Val Asks You: Body Image

A Good Attitude
While visiting Greece for the summer, I was hopping from one friend's place to the next (no one knew what the next plan was), I had been out in the hot sun all day and needed a shower and some clothes to go out on the town that night. My friend's fiancée, a very thin girl (what I considered bone thin), lent me some clothes and insisted they would fit me. At the time, I considered myself a little heavier than normal. Well, they fit with room to spare. A few weeks ago, though, I had the opposite experience. This past year I have gained at least 20 pounds. As a cousin and I sat at the kitchen table, I saw my mother wearing a pair of old pants of mine which no longer fit me. I announced that those were my old pants, but the cousin responded, "That's impossible. I've never seen you that thin." I hadn't felt that bad about all the weight gain until that moment. But as a good friend of mine said when I announced my weight gain, "So, life goes on." And that is what we should all focus on.
— Sia Kafiris, Athens, Greece

Shrinking and Satisfied?
I will be 62 years old this year. I work in the office of a fitness center and I work out and lift weights on a regular basis. In my 30s, after having two children and a partial hysterectomy, I wore a size 14. At the time I wasn't wild about that size, but it was not that big a deal. We moved to Missouri, and I started walking and got down to a size 12. Then, over the years I got down to a 10 and now I am a size 8 and sometimes a 6. The problem is, now even at an 8 or 6 in today's world I see myself as "full bodied"! Good grief! What is wrong with me? People are starving and we are all hung up on body image! Get a grip!
— Rita Shelton, Nixa, Missouri

Fifty and Fabulous
I am 55 years old, and for the last few years I have looked at myself in the mirror and thought, "Oh my God." One night I was going out and wanted a new pair of jeans, but it was too late to shop. The son's girlfriend offered me a pair and I thought, ''Yeah, right,'' but I tried them on, and guess what!? They fit. Hard to believe for me since when I look at her she has the most lovely figure. I was delighted to have even gotten into them and I had the best night out ever!
— Denise Maxwell, Derry, Ireland