Living The Lifestyle (LTL) Monday 1/16/2017

Jerdtrmndone

Everyone says it, but just how do you do it? How do you take the guidelines of the WW program and turn them into a lifestyle you can live every day...from now on? That is what we are here to explore. Each weekday, a new topic is offered up for discussion. Newbie? Join in! Veteran? Join in! Your thoughts may be just what someone else needs to hear.

Monday -- Jerdtrmndone (Jerry)
Tuesday -- whathapnd (Emmie)
Wednesday -- DavidKuhnsSr (David)
Thursday -- Imastar2 (Derrick)
Friday -- Al_Howard (Al)

Today's topic: Behavior

When in the past before your weight loss journey did you behave in a matter of being the person you truly are or were you like an impersonator because you were not happy to please the people around you?

Since your journey and lifestyle changes and you were the impersonator have you made the changes in life and become the person you want to be?

Jerdtrmndone

When I was at the top of my Weight I was defiantly not happy at all. Ok I was this guy that would drink to being drunk and eating way beyond full. I even heard people say that man is not very nice and this was hurtful because I did not believe I was that person so I guess I was impersonating someone I really was not.

Through my journey and lifestyle changes and support I also learned how to except life and lost the weight I needed to be happy and the person I am today and I am happier than ever and have a good attitude towards life and now people tell me I am very pleasant to talk to and I have a kind heart. This is a good felling and nice to hear.

DavidKuhnsSr

I have seen shifts in my behavior, over the years, but I don't think they had any relation to my weight. Before I retired, I managed to alienate most of my coworkers by being a jerk. I was unhappy with my job and my perception that I was undervalued by the supervisory chain. I took it out on those around me. This got to it's worst point when I was losing weight under WW. One reason I retired was that I had made my workplace too uncomfortable to continue.

I do better, now. But that is through a lot of prayer and introspection. Now that same type of effort has helped me find a level of success in losing weight and maintaining, but my being a jerk and my being fat were unrelated.

gadgetgirlIL

@DavidKuhnsSr - Sadly, I can relate to your post. I was not a very nice person when I was working a job doing computer support where I was frequently woke up in the middle of the night to fix production jobs that had crashed. A conversion to a new computer system had been forced in by upper management and we spent at least 6 months picking up the pieces.

There have been other times in the workplace that I've been hard to work with. Those times are correlated with too much work, not feeling in control of my workload, and too little sleep. They were not related to my weight status.

imastar2

Prior to weight loss and at my highest I was pretty much worthless to myself and most people around me because I had severe OSA (Obstructive Sleep Apnea). I found myself sleeping alot and even going to sleep at my desk at work. Once I got tested and got on bi/pap machine the weight been to come off and I no longer had an insatiable appetite.

So I pretty much have had the same attitude as prior WW but have been a lot more active. My overall behavior however I believe hasn't changed. I am however much more happier. I have another 100 lbs to go and this next 100 has been a lot harder than the fist 100.

leeless511

I can't say I was an impersonator but I was less confident.

My weight crept up after I sold my company and got married, our first ten years of marriage were full of stressful life events, involving loved ones.

The biggest was when my 15 year old step daughter was in a car crash, she broke every limb in her body, along with a fractured hip and brain damage that required her to learn to walk and speak again. At the time I was the only parent that was not working, thus became the primary caretaker. She spent about 3-4 months in the hospital and then rehab facility. I was not only supporting/caring for her, I also worried/cared for my husband who was a mess as well from worry. We only focused on her and let ourselves go quite a bit. This is when my weight climbed and did not stop even when she was back to healthy (and in some ways even better than she was before the accident.)

I went back to work after this event and not being at my fighting weight I found I was less secure. Mind you I am very confident in business/work environments. When I started losing weight my confidence grew at work and beyond. When I was 10 pounds away from goal, I said to a co-worker...10 more pounds and I'm out of here. The place was dysfunctional but it worked for me while I developed some new skills and lost weight.

Now since I have been at goal for 4 years, my overall confidence and well being have lead to my most optimal self. I still have things to work on but I am a very different person. I don't attribute the weight loss alone to this change, I think age and experiences played a role in it too.

Still a work in progress, but way more happier.

podkey

Gotta think about this one.

88olds

Well, I was a pretty unhappy fat guy. But I didn't really beat myself up about my weight. I just sort watched the scale march ahead wondering when it was going to end. I didn't really let the notion of change take hold in my brain figuring that if I tried to change but couldn't I'd be totally depressed.

podkey

I wasn't overweight as a child or until sometime in college. Became obese in Grad School at some point and the struggles began with the ups and downs. I did not have a negative self image though. I am still working on the patience thing and being grumpy too.

Rachel0778

I struggled a lot with insecurity when I was a higher weight. I would sometimes start crying trying to pick out an outfit to go out (sad but true).

Now I rarely think about clothes and often find myself checking myself out in the mirror in a positive way.

Because I'm no longer so insecure, I now say yes to new experiences and challenges. I even decided to try out for the roller derby team even though I haven't been on skates since I was 11, and after 3 months of practice I made it on the team! Fear is no longer a primary word in my vocabulary and I love it.

minimyzeme

Interesting question and insightful responses...

I think I was largely cruising pre-WW. On the surface which is all I really knew, I was pretty happy-go-lucky. I ate and drank like that guy. I got along well with most co-workers, many of whom I ate and drank with. Prior to moving here, I lived and worked in a very remote part of the Western U.S. and my co-workers were my primary social group.

I moved here almost 15 years ago (hard to believe!) when my Mom's health was failing. Helping with her care and associated family dynamics stressed me out and was probably one of the things that led me to start eating and drinking even more, as a crutch to deal with the circumstances. Coupled with work that brought me closer to local politics than I'd ever been before, I just piled it on. I started to become aware that some of my behavior was still social but some was a relief valve. That awareness was buried several layers deep, but it did start to surface. Still though, I didn't change it. I got bigger and bigger and with those changes, I lost confidence in my interactions at work. I started to move toward depression quite often.

When I finally made the decision to move from thinking about losing weight to actually doing it by enrolling in WW, ironically it came at a time when I was experiencing increased depression. I felt like the weight I was losing was being replaced with heavier loads on my mind and heart. It almost made me long for the 'old days', prior to WW. However, I did come to realize the food and drink weren't solving any problems, only making them worse. I began to fully appreciate the difference between short-term face-stuffing and long-term taking care of myself. I realized that no matter what I was carrying mentally or emotionally, I was doing no good adding physical weight to the load.

Now, it's a mixed bag. I think I am probably more in touch with who I really am, maybe more as a side benefit of figuring out some of my eating behaviors. I do feel better about myself and in a way, more genuine. Losing weight has not taken away some of the other things I'm dealing with, but I've been able to apply some of the tools learned in weight loss to other aspects of my life. I'd say I'm closer to the person I want to be and I take that as a beneficial part of weight loss.