*DIET*, n: The penalty for exceeding the feed limit.
That definition is from Not Your Average Dictionary, and it’s a noun I’ve been in need of putting to good use lately.
My pants are getting shorter, and that means I’m gaining weight. How can that happen in the summer, of all times? We’re more active in the summer, right? We sweat those goodies we’ve delightfully consumed right out of our systems. Right?! Isn’t that what’s supposed to happen? If this doesn’t end soon, the button on my pants will reach maximum overdrive and pop off at such a high velocity that it will have the capability of putting an eye out from a distance of 40 feet.
Know what that’s like?
Jupiter has been transiting my first house…and it’s a big first house. They say that Jupiter transiting the first house can indicate the possibility of weight gain. Seems to be the case for me, even if coincidentally. Coupled with the sedentariness of blogging, it’s a powerful force. Surely it doesn’t have a thing to do with what I’ve been eating.
If you have Aquarius Rising, or within your first house, this is a current transit for you, too, because Jupiter has been traveling through Aquarius since the beginning of 2009 and will stay into 2010. Cap Ascendants have recently been through this. A warning to all Pisces Risings ~ you’re next!
Here’s a poll to see if it’s happened to you ~ weight gain, that is ~ while Jupiter crossed your Ascendant. Is Saturn the antidote? Do we, as one of Oprah’s doctors advised her, have to “embrace hunger” to rein in Jupiter? I’d be interested in hearing your stories about what you noticed during a Jupiter transit of the first.
Auntie Moon 
There’s always the exception that proves the rule! I have always found the opposite to the conventional wisdom, because when Jupiter has been over my Ascendant and in my 1st House I have been able to lose a lot of weight because I have been happier. I don’t know whether this is because I’m Sagittarian.
Lana
Love that definition, CJ. One of my neighbors has a bumper sticker that says, “I’ve been on a diet for 30 days and all I’ve lost is a month.”
I would have to add that a person with a chronic proclivity to too much overindulgence with food (say Jupiter in the 12th in Cancer–like moi–which DOES have its downsides, despite all the rave about it being exalted there) might also tend to gain quite a lot of weight while Jupiter went through the 12th and then the 1st.
HOWEVER, during one such lengthy sojurn of Jupiter to 12/1, I lost an unbelievable amount of weight, but that was because I was forewarned by astrology and got down to SERIOUS business.
Astrology only works if we work it, ya know? I remember that at the same time Jupiter was doing all that to my 12/1st, Saturn was also going through my second, and I laughed and laughed about it being the time I was going to have to pay the bills. But I was loosing all that weight, so I figured I DESERVED new clothes and I charged and charged and charged. And sure enough, right about the time I reached my goal weight, I also reached the limits of my credit, and then I had to pay and pay and pay. That was back in my younger and much more foolish days.
I love hearing that you both lost weight with Jup in the first. It gives me hope. Lana, the happy factor is very important and I’m glad you pointed that out. I’m curious if this is cyclical for you when Jup goes through your first.
Sometimes the obvious things are the ones I miss. I lost weight while Jupiter went through my 12th, too. (I have a tendency to forget that the 12th is a health house, but it definitely is.) So, this is rebound weight that’s going back on. Like you said, Donna, I had a heads-up from astrology on the weight coming back, and dreaded it, but here it is anyway…and it doesn’t have anything to do with anything except my behavior. Being forewarned and then ignoring and indulging is just my irresponsibility, and it does a real head trip on self-esteem, too.
It’s weird- when Jupiter was hovering in and around my 1st House, Saturn was also in my 12th House, and I was at the peak of my eating disorder. Exercising every day for at least two hours, binge-eating and taking laxatives, then not eating anything for days and drinking straight vinegar so I’d be full- and all the while thinking I was the most grotesque monster to have ever lived. I look back at the few pictures of me there are from that time, and I can see now that I actually was NOT fat at all, far from it- in fact, I had one of those see-through clavicles and I was in the best physical shape I’ve ever been in my life- but it didn’t matter. I FELT like I was gigantic.
I’ve made tremendous strides since then, and even though I am empirically overweight and definitely not thin now, I feel a lot better about my body image in general. I don’t feel the same kind of pressure to restrict my eating and punish myself for feeling hungry or excited about food. And I don’t feel like certain clothes are off-limits to me because of my body, or that overweight immediately equals unattractive.
Learning a lot about the Health At Every Size movement has helped too- which is exactly what it sounds like. Your weight is not the ultimate barometer of your health. In fact, there have been many arguments made that low weight and high body fat can actually be a lot more harmful than high weight. And, after all, muscle does weigh more than fat.
You are so right about body image issues, Lucy. We become mesmerized in a way and can’t see ourselves clearly. When I was at my thinnest, I was pretty haggard looking actually. It’s such a head game. Just today someone called me a “little whisper of a woman.” Believe me when I say I am far from that, but it sure sounded nice to the me that has been judging myself so harshly lately.
I don’t know about the Health at Every Size movement, Lucy. Thanks for mentioning that. I’m about to do a little Virgo-time research now.
You asked if my experience was cyclical…Coming up to 60 years of age, Jupiter has been round the block a few times, so yes I can say it has been cyclical while I have been observing it in my adult life. Hope the weight issues benefit from this interesting discussion for all concerned!
Lana
My experience is cyclical, too. I’ve gone through major weight losses with Saturn transits connected to the 1st and 7th — conjunctions and oppositions. Every 14 years, my weight drops, and it probably is more connected to the happy factor than anything else. I suppose for me it’s about being unhappy, and a symptom being to stop eating. Unhappiness is not a great incentive, but for a Cancer/Taurus Moon, it certainly hits my soft spot.
Thanks, Lana.
CJ-
Interesting blog. I too have had Jupiter going through my 1st. I knew about it ahead of time and like Lana, I headed to the gym and ended up losing about 10 lbs.
My cousin, who has the same cap asc, got pregnant and just had a baby! Then there is my good friend also with a cap asc and she did gain a bit of weight, but she needed to!
-Paige
Hi, Paige! I’m glad to see you here. It seems I’m the only one who didn’t work my chart and avoid this. Had my eyes wide open and did nothing.