Are you happy with your weight/body?

[weightsaway]

I’ve struggled with my weight almost my whole adult life. Even as a teenager I would swing wildly between a bit waif-like to 1 stone overweight and then in my late 20s, I went up to 17 stone and then wavered around the 15 stone mark for years. I’ve recently lost 4 stone and am now a whisker away from being in a normal weight range but weight and food/portion control is something never far from my mind.

Most of my friends have always appeared to have stable weight but I was surprised when chatting recently to discover how many women ‘want to lose a few pounds’ or who dislike what they perceive to be a flabby tummy or whatever. I would look at them and think they looked a perfectly healthy size/weight so I was surprised to find out a few people have the same mental hang ups that I wish I didn’t have, when it comes to body/weight.

So thought I’d ask others the question - is your body shape/weight something you think about? Are you reasonably content with it? Maybe you’d like to lose a few or even gain a few?

NC for this!

I'm heavier and fatter than I'd like. But other than exercise and a fairly healthy diet I can't be bothered to change much. It'll take more than this to break my chocolate habit.

Rarely. Only when I’m at the lower end of my weight, which I cannot sustain.

Nope. Been overweight for years.

If i could wave a magic wand and be thinner and stay that way with absolutely no negative side effects, yes I'd take that please.

As it is, I have to accept my body as I just cannot bring myself to diet again after a youth of constant dieting.

So yes, I'm happy with my weight to a point.

Ive never been overweight but have never liked my out of proportion body. Care less now I'm in my 40s and isnt worth spending thousands on cosmetic surgery.

Is anybody?

No, I have always been underweight, and struggle to maintain an acceptable, for me, weight.

One friend once said to me ‘it must be nice you be you and not ever have to think or worry about your weight’. I was shocked because it consumes my mind every day! I’m a size 8 but always want to be slimmer.

My mum was always on a diet but then would end up eating more, binging on chocolate and she never exercised. As a teen I was very aware that I didn’t want to be like her, with food and weight a constant issue, but her not actually addressing the issue properly and never being happy with her body.

I decided I would eat healthily most of the time and exercise because I didn’t want to constantly be on a diet but be unhappy with my body, like my mum.

I have stuck to it because I like to look slim and toned and because of that, I never have to think about it. Healthy eating and exercise are just part of my life that’s ‘normal’.

My mum is 70 now and still on a diet, which is days of being hyper focused on eating not a lot and then days of eating too much. Shes still not happy. What a waste of her whole life imo.

Happier, but it’s a work in progress.

I was just under 17st in March and am currently 14st 9lbs.

I would like to continue losing, and haven’t yet decided what a comfortable weight looks like for me.

I do know I have no intention of getting down to my healthy BMI range, and will have stopped before that.

I am.

I was the same size all my life until I hit menopause at 50 and put on a little bit. I have an annual health check where I am weighed, it was actually last week and I had put on 3lbs since the year before. I don’t weigh myself but I have clothes spanning over 30 years and they still fit me.

So I have never had an issue with my weight but I have also never had an issue with how I look. Two of my friends worry a lot about putting on weight and talk about it. I have known one for 40 years and she remains a size 6, she talks about it. The other is in her forties, and she is a size 4 probably. So I know women that really are a very small size for mature women who do still worry. For reference I’m a size 10 compared to them. It is quite clearly in their heads.

I have remained a stable weight all my life but also I really don’t care what others think of the way I look. People judge all manner of things, the art of being alive is to not give a shit of the opinions of others.

No. I have a lot of health issues, physical and mental and I've been all kinds of weights throughout my adult life, I have never been able to stabilise my weight for long. At the moment my weight is very low, BMI 17, and I look like a bag of bones. My BMI has been as high as 36 at some points in my life.

In all honesty, i never thought about weight or shape much. Always been very slim. Even after pregnancy, thyroid issues, health stuff.
But now I'm in my 50s and put weight on. Still a size 10 but upper end of healthy BMI and I absolutely hate it.

I don't have any knowledge about calories or diets. Eating less and better just isn't working.

But I was /have never been happy with my appearance even when I was very slim.

I’m 53, and have gone from a 10/12 to a solid 12 in perimenopause. I don’t weigh myself. I wish I didn’t have a tummy - I never did before peri! - but generally think I look okay. I lift weights and do reformer, and I am strong.

I have never been happy with my weight. Sad isn't it.

I was very happy until I crossed menopause and my metabolism crashed. I would now like to lose the meno belly.

I don’t know anyone happy with their weight. I have a ‘skinny’ friend. In her 60s now and still has a body of a 12 year old boy. I remember in our 20s going on a beach holiday with her and she was so embarrassed that she had small breasts and was so straight up and down. She felt as self conscious as I did who was three stone overweight!
And though we don’t often talk about it, should the subject come up with my friends all of them feel they are overweight, or could improve this or that. One woman who has a lovely figure only ever eats starter when we go out. You’d think at our age with kids flown and married for 30 plus years we wouldn’t still be stressed about our looks but it doesn’t go away. Even my yoga obsessed neighbour who has about 15% fat complains she needs to lose a few pounds (though I also think she has an ED). It’s not the forefront of our thoughts every minute - too much else to think about - but I think a general dissatisfaction is fairly prevalent.

I’m going to say that I am.
I spent my whole life yo-yo dieting from the age of 12 to the age of 58. There was a two stone window, so I’d never been very very overweight and I’ve never been very slim.
In the last year I’ve lost two stone for reasons I won’t go into, but I’ve managed to keep that weight off for several months now and I do feel quite differently about food from how I have ever done before.
I’m 5 foot 7 and weigh 10 stone 10 so there will be people on here with those proportions who are not happy with their weight or body.
But I am, at last!

Yes I'm happy.

Despite menopause and an underactive thyroid, my weight seems to do its own thing and just settles between 8st 3 and 8st 7, which at 5ft 3" is just right for me.

I feel incredibly lucky that I've never had to diet or watch my weight at all, although at 57 I could do without the wobbly middle.

I am happy with my weight and body. Never been over or underweight even when pregnant, I have a good appetite and a good relationship with food. I am cardio fit and stay strong with weights. Mid fifties.

I'm not totally happy but I am happy with where I am right now, after a pregnancy and nearly 6 months breastfeeding. I'm not as strong or toned as I was pre-pregnancy but I'm happy to have retained what I have and have a plan to get back to proper training once I can fit it in around looking after my daughter. At the moment I just do workouts at home but I'm aching to get back in the weight room. I seem to have mostly gotten away with stretchmarks and loose skin so I'm feeling pretty lucky there. Hoping my luck holds out with my boobs when I stop breastfeeding, they were very small before and aren't small anymore.

No.

I was a specific weight for decades which seemed to be my normal healthy weight and I was reasonably happy with it - it was well within healthy BMI but not very slim. Most of the time I oculd wear what I wanted, rather than only what fitted.

But going on anti-depressants changed that as I piled on weight I could never lose, and they triggered food cravings that I'd not had before. I've never been happy with my weight since.

I am at the moment. I struggled with my weight all my life but Wegovy has been a miracle drug for me. I wish it had been invented years ago.

I'm happy with my weight at the moment.

I was anorexic as a teen, got addicted to various drugs in my 20s, got clean and swapped drugs for food in my 30s, and now in my 40s I've lost four stone in the last two years and feel great.

I've got two more/maybe three to go. At the minute I look good in my clothes and feel healthy and strong.

My body/skin is saggy though, and that makes me unhappy- because it's not fixable and it's my own fault.