I feel sorry for the new year resolutioners..

Being a lurker and watching the advice given even though most wasn't taken from the original poster, I learned a lot and I thank all of you judgmental mean people cause you have shown me that I can eat good food, not starve and be miserable and lose weight!

A lot of us write posts specifically because we know many lurkers will read it and benefit from it, even though (or especially when) the OP of a thread is already obviously a lost cause.

Mweh I must admit I don't believe so much in those new year resolutions either and never do so myself, but with that being said my husband stopped smoking on January the first this year and he still doesn't smoke, so you can't say all fail...

Hey look, I started in January 2013 too!

Guess what, judgmental MFPers...most people who start diets fail, not only the ones who start on January 1. Be supportive or shut up. This place really is like middle school sometimes.

Hey look, I started in January 2013 too!

Guess what, judgmental MFPers...most people who start diets fail, not only the ones who start on January 1. Be supportive or shut up. This place really is like middle school sometimes.

I started last January 1st and this January 1st will be my anniversary/MFP birthday, etc. My year has entailed a 25 lbs weight loss in the first few months as I learned what my body can do physically and what I can handle eating or giving up. (Turns out nothing...lol) That loss was followed by a maintenance of that loss that lasted several months. Then I got caulky and a little rebellious. I was fully aware when I was putting the weight back on and why, that was in the fall when some pretty big and stressful changes rather than fix my life put us in a bigger whirlwind than I expected and my attitude towards this suffered greatly. I am still aware of why I regained and how, just unsure how to stay focused and back to losing again. I hope the answer will come to me and I stayed logged on that whole time and January 1st this year when my update says I have logged on for 365 days that will be to me a victory in itself. Staying here has enabled me to notice my regain faster, and correct it quicker as well as gaining the new knowledge which I've garnered from some of the supposedly "mean"-est members on MFP, the knowledge of how to reassess my cal goals during this opportunity after experiencing some higher cal no logging days. I was logging from cell phones, other people's computers, etc. during a hectic move that had unexpected consequences not the least of which was unable to log foods even when logged on due to phone incompatibilty, but I stayed the course.

Keeping with it is not entirely correlated positively with losing the weight steadily or reaching one's goals. New goals emerge as new information is presented and synthesized. A person who shows up wanting to lose 50 LBS BY SUMMMER VACATION OR BUST!!!!!!!!! might easily be convinced that upon reflection their real goal is strength, or stamina, or general better eating, or less binge-ing, or recognition of some unhealthy food relationship. There are as many ways to succeed on this site as there are people and that in no way implies that there are unique special snowflakes who's bodies are so different, except for those with medical issues whether known or not. It only implies that people's goals can become fluid as they learn and play off one another and even though I have not achieved my original GET SKINNY AND FASSSSSTTTTT Goal, I have achieved a much more important and never foreseen personal one of living an entire year never in one moment of denial or delusion about my weight or eating or activity levels. This is so valuable to me as I said time is a commodity and as you get older even more so and it matters not one iota to me that I started on a certain day and some people believe that might have predicted what might appear to them to be a "failure" on my part. That's as ridiculous as the idea that a magical start date will make the change for you. It has no magic either way. It's just an easy day to remember and count on and mark the time.

It matters to me that my life has changed in ways I can't really describe but I can definitely feel and there is no turning back. Now I know my body, self, eating habits, and what sincerely works, even though I had dieted successfully in the past. But previously a regain like I experienced would have been noticed much later, been much larger and taken much longer to recover from. That is what my year has given me. Time. Shortened get back on the wagon time. One glitch in the autumn that undid some of my weight loss cannot undo that.

(Because I could easily give up. I could easily read some of the upthread posts and consider myself a failure. I could easily agree that it was that pesky Jan.1 start date, or my mentality in choosing that... But why? Why let anyone on the internet, friend or stranger, informed or not, compadre or frenemy or straight out enemy decide my life for me?)

I'm going to wish everyone good luck in their journey but not be judgmental of those who have been here way longer and way more than me and have seen it all to the point of eye rolling. I'm just going to do my part to make people feel welcome and eager to learn and if they take it or leave it when the people who know more inform them, that's their personal place in life and mentality and may the chips fall where they may. It's not my job to MAKE them listen any more than it's my job to MAKE someone else use a certain tone when informing. Every man for himself. The info is there, if you want it bad enough. It's yours for the taking. Whenever you're ready.

That's not true. 2 years ago I was one of them...