beat me at arm wrestling,' he said.

Although the teasing may not have been malicious, it left its mark on him.

'When you hit puberty, you get very concerned about the way you look,' he said. It took two years in National Service for Joshua to learn to be happy with the way he looked.

Aside from the fact that he put on some weight during his NS stint, he also found out that big did not mean better.

'I learnt that the biggest guys weren't always the ones who could run the furthest or the fastest or carry the most weight.'

While Joshua still wants to put on more weight, he is no longer as bothered as before about being small.

Dr Daniel Fung, chief of the department of child and adolescent psychiatry at the Institute of Mental Health, said that it is common for teenagers who do not fit in to feel awkward.

'Anyone who looks different will get teased. The most imporant thing is for the teenager to still feel comfortable with himself and to feel loved and cared for.'

Dr Fung also said that the impact of teasing or low self-esteem can be blunted by having a good support network.

This article was first published in Mind Your Body, The Straits Times on Mar 12, 2008.