Meanies, Snarkmeisters, Blunt Speakers

IndigoSpider

To All the Meanies, Snarkmeisters, Blunt Speakers, Tell-It-Like-It-IS Masters and even those that ask the same question for the billionth time,

THANK YOU!

I'm an infrequent commenter but frequently read through threads and wanted to get in before the usual "all you meanies suck" Friday thread.

I have dieted pretty much for my entire adult life until giving up completely in my mid-30s. I tried all sorts of crazy diets (the worst being liquid-only 800 calories a day for 12 weeks, ugh! Yes, this was "doctor" supervised) in foolish, and desperate, pursuit of the "magic" quick loss. I believed every hyped diet pill, latest fad food, miracle diet, etc., etc. Not because I'm an idiot but, well, honestly, just because it was easier to blame someone, or something, else rather than myself. I did enough self-blame for so many other things already.

By my mid-30s I gave up and ate whatever the hell I wanted, as much of it as possible, and if it wasn't smothered in cheese/salt/sugar than it wasn't on my plate. Veggies, pfftt, who needs 'em! Fruit, well, they were even better when covered with whipped cream or tossed in with milk and ice cream for a shake! (For the record, still good once in a while!)

Over the years, my weight went up and up and up. I remember stepping on the scale and seeing I surpassed 300 lbs and was horrified. BUT, not enough to change. I cried and ate even more. When I tried to lose weight, even with a huge deficit, the scale barely budged (lucky if I lost 1/2 a lb a month) so I didn't bother. The effort wasn't worth the minimal results.

Then, I hit 387 lbs (I'm six feet tall yet I still looked more wide than tall!) and the doctor told me I was border between pre-diabetic and diabetic. In other words, I could still make changes to avoid medications. I also have hypothryoidism, Celiac, PCOS, high blood pressure, and all sorts of metabolic and other issues. My hormones were a mess. She worked on regulating my hormones and the medical side, sent me to a certified dietician to work on what I can eat and the rest was up to me.

I was forced to make dramatic changes. I'm allergic to wheat(gluten), eggs, diary and soy. Yeah, all things I was eating (usually in massive quantities) so no wonder I was feeling like a slug! I didn't consider surgery simply because I knew I needed to heal my mental/emotional issues with food rather than attempt a (risky) surgery as another quick fix.

When I first signed onto MFP in December, I only did so to support a friend. I didn't actually begin to use it for myself until January, when I saw the doctor and decided to try, one more time, to lose weight and get healthy. My friend since dropped MFP but I am on a 133 day streak and I've lost 43 lbs (as of this morning).

Yes, regulating my hormones and getting the health issues under control helped. However, *I* put in the effort to change. *I* work hard to eat healthy and exercise. I went from a true couch potato (work at home writer, no kids, not even a dog) who could barely walk 10 minutes. I live on the 4th floor, no elevator, and honestly avoided leaving some days because the stairs were too difficult!

Now, I am up to 6 miles a week walking, 6 miles a week swimming, and strength training 3x a week. I'm faster and stronger already. I no longer need my blood pressure medications, my latest blood work shows I dropped my insulin levels 18 points (back to normal ranges) and my a1c is 5.1 (forget original, but think it was ~9.3). All of my numbers shifted into normal, or close to normal, ranges.

And a lot of it is because of the "meanies" of MFP. In reading threads I've learned a lot of important information. Even reading threads where people are so obviously in denial, or desperately want to believe the latest "Dr Oz miracle cure", I see myself and realize how far, mentally, I've come as well!

I'm by no means a heavy lifter but I was one of those who believed weights were for men, I didn't want to bulk (gasp!), and cardio was the way to go for weight loss. I HATE cardio and when I believed that was what was the only choice for weight loss, I avoided the gym like a rat jumps from a sinking ship. Because of the many threads on weights, I tried it. Oh my, I do love weights! I had no idea how fantastic weights would be! It keeps me going back and because of weights, I tried the pool which is another LOVE, and now I'm practically living at the gym hahaha

In six months I've made drastic changes and I've seen results. I use MFP for me, no one else, and I still only have 2 friends, one who stopped using shortly after joining and one very recent (who is actually a stranger but very nice so far). I'm not opposed to friends but really, I support me just fine.

However, I do find the forums invaluable specifically because of all the snarkmeisters and meanies. I see the blunt responses as honest, the truth tellers if you will, saying what we don't want to hear. Or, I know I didn't want to hear it! Some of the advice doesn't work for me, now, because of my medical issues, but overall I wish the forum meanies were around when I started "dieting" at 14. Maybe I could have avoided the lifetime of yo-yo diets and self-hate sooner.

So, tl:dr -- thank you for being you. Thank you for all the repeat questions, the silly threads, the meanies and snarkmeisters, the evil blunt speakers and all the rest. Without you, I don't think I would have come this far already!

Now, feel free to fill with .gifs for happy Friday meanies day!

Serah87

Congrats!!!

Lizrobin3108

Congratulations on your loss! I totally agree with you.... those "Meanies" make sense and I love them for it.

Azexas

I love posts like this.

Congrats OP!