Here it is, the thread about weight following on from the bald men!

We see it here, we see it in our friends, family and at work. The obsession to lose (and sometimes gain) weight.

So why do we do it?

The perfect answer is of course to be at a healthy weight and I am sure we are all going to claim that excuse for wishing to alter our weight, but what about the other reasons?

As has been discussed before in other threads, we have all seen the adverts in the contact adverts asking for 'slim, attractive...'.

Do we try to alter our weight in order to be more attractive to the opposite sex? Do we perceive our employment opportunities to be better is we are slim? Do we do it because WE feel that we look more attractive when at a different weight?

Come on ladies and gentlemen, let us see your opinions about weight - and even comments from those of you who are the perfect weight for your height - yeah we hate you but still want to hear from you!

I've always been overweight and never tried to diet. I've occasionally gone on exercise 'programs', but never to lose weight, just because I felt like it (I was quite sporty as a kid, and kept trying to recapture that as I got older...but I have congenital problems with my feet and legs which have only really come to light since my teens; ironically these could have been overcome by wearing callipers as a child, but they weren't picked up then...but I digress).

Yes, I've always been overweight and of course I can't say I've always been happy with the way I look, but I've never seen my body as a disadvantage in terms of career advancement, or in attracting (potential) mates.

One of the best looking male people I've ever known (and surprisingly also one of the sweetest people and most talented musicians too) said something very profound to me once. He said "Ing, you might be big, but you have this light inside you that shines through and makes you really attractive and {s-word}." Naturally we were both very drunk at the time, but I still knew he meant it. If I'd be remotely interested in him, well...actually I still can't work out why I wasn't, apart from all the other stuff he's the son of one of my favourite authors too ...anyway, that really stuck with me, and I really believe it's true. Not just of me, of course, but trite as it sounds, it really is what's inside that counts!

Well, I have been losing weight for medical reasons, but a lot more people have noticed how well I look etc, since I have done so. And personally, never felt better. But you have to lose weight for yourself, not becuase somebody (apart from a Doctor etc) wants you too!

I need to lose weight for my health. It's exacerbating my arthritis in my knees, and I'm looking at Type B diabetes down the road.

I've always been on the heavy side, and really, it did me no harm in the 'getting men' department. A lot of men like a 'big-boned gal' as kd lang says, and it works out.
Lately though, I have gained more weight than I feel comfortable with, and it is starting to affect how people see me - I feel a bit like I am becoming invisible. I've moved from 'heavy' and 'big' into FAT, and it's not really a nice place to be.
Time to get to a weight that I feel OK with, where I don't have to grunt when I try to tie my shoes.

I never had any real weight problems till my youngest daughter was born, and now I find I need to lose some. I am grateful the kind of work I'm doing keeps me going up and down a ladder all day, plus reaching up and down , bending over for five and six hours at a stretch.

The least I have ever weighed was 117, which is actually a little less than what looks good on me. Time and experience has toned down the vanity quite a bit - now I am more concerned with just feeling good, having energy and , like Skunkee, not having Type Two breathing down my neck later on.

I'm 5'5". When I got pregnant with my daughter, I weighed 118 Lbs. (As per the picture I linked to in the hair color thread. Actually, I was about 125 in that pic. I lost a little weight yet after that pic was taken.) Now, I do not weigh 118 Lbs. I do not weigh 125 Lbs. I weigh more like 145 Lbs, and I pine for my pre-pregnant body. That, more than anything, is why I want to lose weight.

I know it isn't an issue of being attractive to the opposite sex. My husband reminds me daily of how beautiful he thinks I am. And after some of the compliments I've gotten while playing gigs with my band, I know that even my not-so-slim self is not just pretty to my knows-my-heart husband. But when I get dressed in the morning, I know that I am almost 30, a mother of a young child, and that my body, quite simply, does not allow me to hide those facts from myself.

I had a personal triumph last month in actually buying AND WEARING (and most importantly, being comfortable in) a pair of ladies size 10 Levis. (I have no idea how those sizes translate for non-US folks.) Since my pregnancy I have not gotten down to anything below a size 12 until now. But I'll be darned, I hit a size 10, and I'm pining for a size 8. And I still have size 4's in my drawer from before my pregnancy... they mock me. They whisper snide remarks about cellulite and stretch marks every time I open the drawer.

So in all honesty, I think for me I am not so bothered by my weight, exactly, and the fact that I'm getting older, and I am not exactly dissatisfied with my body as much as I wish it was my young body again. But on the other hand...

My mother once told me that when a woman exclaimed that her two young children (my sister and I) had SO much energy, my mother responded, "Yes, they suck it out of ME." Well, along the same lines, if I ever get to really mourning my youthful body, I just look at my daughter and remember that every ounce of beauty I lost went straight into her. There's no doubt about it.

I admit I watch my weight pretty carefully. For two reasons: I don't like the way I feel about myself when I put on extra pounds and because I can't afford to buy new clothes when I no longer fit into the old ones. Really. I'm 5'5" and I have no idea what I weight as I never set foot on a scale. I gauge my weight by how my clothes fit. When the size 7's gets too tight it's time to back off the in-between meal snacks (and the coconut cream pie. ) I have 3 sisters. 3 if us are almost the exact same height and can wear each other's clothes and shoes. The fourth sister is 5'9" and weighs around 200 lbs. She is not fat, just solid and big boned. I feel badly for her as she is constantly comparing herself to the rest of us. She says she feels like a 'cow' and is guilty over every morsel of food she puts in her mouth. It's such a sin. She's a lovely person and a attractive woman but she can't get past the 'weight' issue. She, if she were to diet for a year and to the point of sickness would never weigh what we do. She is very fortunate, though, to have a fantastic husband who thinks she looks fantastic and doesn't hesitate to tell her so. That goes a long way! If men only had the slightest inkling of just what effect a few words of affirmation from their lips does for us. Boy , what power and how under-used!

I've never been one of those that is considered fat, but I have struggled with keeping down my weight all my life. At the heaviest I've ever been, I felt fat to me, and that's what I didn't like. I don't like weighing myself either so I don't go by what the scales tell me. I go with how I feel inside, how my clothes fit, and how much energy I have. What really surprises me, is when I DO weigh myself, I am at a weight now at age 45 that I considered heavy at age 25. And the funny thing is, I am only slightly bigger in my size from those two different ages. I used to scoff when women would complain about how much the body shifts. I don't know about everyone, but I know it has happened to me.

In earlier discussions about manfacturer's clothes sizes, and it's been mentioned in news stories, clothes are getting bigger material-wise, but are staying the same in number size. That a size 8 now would actually be a size 10 twenty years ago. So when I hear things like "I'm still wearing the same size I did in High School", it's probably true.

According to my doctor (since I hate scales) the heaviest I've been was 40 pounds overweight for my age and height. I think I'm about 10 pounds overweight now, but I feel great. And besides, that last 10 pounds to come off are really taking too long and I'm getting tired of trying.

I was always able to eat what I wanted [ in moderation, anyway] and not worry about my weight. Middle age, gravity and and the inevitable hormone changes [ mine starting throwing me around about 7 or 8 years ago] eventually result in a facing up to facts. My eating habits were not what they should've been all this time. I love healthy food, I like junky foods, too. That's the problem...I seem to like it all. But now I can't get away with eating anything like I could 25 years ago!