The down sides of weight loss

lesspaul

I know the forum topic is "Motivation and Support." This post falls under the latter.

We all know that losing weight and gaining fitness is a tough road. We know we will have to make life changes, trade sofa/TV time for more active pursuits. It is no surprise that we must forego or at least limit some of our favorite go-to foods. We know it isn't going to be easy, and that we are going to backslide from time to time. As much as an uphill climb the road between where we were and where we want to be might be, at least we have an inkling of what we are going to be in for.

However, there are some hard truths to losing weight and getting fitter that we might not have anticipated.

Ridicule from old friends over our new ways. People telling us that we are becoming "obsessed" People who are insulted because we don't eat huge portions of the meals they worked hard to prepare. Losing commonality with our partners, and causing relationship stresses.

What have been your surprise negatives on the road to self betterment, and what have you done to turn that negative into a positive?

squatsandlipgloss

I have not yet experienced people saying I am obsessed, but the negative sides to this journey for me are (and this might sound weird to some people) that people that get inspired by me doing great, will go into it thinking it is so easy. They will just pick up any exercise program (from couch potato to Insanity simply isn't a good idea!!) and change their eating habits without even doing their research or asking me question/advice and they simply don't last very long.

I find it offensive that people think that getting healthy and losing weight is the same thing, as well as them thinking that it is so easy for me to do it. I have spent ENDLESS hours, days, WEEKS doing research on food, I stay involved with MFP for example, I read up on exercise, fitness, nutrition DAILY.

lesspaul

I have not yet experienced people saying I am obsessed, but the negative sides to this journey for me are (and this might sound weird to some people) that people that get inspired by me doing great, will go into it thinking it is so easy. They will just pick up any exercise program (from couch potato to Insanity simply isn't a good idea!!) and change their eating habits without even doing their research or asking me question/advice and they simply don't last very long.

I find it offensive that people think that getting healthy and losing weight is the same thing, as well as them thinking that it is so easy for me to do it. I have spent ENDLESS hours, days, WEEKS doing research on food, I stay involved with MFP for example, I read up on exercise, fitness, nutrition DAILY.

I understand what you are saying. So many people are convinced there is an easy way, and that some of us have stumbled upon the magic pill. Watch faces glaze over when you say you are exercising hours a week and/or giving up favorite foods or drastically reducing portion sizes.

Then there are the people who simply underestimate your hard work and resolve. They don't understand the inner strength that you needed to build in order to create the visible outer results.

My wife is a physician. Day in and day out overweight patients tell her that she doesn't understand because she is thin. No, not so. She is thin because she understands. Not a day goes by that a 300 pound patient doesn't claim to "eat like a bird" and "get lots of exercise." Self-deception is a strong drug. And lets face it, most of us would not be on these forums if we haven't had that same issue to some degree ourselves.

The truth is that some people truly are addicted to food. And regarding being at a healthy weight and fit, they literally want their cake and to eat it too.