Reading this, I was deeply moved. I was always the "skinny" one in my family, so I did not deal with this pressure growing up. But then, after having children, my body changed and I carried an extra 10lbs. There were other factors in my life at the time, telling me I was no longer attractive or sexy and that my husband was no longer going to be attracted to me. At that time, unaware of what I was doing, I began to exercise at least an hour a day, I was nursing my infant, running around after my toddler, and only eat 900 calories a day! I believe the only thing that kept me from going into full anorexia was the fact that I became pregnant with my third child, and then shortly after that my husband was diagnosed with cancer. With those two events, I stopped caring what the scale said, I had no emotional energy to care. Now, years later I am on a quest to have healthy thought patterns when it comes to food, while losing about 10lbs so I can get back into the healthy bracket after eating comfort food for a few years as I grieved the loss of my first husband. Thanks for the post @merej99 its a good reminder that health is way sexier than a number on a scale.