Cookie-dough arms and dimpled thighs

How much should a person accept the softening of the aging body, and how much should they fight it?

I’ve been mulling this over for quite some time now, like years. I keep trying to write about it (granted, most of the writing has only been done in my head), but I’m at a standstill, not sure what I think or what to think, let alone with any ability to write about it in a coherent manner (as I have beautifully demonstrated with that horrifically awkward sentence I just wrote).

So I’m turning the question over to you. Help me flesh (ha!) this baby out, will you?

About One Year Ago: The New Deal, in regards to marital disputes and potty-training.

9 Comments

  • dr perfection

    BDD is body dysmorphic disorder. You don't have it. What you do have is a post 4 baby and 4 babynursing body and a high fat and sugar diet. So I think that body softening and dimpled skin is to be expected and normal. Suck it up, buttercup.

  • Jennifer Jo

    What is BDD? I know about BPD and OCD and ADD and RAD, but not BDD…

    And by the way, Lexapro is my drug of choice when I need it, second only to coffee (which I need two times a day, every single day).

  • Amy

    As I'm nearing 40….I'm developing a decidedly rounder shape. I was lamenting this fact to my 19 year and she said "Mom…it just makes more people want to hug you because you're….softer. Think about it…when we were younger….didn't everybody love to hug Grandma because she was soft and squishy?!" *cough* soft and squishy? Well…..I guess I will take that compliment…

  • Mama Pea

    Oh, honey, you ain't seen nuthin' yet. Wait until you hit menopause and the ol' hormones change. (Or go bye-bye or whatever it is they do.) Then you'll see some changes that will make you want to forget everything except saving up for some serious cosmetic surgery!

    But to be a smidge more serious, I think it is a question worthy of honest thought. We want to remain healthy first and foremost. And I feel that entails maintaining a fit figure with toned muscles. We have to stay active to do that. That doesn't mean buying a gym membership. It means having an active lifestyle that keeps us off our duffs more than on them. Then, theoretically, our bodies shouldn't soften to any great degree as they age.

    We can literally make ourselves physically sick worrying about our appearance. On the other hand, I don't want to "give up" and say I'm getting saggy and baggy because I'm sixty-six years old, and what do I expect, for heaven's sake. I want to stay healthy and let's face it, I still enjoy appreciative glances now and then.

    At any age we need to be consicientious about what we eat . . . and how much. I sure can't consume the calories I used to (even though I still live an active life) and keep my weight where I want it to be. The cookie-dough arms and dimpled thighs are chasing me.

    Regardless of what the years cause us to look like, each of us will look better if we're not overweight, not out-of-shape, and are happy. I firmly believe our outlook, attitude and emotional well-being play a BIG part in our physical appearance. A twinkle in the eye makes a wrinkly neck less noticeable.

    So, yes, I'll fight against the softening of the aging body by doing my best to stay active with natural exercise, eating nutritiously without over-indulging and structuring my emotional life so that it gives me enough pleasure and feel-goods that wrinkles and jiggles aren't gonna rule my day.

    I got kinda carried away, didn't I?

  • Kris

    First of all, you are not aging. Enjoy your thirties, for crying out loud! I am on the cusp of middle age, not you. You are still a young adult.

    And secondly, while it is admittedly strange to see my body shifting and looking like I remember my mother's body when she was my age, I think it's easier to accept than to fight. I'm not going to encourage it, you know, but if it happens, it happens.

    Nothing eloquent here. It is what it is.

    And if you want to see soft flesh, you can come on over to my house.

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