Comparison

I've decided to give in to my weight obsession briefly...

For all my worrying about my weight, and what I look like, and what people think of me, the fact is...I am totally clueless about my size. At 5'9" and 165 lbs, I tend to over-estimate because I no longer weigh 135 lbs (which is what I weighed in high school).

And since I entered menopause about 3 years ago, my stomach started getting a bit flabbier, and I'm very self conscious about it. I'm always very critical of what I look like, and this has been just one more thing to criticize.

Then I saw these photos of a famous singer in concert. (I've never been a big fan, but I do like some of her music, especially for working out.) This celebrity has gone through a lot in the last few years, and although she doesn't have a so-called "perfect" body anymore, I thought she looked pretty good. Then I read the accompanying article and the comments by the public. Although there were a few snarky comments, the general consensus is that she looks FINE (it's the clothing that's awful). As exhibited by the following comments:

• What belly???? Excuse me but her body is NORMAL for a person her age! She does look good.
• I think her body is really good, just that the clothes are very bad.
• Why are celebs not allowed to age? She looks fine.
• She does look good. she looks like a healthy woman.
• She isn’t fat by any means…although yes she is a bit bigger than her younger days.
• Her body looks really good, for anyone.
• Girl has a great figure. She is a woman who has to work at that great figure. She eats crap like most people do on occasion and her waistline pays for it. Regardless, she still looks very good in the awful costumes she dons when on stage. I have seen some pretty terrible things at the beach in bikinis in the summer and I would be grateful if there were more women who had bods like hers there!
• Ya her costumes are horrible but she looks awesome -
• She maybe not as thin as before but she doesn’t even come close to being fat.
• I think she looks like she is a healthy weight,
• And to me she looks a perfectly healthy weight. It’s the clothes that look like hell, not her.
• She has a wonderful figure but not a slender teenage figure. good for her being ok showing off her normal figure. the outfit choice could have been better if she wanted to be showy.. but she is NOT FAT. glad theres pics of her like this to show girls shes not perfect, and drive down the eating disorder rates.
• Frankly, I’d LOVE to have a body like hers.
• She looks fine physically for a 30 year old woman.
• Fat? Stop being bitchy. She looks great!
• She’s not fat…I mean COME ON.

Hub saw the photos too. Then to my surprise, he said, "You know, your body is not much different from hers." I was a bit taken aback. You've got to be kidding...No way!

But it did get me to thinking...

These photos of me were taken by Hub when we first started 4HB in January. I've lost about 5 lbs since then and I've been working out a lot, so my stomach is actually a bit more toned than in these photos. And I'm almost 59. So this celebrity is almost 30 years younger than I am.

Don't worry, folks...I still won't be wearing a two-piece in public.

And I'm not posting these photos to get compliments or criticism.

It's merely a form of therapy...a reality check, if you will.

If this celebrity can proudly exhibit her body, I can certainly be more accepting of mine.