Weight Review

Recently, I had an occasion to review my weight over the course of my life, throughout all the various ages and stages.  From six to twenty one, I suffered through various degrees of overweight.  When I was twenty two years old,  I lost fifty pounds in three months.  Except for work, I saw no one, went nowhere, ate nothing much!  Until suddenly, there was a completely new thin me!   The shocker was, however, that my mind could not see that.  The number of the scales and the size of the dress both testified to that weight loss and petite size,  but I could not comprehend it in my brain!  In fact, it took me the better part of a decade to adjust my psyche so that I had some mental notion of my true size and weight.

 I maintained that weight loss for the next twenty two years, actually.  There were some ups and downs due to four pregnancies during that time,  but aside from that, weight was not an issue.

Then I hit a five year period of time when I gained weight.  There are various reasons for that. One was an unavoidable sedentary lifestyle because of driving, studying, sitting, and seminary, all of which contributed significantly.   There were also several  huge stress factors during those same years, not to be specifically named here.  Add to that the chemical changes of menopause, and you have a perfect recipe for gaining weight.  So since then,  in the past fifteen years, I have returned to my former fuller figured self.

Then, when I had all that sorted out, I asked myself this question: And at which points was I the happiest in my life?  It was immediately obvious to me that my happiness had no correlation whatsoever to my weight!  (which was a complete surprise).

 I also realized something else which was fascinating.  At this point in my life,  when I see myself in a mirror ( (as rarely as possible),  I do not see a terribly heavy person.  I probably have the whole body image issue in reverse of the one I had in my twenties.  Rather than seeing what is actually there, now all I see is the image of a person I am quite comfortable being!  

And that's not a bad thing!