I'm a 39 year-old happily married gal (since 1997) who's deathly afraid of turning the dreaded 40 in three months (yeah, I know what it says on my signature but I'm not liking growing older, lol). So, I've gone full-throttle with my fitness and managed to whittle myself down to an American size 2 and 117 lbs. I'm probably in the best shape of my life. My question is this: do men really care about how fit a woman is particularly as she gets um, a little older? I mean I don't expect him to look like the guy I met in college almost 20 years ago. Although for the record, he still has a full head of dark brown hair, lol. I think he's more handsome than ever. Anyway...
I remember my father joking when I was a teenager that once a woman turned 40, she'd better watch out because her hubby might trade her in for a couple of twenty-year olds. In theory, I know my DH loves me but I feel so much pressure to maintain a youthful appearance and I'm worried that a younger, prettier woman would turn his head. I know it sounds ridiculous but that's how I feel. He does tell me I'm beautiful and all that.
The closer it gets to my birthday, the more anxious and overwrought I get. Is this normal to feel this way? BTW, my DH is the same age as me (he turns 40 the day after me, lol) and is now probably 30 lbs. overweight. He has no problems with his self-esteem whatsoever and our um, 'intimate life', quite frankly, has never been better.
Do men expect women to look like cover models even as we age or is that just a stupid myth?