Former GoaD - interesting WL article
Options
Calvin2008Brian
Posts: 1,024 Member
I can't recall Amanda's WW screen name. It will come to me. She was active 2008-2010-ish, especially in the running thread.
You'll find this interesting, no doubt.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4718068/Woman-gives-dieting-gets-fat-happier-ever.html
You'll find this interesting, no doubt.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4718068/Woman-gives-dieting-gets-fat-happier-ever.html
0
Replies
-
Amanda was Doll or Dollface (or something similar) on the old WW boards.0
-
I know that feeling so I feel complete empathy for her. 5-6 years ago, I dieted down to 130lbs (20lbs less than I am now). It was absolutely awful to maintain. I was obsessively tracking and over-exercising. I'd cancel plans with friends over fear of food and social events. It honestly turned into a full blown eating disorder. I have since sorted things out with mental health professionals and found a place/goal weight where my body is more comfortable. It sounds like she might have been going through a similar mental struggle. I'm glad she's now in a healthier mental place.2
-
From what I am seeing in the article, is "I don't care what I look like.. I don't care that I am obese." (Which is her prerogative and right to do entirely) but I'm not going to celebrate with her over it.
She went from one extreme (obsession and borderline eating disorder) to the other (gaining 60 lb in less than 9 months...), and trying to convince herself that it's a good thing.
SNIP
'So I surrendered and got really fat. In March last year I weighed 160lbs and by Christmas I was 220lbs.'
But despite feeling a huge sense of relief after finally letting loose and allowing herself to indulge for the first time in years, Amanda admits that coming to terms with her new body was incredibly difficult.
'But now I feel really really really really good; the inside of my head is a happier place,' Amanda said.
'Finally I'm a lot more OK with who I am. It makes me so sad to think that I was being so mean to myself for so long.'
END SNIP
I believe to be successful, we have to have balance... that we have to live a way that is sustainable and keeps us in a good place mentally as well as physically, and IMNHO, she's not there. If she continues, she'll wake up in a few years, unable to tie her own shoes, and go get a diagnosis of type II diabetes and suddenly feel not so great about it.
@Rachel0778 The difference, though, is that you are still maintaining a healthy lifestyle, albeit on a slightly more relaxed state. I don't equate what she's doing to what you are doing in any way, shape, or form.
2 -
If you're interested in a deeper dive, this is the blog article that caught the attention of the DailyMail reporter, that led to an interview, that led to the article linked above:
https://classicamanda.com/the-year-i-got-fat/
I try to appreciate the perspective without making a judgment, but @bwmalone makes a good point about balance and how it seems not-quite-right here. But then again, my balance isn't your balance isn't Amanda's balance. In the blog article she does explain that she exercises several times per week and doesn't binge eat. I don't know. Time will tell. We're all on our own journeys, right?
2 -
@Calvin2008Brian You are right about judgement - I suffered through a tinge of guilt at it while writing it.. thought about clearing my writing instead of hitting post.
... then stomped on that guilt intentionally.
I'm not trying to judge her for what she's doing to her body or her lifestyle .. that's her choice, and though I believe that it will not turn well for her in the long run if she continues, those are her consequences and that's fine - it's her journey... her balance. It's all good.
I read the blog... and the comments after are overwhelmingly positive, overwhelmingly of the variety of "Me too! Thanks for this - its exactly what I needed to hear!"
My judgement is that it appears that she's trying to spread the word that this is a Good Thing... that this improves her health (mentally) - and I am concerned that there will be people who read it and justify unhealthy lifestyle choices as a result, which can have real consequences for those people. It may be that those people would find something else.. it doesn't make what she's doing right.
Anyway - that's just my $0.02, and with inflation, isn't worth the digital currency it's printed in.2 -
I have mixed feelings on this topic. I work with elderly people on a daily basis. I've seen first hand that carrying around a lot of excess weight over the course of your life does have consequences on your joints which translates into mobility issues and a lack of physical independence. I also think it is the rare person who is obese that manages to make it into their elder years without developing some level of dis-regulation of the blood glucose. Prolonged elevation of glucose levels leads to both microvascular as well as macrovascular damage.
I do appreciate the need for a healthy relationship with food and your body which may mean not chasing unrealistic or unsustainable body weights.2 -
Wow! Great thoughts, all of you! I've been busy/distracted lately so haven't been logging in regularly. Really glad I stopped by tonight. Great food for thought!2
-
It seems hers is a case or the outcome of obsession, maybe at her mother's insistence, from an early age. I can imagine that kind of influence early on leaves a lasting impression--a mother's insistence on "perfection" from her child. I think that's one of the saddest pieces of this story.
I grew up as a fat kid, unable to do some of the things I would have like to have done but I never felt the pressure for "perfection". Fast forward several decades, when I started WW one of the first thing that caught my attention was the obsession on the scale that many members had at my meeting. We've already discussed some differences in societal expectations between the genders in this regard and I give that real credence. However, I knew if I made weight loss a race or an obsession, I'd abandon ship quickly. I think I've found balance for the time being and my focus now is on maintaining that, just a day or two at a time.
I tend to agree with @bwmalone . Someone used the phrase with me a few years ago "Not my monkey, not my circus". I've come to embrace that concept far more than I used to, especially in this context. If her approach works for Amanda, good for her. As a recently somewhat-reformed eater, it wouldn't work for me. Now that I've come to appreciate some of the benefits of significant weight loss, I want to stay the course. As I learned right here, persistence, not perfection...2 -
I don't know if I remember her from the past but It sounds like she has found peace and acceptance with herself at her new weight. I wish her much happiness. If weight loss is such a negative force in your life I don't think you will ever win that battle. In Amanda's case perhaps one day she will decide she would like to lose some weight for reasons that are important to her not because she was feels she has to and isn't thin enough. How can you ever be at a "healthy" weight if you are miserable? She seems to have a healthy self image now and that will enable her to take on whatever challenges she chooses.4
-
Like Bill, I too am glad she feels at peace. But she is not at a healthy weight and it will affect her health sooner or later. I seems her reasoning for staying slim was more image than health. Maybe that will change and with a more healthy motivation she'll get back to a healthy weight.1
-
Glad she has some peace as Lee says. I do feel sorry for the obsession that was created (in my view) for her at such a young age. I know young girls who were a bit big as pre-teens but were allowed to "grow out of it" as they became teenagers on their own without dieting etc. Sorry she had such a 24/7 misery.1
-
Actually, I found the original blogpost disturbing. Not because of her weight. Or her refusal to get 'caught up' any longer in the expectations game. No, it's the crash diets, the excessive exercise regimens, the diuretics. It makes me wonder if she has some kind of body dysmorphic disorder (NOTE: I'm not diagnosing here, just speculating). Whatever she's got going on, I don't get the impression it's particularly healthy, physical or otherwise.
It's not that she doesn't raise good points about everything from fat shaming to the mental energy required of weight management. It's just that those good points are buffeted by some very concerning attitudes and behaviors.1 -
Whatever she's got going on, I don't get the impression it's particularly healthy, physical or otherwise.
When I first met Amanda in the GoaD running thread she was doing way too much, way too quickly, and eventually ran a first marathon on a fractured foot. I guess what I'm saying is "trust your instinct."
2 -
I just don't get the idea that her current 'instinct' is much better than her prior instinct. It appears differently rooted in dysfunction.
YMMV.1 -
Sadly puts the O and C into obsessive compulsive I think.0
-
@countcurt - you might have misread my post. I meant, literally, "your" instinct ... as in your impression that what's happening with Amanda is not particularly healthy. I agree. I was offering up the first marathon as a case in point.0
-
I have someone on my FL right now that is going down this path...
When he's On, he's doing 100% shake diet... 1500 cals, underestimating calorie burn on workouts to the extreme (3-4 hour day and calling it 200 calories)... Lots of prehormone supplements.. Then crashes, binges 10,000 cal days for anywhere from 1-5 days, gaining 5-15 lb in the process.
He's battling severe depression on top of it all, and there isn't anything that anyone says that can make a difference to his attitude or actions... MANY have been trying including myself.
The struggle is real, and for some of us, I think it becomes a very unhealthy way of trying to achieve something.
.... extremes in EITHER direction are bad.
0 -
Calvin2008Brian wrote: »@countcurt - you might have misread my post. I meant, literally, "your" instinct ... as in your impression that what's happening with Amanda is not particularly healthy. I agree. I was offering up the first marathon as a case in point.
Oops. My bad.0 -
I can relate a little with Amanda... simply because when I'm not dieting I don't have to expend energy thinking about what I'm shoving down my piehole. It takes off some mental stress. In conjunction, eating those deliciously fat, salty, sugary foods give me a lift after a hard day at work.
Of course when the see-saw goes up one way, it goes down another.
I am happier in certain areas of my life than I was when I was in good shape. I fell into a great relationship, landed a sweet gig and finished a big passion project of mine... but the slow, pudgy body that get's winded walking up a gentle incline makes other parts of my life miserable. I just want to be able to run 3 miles again.
I've finally reached the point where I hate being fat more than I hate counting calories, so I'm back on the wagon. I know several of you have stayed on the wagon and maintained a healthy weight, and I know balance is key... but I haven't quite cracked the code yet.
I'll get there.3
