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

How about you all? Are you lucky? Or do you just work your butt off? Am I the only person this bothers? Maybe I'm just *****y today...:blushing:

It doesn't bother me because that would be the last conversation I'd ever have with that person.

I totally understand why people would say "I would give anything..." except an hour at the gym and healthy food choices. Some people can put in the effort to "eat right and exercise", but for others, this leaves out a HUGE part of the equation.

Being disciplined in eating and exercising are, of course, important. BUT, for some people, the emotional piece is much bigger. Some people use food to "self-medicate" or fill emotional voids or symbolically insulate themselves from other people. Some use food as their only coping mechanism to sooth internal shame or self-loathing or abandonment or whatever. I think the reason many diets fail is because "healthy diet" advice rarely addresses issues of emotional food issues. And for some people, until they find or develop better ways to address these kinds of deeper needs, sticking to diet and exercise is more than they can handle.

However, I agree that it's NOT okay for anybody to dismiss the all the lifestyle changes and all the hard work as merely "luck". You have every right to be proud of an accomplishment you've worked hard for, and if someone told me I was "lucky", I'd want to smack them. But instead I'd just say something like "It's not luck, I've been working very hard, every day, for a long time to reach these goals, and if you're interested I can help you, too."

Oh this is so true. And not only the coping mechanism or emotional eating but the way some people were brought up. I know a lady who's mother would go out looking for her tom-catting husband at night and put her daughter in the back seat of the car with a bag of candy to keep her quiet. And bribe her all the time with different treats. Now this lady knows every diet in the book forward and backward and understands completely what she must do but she will never be able to lose weight until she gets over the emotional issues relating to what she calls "her" food. Really sad.

Even still, it would be annoying if she said those of us who lost weight were "lucky"

I was told by a 'friend' that she wouldn't 'waste her life' working out or eating right because there are more important things. It just got my back up. If there are more important things to her, that's fine, but I didn't appreciate the insinuation that I'm wasting MY life.

I think it's a mental shift people have to make for themselves.

And there's just no explaining to some of them!

Really? Ok. You can have my body. Just give me 1 hour in the gym of your very best effort

I wouldn't. I see this quite a lot in the gym. Thin keen girl teaching fatter friend how to lose weight. Only that the thin girl gets far too keen and serious and her friend always looks like she can't wait for the whole thing to end. I always end up feeling sorry for them.

Whether they succeed or fail is down to them. I'd just leave them to it. Being there with them is just more of a turn-off than a motivator.

I usually get "I'd LOVE to look like you. I'm just not that dedicated..." Umm, I'm not sure what these people think I do all day - I work at a desk job. I don't spend endless hours in the gym. Also, I except for when I was training for a competition, I don't give up foods I love.

Honestly, I am "lucky". This doesn't mean that I don't work to lose weight, or that I don't have to be careful so that I can keep it off, it just means that when I do start working my butt off my results happen quickly. I lose weight quickly and gain it slowly. The only thing that my body can't handle and causes me to gain weight like crazy is alcohol and so I don't drink anymore.

I am counting calories now but even when I am not I have learned to listen and adapt to my body. I learned I can eat as much ice cream as I want and never gain an ounce but one cupcake and I am +5 lbs. I learned that I feel great, have energy and metabolize lean meats very well but red meat makes me sick to my stomach and causes me to gain as well. Grains are bad for me and fruits cause me weight gain as well, but anything dairy doesn't phase me and fish is a Godsend.....

I lost 70lbs of baby weight (50lbs was baby weight, the other 20lbs was because I was chunky beforehand from drinking pre-pregnancy) in 1 year, without thinking about it because I was walking everyday with my son in the stroller, sometimes for 4 or 5 hours, just out all day. I was eating when I was hungry, what I wanted and stopped as soon as I was full. I never ate for emotional reasons.

My point is I feel that a lot of "lucky" people are just really in tuned to their bodies signals and don't fight them. They don't use food as a crutch and have a healthy relationship with it.

I also believe that there are "unlucky" people as well, such as those with slow metabolisms, thyroid issues, emotional and physical stress in their lives that might cause them to develop an unhealthy relationship with food. If I were you and someone where to say to me, oh you are so skinny, you are so lucky, I would say.... No, I am not lucky, I worked my butt off and you can too. Others that are the "lucky" ones can just say thank you and be on with it.

Happens to me at work all the time too. So many people ask me how I'm doing it, and then don't believe me when I tell them. Some of them get quite snotty with me, like I'm keeping a big secret from them. Admittedly it probably is easier for me, given that I'm a guy in my twenties and most of them are middle-aged women (younger, more muscle-mass, etc), but there's still one simple truth: burn more calories than you take in, and you lose weight.

SO true. I get this often, the weight just "fell off", PLEASE! I've worked my TAIL off for this! Everyone wants a magic pill, it's called CHANGE your lifestyle and then you'll see results!

I hear, "You're lucky you can eat whatever you want."

Uh... no. I want what I eat, but I don't necessarily eat *whatever* I want. And it's not luck, it's hard work. Come running with me 3x a week and lift with me 3x a week and do exactly what it is I do and eat, and log everything you eat, then tell me if it's luck.

I understand what you're saying, but I kind of hate the idea behind it. Fat =/= lazy.

Everyone's bodies are different. Everyone has a different cultural background and personal history. What's easy for you may not be easy for others. If all it took was motivation then don't you think that the people that spend their lives trying to get thin would be there already? It doesn't take motivation and deprivation to cabbage soup diet or south beach?

The problem is bigger than people being lazy. It's a lack of education and bulls*it marketing that makes people believe that losing weight should be a quick and easy process and not a slow and tedious one. Fast food is cheap. Gym memberships are expensive. And not everyone has the same relationship with food as you do. Or genetics.

Get off your high horse.