I've been hugely busy with work and helping a friend who's just had a hip replacement and has absolutely no family in town, so posting has been extremely sparse recently.
However, I overhead a bit of a conversation today that I could not NOT comment on:
I was at the Pilates studio, waiting for my instructor to arrive. There was only one other client in the room--a woman in her mid-sixties--who was almost at the end of her private lesson with another instructor at the studio.
Instructor: I can see that you take care of your body.
Student (surprised): No.
Instructor: You must be doing some sort of exercise. At least walking.
Student (not sure what to say): I always tried to look good in a bathing suit. You know, fifteen years ago.
As I heard the instructor praising her new student (they were obviously just getting to know each other), it was absolutely clear why she assumed that this lady worked out and therefore "took care of herself": she was slim. So "obviously", she took care of herself.
Remember: slim = healthy. That's what they all tell us.
The funny thing is, there's another instructor at the studio who's built--pardon the expression--like a brick shithouse. If you just glanced at her in passing and applied the same assumption as the instructor I quoted above, you would think that she should really lose weight. But if you watch her at work, you can see that she is no doubt very muscular, though those big muscles are covered with a nice layer of padding. She was not in the room while this conversation was going on but I thought of her and wondered how she would feel if she heard a comment like the one I heard. Hopefully, she wouldn't give a hoot. But I gave a hoot for her.