I’m Mitsuki, a mother in a family of four with my husband, Shigeru, our eldest daughter Yuna (7th grade), and our eldest son Itsuki (4th grade). Shigeru and I have been married for 15 years. We’ve lived peacefully together with a clear division of labor—he handles work, while I manage the household and kids. I used to think that even after the kids left the nest, we’d keep supporting each other just like this. But just as I was thinking that, my husband looked me straight in the eye and said, “From now on, I only want us to stay close as parents to our kids.” He told me he can no longer see me as a woman… I was convinced he must be having an affair. But as it turned out, the root cause was my body—I had gained 66 pounds after having kids.
My husband’s words left me trapped in a hurricane of emotions—heartbroken, humiliated, and deeply hurt.
Sure, I admit I gained way too much weight.
But my extra weight is practically a badge of honor from raising our kids.
I poured everything into parenting, got completely burned out by the stress, and turned to food to cope…
My body today is simply the cumulative product of that endless cycle.
If anyone else called me “overweight,” I wouldn’t care.
But hearing it from my husband—the one person who was supposed to be in the trenches right beside me—felt like having everything I’d ever worked for completely erased.