From the time I was three years old, my family thought I was gonna be a giant. Every time I had my annual checkup, the doctor declared I was bound to be off the charts tall. Throughout my elementary school years, I was the tallest girl in my class, except for Veenie Mae Johns who was nearly the height of the teacher when she was only 8.
I was barreling into adulthood, getting my first period in the cafeteria when I was in sixth grade. Mortifying! Obviously, one of the first. Now, I’m a woman at 11 years old. And, I had reached my full height. All of 5 feet 1 inch. Over the next three years, i went from being nearly the tallest to the absolute shortest. Everyone in my family turned out to have height but me.
I was scrawny, never approaching 100 pounds until I was in my early 30s. Everyone, including doctors, tried to fatten me up with nightly milkshakes. My diet from those years makes me shudder….bags of chips, cookies, hot dogs, hamburgers. Basically, I was a meat and potatoes kind of eater. Still didn’t put on weight.
But, it definitely caught up with me. I inherited my height and boyish body from both of my grandmothers. My paternal grandmother had five children; my maternal had four. I’ve seen pictures of them when they were very young and very slim. But, I never knew them like that. They were overweight….not grossly. Just your normal thick waists that all too often accompany aging.
Last summer when I went to see my doctor, he took one look at me and said I needed to lose 10 pounds. “You’re only 5 feet tall. Extra weight looks worse on short people.” This coming from a man who’s only 5’4” tall. Of course, he’s right and even though I know it’s true, I didn’t want to hear it from him.
But, as Dr. Phil says, the first step to resolving a problem is to admit it. That’s fine with me so I’ve gone into battle.
Yes, I work out daily with cardio walking and strength building exercises. I hate that I don’t have the muscle tone I had as a young girl. I hated my skinny arms but they actually had definition! Do you ever appreciate those things at the time?? I hate the flab now but I work on those triceps and still have hope that maybe at 70, I’ll have my definition back. Even I’m laughing at that!
I purchased a Weight Watchers scale about two years ago. It’s a smart scale that gives your body mass index as well as your weight to the tenth of a pound. I liked the BMI number….well within the healthy range. I used that scale daily, always hoping for change in the right direction. My God, I was tracking every calorie and unit of exercise every day. Well, it wasn’t cooperating and then, one day, it gave me the same weight every time I got on the scale. Didn’t matter what I had on or what time of day. It was exhausted. So, I trashed it and got an Eat Smart scale with big numbers so I can read it without my glasses. It’s moving in the right direction so I like this one better.
My vegetarian daughter encourages me to eat healthier. I even got her favorite cookbook, Passionate Vegetarian by Crescent Dragonwagon. With a name like that, you have to be more interesting than most….and she is. I made the Beet and Orange Salad with Rainforest Vinaigrette. I had never baked a real beet in my life, much less made a vinaigrette made with mango, bananas and fresh ginger. It was amazing and even BH ate it and he is not a salad guy. Next, I’m going to try a spinach salad with dried tomato vinaigrette. Already, quinoa salad is my go to! I’m trying here!
I have a favorite pair of jeans….JAG jeans. I bought a black pair a year ago and I love the fit! Of course, it has spandex….hence, the fit. I’ve been looking for a blue pair on Amazon for some time, but the only pair they seemed to have within my price range was a pull on pair. REALLY! A pull on pant?! It just evokes pull up diapers to me. I started reading the reviews and most of them were raving about these things! Finally, there was nothing else in my size or my budget, so I resorted to ordering them. They came two days later and I haven’t stopped wearing them. They are nothing if not comfortable and a perfect fit….for the waistless!
Every day, I go to battle. I fight the cheetos, the potato chips, the fries, the chocolate cake, the Easter candy. I cheer for the fruit smoothies, the whole grain tortilla chips, the fruit and veggies!
Am I winning the war? Not yet….but I will not wave the white flag!
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