I’m 5’1” so a real shorty.
Until I got pregnant with dd late 20’s I was fairly consistently around 7 stone, having always been naturally very slim. Ate what I wanted which included junk but I was much more active at this point in my life as this was before becoming disabled too. I ran 4-5 times a week, took 2-3 aerobics type classes most weeks, swam most weeks. I also didn’t drive then so walked a lot plus active sex life.
Heaviest, 14 stone - yikes! Just realised that’s DOUBLE what I was in my 20’s! This was in the immediate aftermath of car accident which left me disabled (although it wasn’t picked up straight away), and I had my first major mental breakdown partly as a result of this too, and my asthma & eczema flared up badly too (probably stress response). So I was inactive, depressed, eating too much and mostly crap and on meds that mess with weight (steroids, antidepressants, strong painkillers).
I eventually went to ww and lost 2 stone with them, I’ve lost a bit more since but I’m still too heavy health wise.
But I have severe ocd so when I’m very ill I’m not allowed to “diet” as it can crossover into eating disorder territory apparently.
Also I now have a complicated “relationship” with my eating habits as I tend NOT to eat when anxious/unwell mentally and to be eating more when I’m better mentally which means those close to me tend to now actually be relieved when I’m heavier as to them it indicates I’m doing better mentally.
I’m only eating once a day at the moment anyway and yet still hovering around 11.5/12 stone I think - I don’t have scales but the clothes which fit when I’m around that weight are what’s fitting me now. But I’m also housebound and very inactive at the moment. Partly mh but partly pain.
2 points I was happiest with my weight rather contrarily, in my 20’s when I was just happy generally and after losing the weight with ww.
Partly pleased with the weight loss but partly other things that contributed to my confidence then. I stopped worrying I was too fat to be thought attractive because I had some romantic interest that boosted my confidence and I think also because I was doing relatively well at that time with the ocd so I was socialising more etc
Weight alone doesn’t define you and shouldn’t be the only thing that makes you happy/unhappy.
A few friends/family actually opened my eyes with some discussions we had. Some of them are very slim naturally but are frequently criticised and disparaged about this and also others who like me are overweight and similarly criticised.
We all were approaching 40 and they were saying to me they’d decided to just stop paying heed to the critics. It made no difference to their weight anyway, so all listening to them did was get them down.
We started noticing that we all had people in our lives who were at either ends of body size who were happy, confident and looked fantastic! They didn’t worry about being seen in swimwear or shorts, without make up etc and just lived their lives.
I’ve been happier weight wise since I decided to wear what I like that’s comfortable, appropriate for weather/situation and I think suits me/my personality.
Interestingly although my weight didn’t significantly change I started getting loads of compliments and some people thinking I had lost weight.
Now I know it makes no difference on the health side and I’ll need to address that at some point (although my bp, cholesterol etc are all absolutely fine) but it’s helped the happy/confident aspect.
I'd be very happy weight wise if I could lose another 2 stone and be around 10 stone which would still be overweight but closer to a healthy weight without being unachievable for me I think.