body image – Live Well with Lisa Proctor

When I started this blog, I was really enthusiastic about writing about health and nutrition and finishing my Level 4 Nutrition qualification. Unfortunately, various parts of my body have been conspiring against me and my own health and nutrition has taken a bit of a nosedive. I finally got Covid 3 years after the first lockdown and it wiped me out for months. I already suffered from chronic pain and fatigue due to hyperactive Ehlers Danlos syndrome (hEDS) so, as you can imagine, they were both ramped up several notches and haven’t quite gone back to pre-pandemic level.

My hand/wrist a couple of days ago. Pretty standard.

On top of that, perimenopause has hit me like a freight train. The pain in my hands and feet was off the scale and, as a result, my activity level dropped off a cliff. Add to that the effect on my IBS and GORD (GERD for the Americans!), leading me to only be able stomach certain foods that aren’t necessarily the healthiest, and my weight has ballooned. I am now significantly fatter than when I thought I was really fat and needed to join WeightWatchers! I know I need to lose weight but it’s so hard when your body doesn’t do what you want or expect it to do.

My HRT and some of my supplements. My iron is chronically low and, apparently, my ldl cholesterol is low too.

All has this has made me not want to write about nutrition. I feel like a fraud. I mean, who wants to take nutrition advice from someone who’s so overweight that when they fall out of bed they rock themselves back to sleep? However, I’ve realised that I’m trying. There are lots of people out there who are struggling because the “Calories in, calories out”, “we all have the same 24 hours in a day” gym bros don’t understand middle aged, menopausal, chronically ill women and their advice and judgement is not going to help them. I’m going to talk about my experiences and share any tips I can, and if I never lose a pound, so be it!

*Or several different numbers, as the case may be.

The sun has appeared in the sky today, for the first time in what seems like forever. This is very exciting news! Now, I know we’ve been allowed to go out for a little while now but, to be honest, most days, I haven’t really got anywhere to go. I’m happy pottering about at home most of the time, but not even being able to sit in the garden for most of the month of May has been pretty depressing, even by British standards. So, imagine my delight when Alexa informed me that it was going to be a balmy 17^oC today! This did present me with a bit of a dilemma though, as I have *ahem* “outgrown” all of my summer trousers during lockdown and have been wearing stretchy joggers most days. Luckily, I had to pop to Morrisons to pick up some stamps so I grabbed a pair of navy blue linen trousers whilst I was there. When I got home I delved into my wardrobe for a top to go with them and this is where things got interesting (or ridiculous, depending in your point of view).

I stood in front of the mirror and realised that the top I was wearing was a size 8 while the trousers I’d just bought were a size 16! A quick check of my crop top/ sports bra revealed that it was a size 20-22! How on Earth could size 22 boobs fit into a size 8 top? Because women’s clothes sizes make no sense, that’s why! When you check the size guide of any given brand (usually available on their websites – good luck finding one instore!) the measurements are given for the bust, waist and hips, so they know what the measurements of the garments are. Why can’t they put them on the labels? We all know which areas of are bodies can cause problems when clothes shopping. For me, it’s my waist as I put all my weight on round my middle. My life would be so much easier if I could reliably shop for jeans by waist size. My husband can. He can go online, filter by waist and inside leg and know that when the jeans arrive, they will fit him perfectly – regardless of where he buys them from. Why are women still put through the ordeal of taking off their perfectly fitting size 12 jeans to try on a different pair of size 12 jeans, only to find they can’t do them up? How difficult can it possibly be to put the measurements on the labels and let us make an informed decision instead of playing the shopping equivalent of Russian roulette every time we need to buy something? No wonder women spend so much longer trying on clothes than men! We have so much less information to go on!

If you find yourself worrying about the numbers on the labels inside your clothes, my advice to you is to just cut them out. Buy clothes that make you feel good and get rid of number that makes you feel bad. Or you could do what I do, and make some of your own clothes – no labels required! If you are trying to get fit or lose weight, I’m not saying you should stop. There are other far more important numbers to worry about though- how many flights of stairs can I manage now? How long did I manage to exercise for today? How many of my five-a-day did I eat? Try and improve those numbers and your health will improve too. By all means, keep track of your waist size if you want to. Waist size is an important indicator of potential risks to your health, after all. Just make sure you use a tape measure and not some arbitrary sizing system that varies wildly from retailer to retailer. Your self-esteem will thank you for it.