I would give ANYTHING...well, except any effort whatsoever

LiftAllThePizzas

Of ALL PEOPLE TO SYMPATHIZE with their situation, I would THINK it would be people who WERE IN their shoes (and once weighed more)! Instead people on this thread call them "lazy" and "fat *kitten*". Honestly, even taking the step to change is effing HARD.

Maybe it's because people who have been there know that all the excuses are just lame BS excuses.

gsmithnp

Many of the issues people have (that I see) that keep them from losing weight:

1. Emotional issues relating to food (such as the person whose mother used food as a coping strategy after a traumatic event). Hopefully the individual will recognize that they have these emotional ties to food and find some way to deal with that, either through counseling or whatever.

2. A distorted perception of what a healthy weight should be. Some people honestly don't know HOW overweight they are--or their kids are. Or they have unrealistic expectations, thinking they should look like a magazine model.

3. A distored perception of what "eating healthy" looks like. Overly large portion sizes and high-calorie drinks sabotage weight loss efforts. I've had many people say "I don't drink pop, but I drink Gatorade/juice instead," not realizing that they have about the same amount of sugar. Or they eat cereal for breakfast, but don't realize they are eating 2-3 times the recommended portion size.

4. A distored perception of what exercise should be. I literally had one person tell me "I tried walking but my heart started beating fast and I started sweating so I stopped." She honestly didn't realize that it was the body's normal response to exertion.

carhicks

Seriously, I do not have an athletic body (yet) but I work hard to get in shape. I spend a lot of time in the gym, out walking and riding around the neighbourhood etc. I am not where you are (yet) so no one has said that to me, but when that time comes, I now have a great response. thanks

fiberartist219

I totally agree. I'm having success now, but I promise that if I had tried this two years ago, there's no way I would have been successful.

The difference is, two years ago I was working a stressful 9-5 job with a 90-minute commute every morning and night, plus some evenings and weekends. It was all I could do just to keep up with laundry and get halfway decent sleep. Now, I am LUCKY, that I have a job that affords me a better work-life balance (shorter commute, work from home some days, etc.), and I'm LUCKY that I have a supportive husband who has stopped bringing junk food into the house, and I'm LUCKY that I live someplace where walking is safe and easy, and I'm LUCKY to be free of the tremendous relationship and financial and work stresses that used to hold me back, and I'm LUCKY to have a doctor who helped me figure out how to overcome some of the challenges of PCOS, and I'm LUCKY to have supportive friends who will take walks with me and offer ideas or suggestions when I come up against a problem, and I'm LUCKY to have been born into a family that helped me develop coping strategies for life's problems that don't involve food.

I was going to get in here and say this, but she beat me to it.

As someone who is losing weight for the second time around... Do NONE of you remember when you were heavier (some, GREATLY overweight like I happen to be) and felt hopeless? You really NEVER wished for your weight to just fall off? I don't believe it one bit.

People who are overweight get generalized all the time, made fun of, beat down, treated as worthless because they aren't "beautiful". Of ALL PEOPLE TO SYMPATHIZE with their situation, I would THINK it would be people who WERE IN their shoes (and once weighed more)! Instead people on this thread call them "lazy" and "fat *kitten*". Honestly, even taking the step to change is effing HARD.

I have been thin before and I WILL be thin again, but I sure hope I do not lose touch with myself like this.

Yes! That's exactly what I was getting at. A little empathy can go a long way!

Also: I don't think there's anything wrong with ranting a little and getting the frustration off your chest. Not at all. I was just a little startled by the more hostile comments about fat, lazy people, especially on a website that mostly caters to overweight people!

You might be LUCKY to have a great husband, but I bet you CHOSE him on purpose, and WORKED to keep a good relationship with him, and you CHOSE your job and WORKED hard to keep up with that, and you PAY for your house... None of these things just fell upon you. Perhaps you met some people by luck, but you built relationships with your husband, your employer, your doctor ON PURPOSE.

I get frustrated when people ask me a question about my weight loss and don't listen to the answer because it discredits my hard work and dedication.

No, it's not easy to get started... but don't ask for help if you aren't ready for it.

One of my coworkers keeps asking what I have been doing, how much weight I've lost, and then she acts like she can't do any of those things because she has a kid... but I've met her daughter and I know that her daughter would exercise WITH her if she wanted to get moving.

I can't stand it when people pretend that are helpless because of their husband or kids... as if they don't know how those people got into their house.

I have worked very hard to find a job that ends at a reasonable hour, and a husband who loves me just as I am, and to NOT take on so much that my life is out of control.

It's not luck... well, some of it is, but most of it isn't. I'm unlucky because I have a thyroid problem, but I'm not a prisoner to it. My cycle isn't regular and it's taken me 2 years to lose 20 lbs, but I EARNED it. It didn't just happen out of nowhere.