As a pear-shaped individual I wear my weight below my waist, so even being "only" 30-40 lbs overweight brings with it a big butt and 'thunder thighs'.
(Thank you, ex-mother-in-law, for putting this in my head more than 25 years ago.)

Sticks and stones... wrong! Words can hurt more.

Even after I had lost this weight I remember that I'd often look at myself in the mirror from behind, especially when I was in tights, going to the gym, to see how big that butt still was. During gym class I would wonder how I looked to those working out behind me. (Chances are they couldn't have cared less and never even noticed me, but our mind does stupid things at times.)

I do consider myself a rational and generally level headed person, so this excessive worry seems strange, even to me, but I guess, you can't jump out of your skin.

It's been about 10 years now that I've been exercising consistently, all along reshaping my body. Yes, over a long period of time, exercise does wonders.

Guess it kind of snuck up on me and I don't recall when it happened exactly, but being on the trail today I realized that I haven't spent any thoughts about how I looked from behind in quite some time now; not at the gym and not anywhere.

Building new confidence takes time too. I wonder if getting older aides in that process also?

Here is what I saw on my hike today. At least initially. We actually hiked through the fog and there was sunshine at the top.


And this is how much fun we had.


Have a wonderful weekend y'all.