its all in the jeans

I came across my antenatal cards the other day. Oh my!
40years ago when I was 8 months pregnant I weighed 8st 7lbs. (I’m 5’6”). Today I weigh 14st 7lbs. (I’m 64y).

So basically I’m me, giving another person a piggy back who weighs 6sts!

My late husband loved his food, especially chips and fry-ups. He always wanted cake or pudding after his meal, yet never put on weight. I ate much less than him, yet put on weight easily.
Two of our children take after him, and two after me.

[Auntieflo] the same happened to me. I had 2 children at 19 and 22 and within 3 months I was lighter in weight than I’d been before the pregnancies. After a 16 year gap I had the 3rd child expecting the same to occur. I was shocked to find the weight did not shift!

Morning. Many thanks for your many and varied comments. We are such a diverse bunch.

Daisy-your comment from the Portuguese orderly is a common one. One glance at an overweight person and everyone and his dog wades in to cast moral judgement. Why is that? Being overweight is due to many things, sometimes as daisy says, due to medication. Its not obvious to on lookers but those strangers feel the need to comment and advise. How crazy is that? If you come across a particularly short person in the supermarket trying to reach a high shelf, most people would offer to get the item. It would be very unlikely that fellow shoppers would comment on the height of that person in a negative way or offer advice about wearing high heels or whatever. Yet complete strangers feel that judging an overweight person is fair game.

Being overweight doesn't mean that person is morally corrupt, a bad person, a glutton, greedy and lazy.

Blimey, where did that come from on this lovely morning

I like to wear jeans, but can find waist size is my problem , plus I do not like the slim design , rereferring a slightly wider fit.
mind you they tend to sit on the hip more so than where the actual waistline measurement is taken.

Mick

Daisyboots I could have written part of your post. I too was slim all my life and only gained a little weight after having 3 children. Worked out 5 times a week and trained my dogs. Wardrobe full of size 12/14 clothes.

At 52 I was diagnosed with breast cancer and had treatment/was ill for 5 years. During that time I gained nearly 6 stones although I was only on hormone drugs for 8 months as they disagreed with me.

I don’t know why some people gain a lot of weight and others do not during treatment. We carry the BRCA gene in our family and out of 3 sisters, 2 of us gained a lot of weight during treatment whilst one did not. I did read an article once that suggested that in some people, when they are ill, the body goes into conserve mode.

So boy do I understand how unjust it is to be seen as greedy when it’s not your fault. I have eaten a lot less since illness. I have just started to try to lose it but it’s painstaking as I’m older now too. I’ve lost 25lbs since September but a long way to go still and it’s not easy.

I do hope your tests go well and you are soon home and well. If it helps, I was investigated as the hormone drugs triggered arthritis so they immediately suspected the cancer was in my spine. However, it turned out to be just the arthritis causing some pain and normal age related wear and tear and a slippage due to an accident so I hope it all turns out well for you

I read that people need between about 5 and 10 per cent fewer calories daily for every decade they live so unless this cut down is followed then people are going to get fatter as they age.

I have a very restricted calorific input in my sixties to maintain my figure and if I overindulge I skip the next meal or severely cut it down. I observe that others who gain weight do not like to disoblige their appetites.

It is easy to understand but painful to practice. If you eat too much and exercise too little you will gain weight.

I would eat double what I eat now as I love food but I know I would never get away with it.

Although thin when I was a child, I still had a thick waist. I had three big babies which a doctor told me was a warning that I could suffer from diabetes later in life. After the menopause weight did pile on and I finally went on a very strict 2 year diet to lose it. It is hard to keep it off, however, recently after a blood check to see if my half of a thyroid was working functioning, it was discovered I needed treatment which seems it may cause weight loss which it has ... for the moment

Until I started having my children I was a skinny beanpole. Even after having my children I wasnt fat. Then at the age if 52 I had breast cancer and as a result og the medication I had to take for 5 years I put 6 stone on in 7th months and ever since have been fighting to get down to a reasonable. I am now in hospital having tests to find out 5he cayse if cancer in my spint. A female orderly came to take me by wheelchair for a thyroid scan. She looked me up and down and said in Portuguese " you must like your food". I just said see that lady there I was like her before I had to take tablets for cancer. She had the sense to shut up then.

A young woman on the train today took up 2 seats reserved for people with mobility problems. She was morbidly obese. She ate nothing on the train but had a can of diet coke in front if her. I fear there are too many young people who are like her. That is not genetics but a psychological disorder I feel sure.
Whereas when I was at school there were hardly any really big children-
now there are plenty.
So yes genes play a part but it's not the whole story.
There is sedentary lifestyle, cars, processed food, lack of portion control, custom, boredom, greed, even entitlement.
There are some things we should change for the sake of our health.
i.e: Why do celebrations always revolve around food and drink?
How many of us have been buying chocolate eggs for our DGC? I know I have

I've got my dads genes unfortunately, which makes me vertically challenged and not quite tall enough for the extra weight I'm carrying .... maybe I'll have a growth spurt . I was always slim to underweight until I reached my late 40's it's been creeping on since then. I now feel like someone's sneaking up behind me only to realise it's my bum ! My mum and her brothers are all tall and slim, eat whatever they like and don't gain weight, however they are follicle challenged so you can't have it all

I have 2 sisters, one is always dead skinny but eats like a horse, use to eat peanut butter sandwiches with honey on, always had 3 sugars in her tea, yet my other sister was plumb from a baby. Mum always fed us all the same but the weight always piled on her and it was the same in later life. Both were active as well. Me, I can maintain my weight easily and stay a size 12. My gc out of 5 children was the only fat one in the family yet ate the same. Even went on a 6 week weight lose education programme but despite sticking to it only lost 2lb. Something to be said about genes.

I'm the same shape and size as my grandmothers and great aunts. My mother was slim but she was a very heavy smoker. I'm not keen to take up that weight loss method!

Nothing wrong with being a size 16 if you are tall as you get older. I was a size 10 but after 50 put on weight. I eat what I like, enjoy the wrong foods and dress well.
Lucky 6% the rest of us should enjoy and stop fretting. Off now to eat cheese and chocolate, both of which I l like.

petunia there was a programme on the tv the other day about this, I'm struggling to remember but it will come to me!

Interesting point about Auschwitz.
But to be serious, my mother was moved to a camp (work not death) in the latter stages of the war. She always claimed that her metabolism was permanently damaged by living on subsistence rations over that period. She certainly struggled (unsuccessfully) with her weight ever after. But I also think her attitude to food changed - my father frankly could take it or leave it, he just ate to live, whereas Mum always abhorred waste, became an outstanding cook and appreciated what she prepared and ate. She was horrified at the size of portions regarded as “normal” whenever she visited my sister and her family in Canada- and by the amounts people left on their plates. She told me how she had once seen a camp inmate scoop up somebody’s vomit and eat it -a memory which haunted her to the end of her days.

Weight gain for me since the menopause. Well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

There were no fat people in Auschwitz were there?

Yes, I agree that some people seem to have a very different metabolism. My cousin eats far more than me, has someone else do her housework and thinks a gently stroll is a good walk!

Whatever the reason we are heavier than we want to be it is our responsibility to deal with it if it bothers us. I think it is like a car, if it is an economical car which does 50 miles to the gallon and you put as much petrol in as you would for a gas-guzzler the tank will overflow. My body is the economical car!

Now I eat like a bird and struggle to stay at 10st
There is a school of thought that puts the obesity epidemic down to a viral epidemic
Oh if only we could blame it on a virus!
Sadly I eat like a bird too
A gannet !

Telly. You've reminded me of a page in my Genetics text book for my degree, it had all these photos of members of families at different ages showing the similarity in build.

Yes we certainly inherit a lot of it but as MawBroonsBack - welcome back Maw!- said, we're still responsible for some of it because we put the food in our mouths!

It's a lifelong battle, isn't it? Unfairly, it seems that as we age it gets more difficult.

Childbearing got me. Before, I could and did eat like a horse and my weight stayed at 8st 10lbs. Now I eat like a bird and struggle to stay at 10st.
There is a school of thought that puts the obesity epidemic down to a viral epidemic ...

If weight gain is due to our genes, which we inherit, how come our ancestors were not obese? I don’t think we can blame all our weight issues on genetics, I think it is mainly down to our modern diet of fast food and lack of exercise. Previous generations cooked fresh food from scratch and walked more.

I read the article as meaning that the lucky 6% don't have the urge to overeat.
I was not to bad until the menopause and then I got the urge to overindulge. Used to be able to rein it in, but not so effective now.

I look like an m&m

Round with skinny arms and legs.

At least I now know it's not my fault

Have managed to lose 25lbs since last Sept (put on loads after being ill for a long time) but have stalled a bit since builders started here as it's hard to get into the routine again. It used to come off so easily years ago but soul destroying now as it's so hard to shift even a pound