Honest thought. Am I wrong?

You are getting healthy...don't worry about your changing role models....when they are ready, they may also get healthy just like you...it sounds like you are doing everything right, don't stress over the little things. (The bloggers wont even know you aren't following them anymore anyways, right?)...take care, and keep up the amazing work!!

SamanthaPeake wrote: »

I've been overweight all of my adult life. I have always loved the plus size bloggers and follow what they wear and wish I had their confidence. To clarify I'm talking about the very large bloggers 250lb plus. But since I've started this weight lose journey I've started to look at them differently. I've been on diets all my life loosing a stone here and there and then always putting it back on and more within a few months. This time its so different. I'm weighing myself which I've never done before, I'm changing everything about how I eat, buy food, move, think about food. I'm cooking, I'm using MFP religiously and I'm truly starting a real journey of being fitter and thinner. Now I look at these bloggers with sympathy and I'm feeling so guilty. I suppose deep down I don't believe that they really are as happy and healthy as their blogs and photos make them out to be. I've got so much weight still to loose but now I've made the choice to change and it's really working I can finally admit to myself that I was unhealthy, unfit and unattractive and making myself ill. Am I wrong for feeling this way toward these women that have inspired me for so long. Am I projecting my negative thoughts onto them. Can you truly look and feel attractive and happy when you are obese?

Yes, you are projecting your thoughts about yourself onto them. Don't pity them, that's patronizing. I don't believe that anyone is as happy as their blog/instagram/facebook makes them out to be. That's partly social media and partly how some people earn money and create a brand. Just because you follow them on social media doesn't mean you know their internal experience. They may well be genuinely happy with themselves. I don't believe that self-confidence, self-love and happiness are dependent on your weight. For many people there may be a correlation, but just as there many thin people who profoundly lack in self-love/happiness/confidence, there are also larger people who feel truly beautiful and confident. And that's not for you to judge. Furthermore, you can love yourself and feel good about yourself and still decide at some point that you want to improve your fitness or make lifestyle changes. Whether people look attractive or not is purely subjective to whoever is looking at them. Sure there are culturally accepted standards of beauty but that varies according to the time and place. It also doesn't account for individual preferences.

For health, for sure no, objectively and on the long run (not just in your teens or 20s) no one who is obese is going to be as healthy as he/she would be if he/she were thin. Of course someone obese might be healthier than someone who is much thinner, but weight adds a risk factor, so the same person by losing weight would eliminate one health risk factor from the equation.
For confidence/appearance/happiness, does it matter? Beauty and happiness are so subjective, that there is no way two people feel the same. One might find attractive someone who is morbidly obese, someone else might feel a couple of kilos above ideal is a huge turn off. Someone might be feel weight has no impact at all in happiness, someone else might believe it is something negatively affecting quality of life. What is important in life for one person might seem like an irrelevant detail to someone else.

ronisweigh.com is a good blogger who used to be about weight loss but is also about self acceptance and choosing to be healthy. i also like her food/meal ideas site greenlitebites . you might enjoy her as a new positive & healthy role model.

Crochet180 wrote: »

I think (and this is my opinion only) that you're starting to realise that you're not happy being over-weight. You're enjoying the journey so far and this does have an effect on the way we see other people. However, we can never really know what someone else is thinking/feeling so I would be thinking solely about how you feel, surrounding yourself with positive, healthy images and role models and reaching out for support when you need it. How others feel is their business, how you feel is yours.

I agree with this. Some women may really, totally, completely, without hesitation be happy being 250+ lbs. Some might be. I can't judge them but I know for me I wasn't. Sure, I'd have a day here or there where I was like I feel great today, I have a partner who loves me and supports me, I have a great job, etc etc. But it was definitely an image I was trying to uphold. Once I started to lose weight I felt sooooo much better and I knew I was working for me.

What's more for me - and this is JUST me - I started working with a registered dietitian. I cannot say enough about her! She also works with the varsity athletes from the university here in my city and the first time I met with her she said to me "I can tell you're an athlete - the way you approach things, think about things, talk things through, explain things. You think like an athlete." And she proposed that she structure my plan in an eat to perform kind of way - I'm still losing weight buuuuut she really encouraged me to become more competitive and she was right - getting out there and running road races, boxing, cross fit, training for that goal race . . . all of brings out the athlete in me and it makes me feel better. So my point to this is maybe they do believe they're happy, but if they tried something else they might realize something else makes them waaaaay happier than "accepting" being over weight. I'm very much in favour of loving yourself and being the best version of you that you can be but at the same time, they know it's not healthy, we know it's not healthy and at some point they will probably have to do something about it. Until that time, if they're happy let them be - you don't have to feel bad for them or pity them, but don't follow them anymore. Find blogs that inspire the person you've realized you want to become. We're allowed to change - that's part of being human. Do what's best for you and let them do what's best for them.

ETA: As I went through my journey (and I'm still very much on the journey) . . . and I've lost 80lbs so far . . . I just wanted give you a heads up from my experience that your emotions will take for one crazy roller coaster of a ride. I've had days where I just want to cry and others where every single little thing annoys the crap out of me. Your emotions will sometimes get the best of you . . . it's not easy and it sucks because it's like your hormones haven't caught up to knowing how much you weigh now so they're still way over producing.

This is an amazing thread, so insightful and honest. Thank you for opening up. I am just into my weight loss journey and from someone who is almost 300lbs I cannot even fathom what it is going to be like or feel like even 50lbs lighter, never mind 100lbs. Knowing how my brain perceives myself, I can foresee having a hard time adjusting to the weight loss and how I accept myself.

Chaelaz wrote: »

I think people mentally align being content with being happy. I don't ever assume to tell them otherwise or think that my happiness is better though.

I agree. But I think it takes a lot more than a nice body to be happy.

SamanthaPeake wrote: »

Thank you to those who have replied in the spirit this post was intended. I was not trying to patronise or shame anybody. I was simply sharing an internal dialogue I was having with myself about my own body image and was hoping others may have felt the same. I have a daughter and a younger sister. I would never EVER shame a woman due to any aspect of her appearance. Thank you for your support!

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