Crow’s Feet: Life As We Age

“The longer I live, the more beautiful life becomes.” (Frank Lloyd Wright) Non-fiction pieces, personal essays and occasional poems that explore how we feel about how we age and offer tips for getting the most out of life.

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Age-Related Weight Gain Got You Down?

How To Lower That Number on Your Bathroom Scale — Instantly!

It’s simple, easy, and maybe even free

6 min readApr 20, 2025

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photo generated with AI: Image by Ivana Tomášková from Pixabay

If you, like me, are a woman of Boomer vintage, then it’s likely you have some issues around weight. Remember who the influencers were, body-image-wise, back in our day?

There was Twiggy, AKA Leslie Hornby, “the face of 1966” — 5 feet, 6 inches tall, 91 pounds, measurements 31–22–32. Jean Shrimpton, acknowledged as the world’s first supermodel, weighed all of 120 pounds, but then, she also stood five foot ten.

The July, 1963 issue of Harper’s featured the article “High Living on Low Calories” and touted the famously noxious adage:

A woman can never be too rich or too thin.

I was barely aware of Harper’s in the 1960s. But I devoured Seventeen magazine, which was crammed with advice for adolescent girls in our awkward stages who hoped one day to achieve the gamine ideal:

-’Meal at a friend’s house? Take a little of everything, but imagine you are a frail 19th century beauty and eat like a bird.”

-’What happens when you return from your summer holiday ten pounds heavier? Let us hope the condition is temporary. Meanwhile, you have to dress to…

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Crow’s Feet: Life As We Age
Crow’s Feet: Life As We Age

Published in Crow’s Feet: Life As We Age

“The longer I live, the more beautiful life becomes.” (Frank Lloyd Wright) Non-fiction pieces, personal essays and occasional poems that explore how we feel about how we age and offer tips for getting the most out of life.

Jan M Flynn
Jan M Flynn

Written by Jan M Flynn

Novelist, essayist, inner space explorer. GRIFFIN SPEAKER, book one of a middle grade fantasy series, coming from Disney-Hyperion in spring 2026.

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