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When Size Matters

How a silent health struggle in my 60s taught me the importance of listening to my body

Carol Anne Shaw
Wholistique
5 min readOct 11, 2024

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For all of my adult life, I’ve been pretty health conscious, paying attention to my body and trying to do my best by it.

I hike it, feed it good food, ensure it gets enough sleep, and try to keep it strong.

Most of the time, I listen to it. After all, no one knows our bodies like we do, right? This is why it is so strange that I ignored what, deep down, I knew was a problem.

The Beginning

Let me give you a bit of a pre-amble (short, I promise). I am a 64-year-old woman who went through menopause at age 52. I breezed through it with a few irritating hot flashes, but nothing major.

But, shortly afterward, I noticed I was starting to pack on a little belly weight. It didn’t really impact my day-to-day life, but it did piss me off because, as I said before, I am a pretty disciplined person. I chalked it up to “Life as a Post-Menopausal Woman” and just got on with things.

In Denial

But my little Buddha belly just kept getting bigger — a little round hard ball of fat.

I had cared for my mother for the last few years of her life before she succumbed to…

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Wholistique
Wholistique

Published in Wholistique

Personal stories on self-discovery, relationships, and a holistic path to happiness. Wholistique is about growth, not fixing — because you’re not broken. We aim to shift your perspective and empower you with tools to navigate life.

Carol Anne Shaw
Carol Anne Shaw

Written by Carol Anne Shaw

Writer & audiobook narrator. Author of three award-winning books for mg readers (Ronsdale Press) & four indie-pubbed novels for young adults. Vancouver Isle, BC

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