Mature woman, hear me loud, DON’T WEIGHT!

An unspeakable horror happened recently in broad daylight in a place that most people would say it’s a place as safe as any place in the world. What happened in that supermarket in Saco, Maine to a beautiful woman will likely change how all women, especially us “mature women” feel about safety in public.

I’m not making any commentary on the physical fitness or weight of the victim. She, as nobody, would have ever expected or prepared to be taken by surprise by a maniacal subhuman in the frozen food department of your neighborhood Shaw’s.

Thanks to this incident, our own neighborhoods have become a little less safe-feeling. Where we once went about our day concerned each with our own business, we now will pay more attention to what’s going on around us to gauge potential threats. It’s sad; it’s awful; it’s how this has forever changed our lives.

I have a long history of struggling with my weight. I will admit it, the struggle was a matter of loving food, being inactive and being vain. Yup, my looks mattered to me. I was never concerned about how others saw me when I was overweight. I don’t particularly care much about what anybody else thinks.

The person whose opinion is important is me! Even during the times I was obese and there were people who thought I wasn’t aware of how fat and disgusting I appeared to them, I didn’t care. I heard their comments and saw their faces of disgust, but truth be told, they disgusted me with their judgmental natures.

For much of my weight struggling history my weight has always been about looking better or worse. When Wendy Boudreau was targeted because she was a “woman and a senior citizen who wouldn’t be able to put up much of a fight,” I became aware of a fact that up until then, completely escaped me. Wendy Boudreau was 59, I am 61! What does that make me? Don’t answer, that was a rhetorical question.

Managing my weight to look better no longer matters. I’m glad that my vanity brought me to Weight Watchers. Weight Watchers helped fill in the necessary and missing pieces of my weight management strategies. I only cared about being slim and didn’t give much thought to my strength and endurance. It became obvious to me that successful weight control required attention to good nutrition and physical activity which led to greater strength and endurance.

I’m only going to get older. I can’t stop time, but I’ve learned that I can get stronger and increase my endurance even as my years progress. Combining physical activity and good nutrition used to be about weight, now it might even save my life.Screen Shot 2015-08-25 at 10.00.31 AM

If you are a mature woman like me reading this blog and you thought that getting out of shape is part of aging, please reconsider. The best thing you can do for yourself and those who love you is watch your weight by eating right and staying active.

Jackie Conn

About Jackie Conn

Jackie Conn is married and has four grown daughters and four grandchildren. She is a Weight Watchers success story. She's a weight loss expert with 25 years of experience guiding women and men to their weight-related goals. Her articles on weight management have been published in health, family and women's magazines. She has been a regular guest on Channel 5 WABI news, FOX network morning program Good Day Maine and 207 on WCSH.