Weighing In

A woman's weight is a very personal thing. No one would dare ask you, it seems, except if you are thin. NOTE: Like everyone else, even I am going to lie about my weight.

There was a public librarian in Iowa who was fired from her job a few weeks ago because she wouldn't reveal her weight and height for a new city ID card. They insisted they needed this data in case there was an "emergency where they needed this information to identify her". Whatever the hell kind of freakin' emergency do they think will happen at a little public library in the middle of nowhere??? More power to you, girl. I think even if she HAD filled out the form she likely would have lied about her weight anyway. Stupid bureaucrats.

When I went to the doctor a few weeks ago she put me on the scale, fully clothed, with shoes, and recorded my weight in my file. Then she made me take my shoes OFF to measure my height. I said NO FAIR you have to reweigh me, which she did. I made her change her data. I watched just to make sure.

The scale in the ladies locker room has been fussy the past couple of weeks. On Monday (after two days of eating) I got on and shifted the counterbalance up a pound, one more, two, three, SEVEN!? YIPES. NO WAY. I checked and sure enough it didn't balance at zero. I reported it and found out later that in fact it was busted and is going to be replaced, hopefully with a scale that isn't as chintzy as the old one. I was thinking of all those really really really fat women that had been dieting like crazy and working out every day only to discover their weight was going up and up and up. Do they work out more or give up entirely? I guess they will have to weigh their options.

I've seen women so obsessed that they weigh themselves before and after their workout. Did anyone see the laminated signs on the fitness equipment upstairs that read "Single Set Users Have the Right Away". They finally changed the signs but not before many of us more alert gym junkies had a good laugh. Anyway, we may need the same kind of sign on the scale in the ladies locker room.

One big guy told me after a spinning class a while back that he had weighed in at work as part of a Weight Watchers program only to find out he had gained 7 pounds in the past year. In April I gained 5 pounds in one week on vacation. Have I lost it yet? I'll never tell.

If you've lost weight - way to go! - if not (and you're trying), you may have a way to go, but don't give up. Welcome to the Y. Now go away. Uh, I mean, have a nice day!