My first year in college I had a suite mate that was very short. She was also thin and tiny. We found out later that she had had a rare cancer in her spine when she was young and had to have a vertebra removed. So while she wouldn't have been a tall lady to start, losing that height in her spine made her even shorter.
Velvet (did I mention her name was Velvet?) was one of the nicest people you could meet. She was from a more rural area, but she was most definitely not a "hick." She had a kind family and we all liked rooming with her. But she had a problem. Velvet could not gain weight.
Velvet desperately wanted to be less-skinny and more "normal shaped." At our college there was a cafeteria and they had great food. I know, most people complain about cafeteria food, but I loved going to ours. They had a nice variety and not a single bit of it was slop. There was also an ice cream machine. And that was our plan for Velvet.
"Eat lots of ice cream," we told her. We were sure this was the key to weight gain. She could go any time of day and get that ice cream and I suppose she tried, but unfortunately her metabolism adjusted and she stayed the same weight.
Later on, someone had heard that eating Oreos just before bed was a guaranteed way to gain weight because your body does something different as it processes food while you sleep. We didn't know what that, "does something different" was, but it was suppose to suck up more calories than daytime food processing. Of that we had faith.
I don't remember if Velvet ever gained weight our freshman year. I do remember not having to worry about what I ate back then, because I always maintained the same no matter what I ate at that age. I bring this up because as it turns out, it's not that hard to gain weight when you're in your forties.
Remember a few weeks ago that I decided to gain a few pounds because I needed to allow my body to compensate for the muscle I'd been adding from all the exercise? Remember how I said how hard it was looking at the scale and not being disappointed at a higher weight because that was, in fact, my goal?
For a while I had to stop looking at the scale and I think that was good. I gained five pounds without having to work really hard at it because at my age, my body is glad to store extra fat for future use when I overeat. What I discovered though is that I think I look better with that five pounds added now that it's there.
So I have a new weight baseline. But now I have to get off the "buns and brownies"diet and get back to eating appropriately. And if you're worried, it wasn't all brownies and cookies. Although the week of Easter in Florida with all the Easter candy wasn't a highlight of healthy eating for me. It's a good thing for me there's not another candy-focused holiday until Halloween.
The Big Boy Update: Doubling the swings. My son decided the blue swing seat needed to be on top of the red swing seat. I looked out in the yard and didn't understand how it got that way until my husband told me what my son had done. He didn't forget about his swing stacking either because the next day he re-stacked them after they had come apart.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Going to school in underpants. My daughter's teacher said she's "staying dry" most of the morning and we can send her to school in underpants from now on. I'm not worried about the sending her there, it's the going home or out to lunch after school and forgetting we have a baby that needs to be taken to the potty all the time that concerns me.
Fitness Update: Gym this morning and then some additional "minute drills" here at the house while I work at the computer. It's a nice break for my fingers.
Someone Once Said: A confidence man knows he’s lying; that limits his scope. But a successful shaman believes what he says—and belief is contagious; there is no limit to his scope.
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