My Weight

Ok. Ok. It's not what it sounds. I do not have an eating disorder. If anything, I'm on a seafood diet. I see food, I eat it! (Get it?! Alright, enough with the Dad jokes...)

I'm short, and thus don't weigh a lot. I also struggle to put on weight. No matter how much I eat (and I can sometimes eat up to 5 meals a day in the middle of the season), I just can't seem to put on any weight. I blame my fast metabolism (although I'm not really sure what science says about that!) and the fact that I spend most of my time running around, chasing a ball into a goal!

Lets straighten some things out here. I have a BMI of 20.08(kg/m(sq)) which is classed as normal (i.e. I'm at a healthy weight), although as a sports scientist I will mention that BMI isn't always what it's cracked up to be. This is however, a recent development, I used to be 18.something for a long time, and only just above the underweight category.

From the ages of 13 to 18, I was 42kg. 42. For 5 years. 5 long, lightweight years. Then I went to uni, and I put on 2kg in 9 months to bring me up to 44kg. Fantastic! I then went to live and study in New Zealand and in 4 months put on another kilogram after the discovery of my love of beer. Ace! I then went travelling round New Zealand, eating to live rater than living to eat (which is how I normally am!) As a consequence I lost nearly 2kg in a month. 2. Sucks! So, very nearly back to square one.

"So Jen, tell us, if you're at a healthy weight, why do you want to put on weight?"

I play sports. Mainly football although I have been known to dabble in hockey, netball, athletics and the like. My issue is that because I'm small, I sometimes get pushed off the ball too easily. Not because I'm not strong (I have a brother and father to vouch for that!), but because the majority of the opposition could probably bench press me. Do I think it's holding me back in my sport? No. Not 98% of the time. But that other 2% pisses me off. I work hard to be fit and strong and to be a good player so when I lose out because of something like how much I weigh, it can be very disheartening.

As a result, I obsess about my weight. Not how to lose it like a large proportion of the population, but how to gain it effectively, and keep the weight on. God knows I've tried various different things. It's also not easy on a student budget.

Hey, ho. I still managed to chase the ball down and make a goal-line clearance on Sunday, even though I do weigh next to nothing! Life is good :)