It's just a number

kklindsey
kklindsey Posts: 382 Member
edited September 28 in Health and Weight Loss
How many of you would rather have a root canal than say out loud how much you weigh? Get over it! People are not blind, they know if you are heavy. My theory is that you should just say what you weigh. It is really very liberating. It takes a lot of mental effort to dance around what you weigh with words. Try it, you might be surprised.

Replies

  • Angela4Health
    Angela4Health Posts: 1,319 Member
    Eh... I "think" I get the message you're trying to put out, but I think it may have been quite an insensitive way to get it across.
  • MandaLee8908
    MandaLee8908 Posts: 1,353 Member
    171 LBS! :-P
  • JannineOwen
    JannineOwen Posts: 92 Member
    it is up to how the person feels though, like with myself yes of course people can see i'm heavy, i can't exactly hide it but i've also been told by the small number of people that i have revealed my weight to that i don't actually look as heavy as i am, i am ashamed of my weight and so i choose not to tell very many people, that is entirely my choice. :)
  • RoseCoreling
    RoseCoreling Posts: 55 Member
    Eh... I "think" I get the message you're trying to put out, but I think it may have been quite an insensitive way to get it across.

    Agreed
  • Heatherbledsoe
    Heatherbledsoe Posts: 106 Member
    when i decided i was going to start losing weight, a few weeks later we did a biggest loser at my work, and it has continued on again since everyone wanted to keep going...I won the first round, set up to win again...at the beginning i was 230 pounds. I just told everyone at work i weigh 230, all the time, everyday, and i became less and less embarassed because i was doing something to change it. now im 187 pounds + or - a few from fluctuation and the 8 bottles of water i drink a day, lol. i do think the best thing to do is to just tell evryone how much you weigh...whats to be embarrased about, especiallly if you are trying to turn it around?

    also, it could have been said a little more nicely, i agree it was quite insensitive..
  • ladybug1620
    ladybug1620 Posts: 1,136 Member
    It's on my profile and on my blog. I'm okay with putting it out there at this point.
  • gjulie
    gjulie Posts: 391
    I couldnt care less who knows what I weigh,I way too much anyway,but Im happy within myself as a person! Id like to weigh less because of back problems so a stone or so loss would be great! Ive no illusions that looseing weight is going to transform me in some miraculous way,it wont!
    Like who you are for the person you are,thats what is really important!
  • BrokenWings
    BrokenWings Posts: 36
    Like others, I agree with the point the OP is making, but feel it could have been done in a more sensitive manner. But it IS just a number.
  • JennsLosing
    JennsLosing Posts: 1,026
    agreed. I dont get the people that keep it even from their spouse.
  • christinathompson1
    christinathompson1 Posts: 144 Member
    i get what you are saying, but i look a lot thinner than what i actually weigh so i don't like telling people my weight. yes, i would rather have a root canal.
  • Jenscan
    Jenscan Posts: 694 Member
    Sure, it's just a number, but I don't reveal my weight to anyone (former spouses included). It's my choice not to do so. I also don't reveal income. There are some things, to me, that should be kept confidential. That's my preference only, and everyone's different. I don't come on here telling people to stop telling everyone what they weigh, because for some people it's ok and even good to do so, so don't ask me to state my weight.
  • kklindsey
    kklindsey Posts: 382 Member
    Eh... I "think" I get the message you're trying to put out, but I think it may have been quite an insensitive way to get it across.

    Insensitive how? I know I am blunt about weight loss but I would never want to hurt anyones feelings?
  • flgirlsteph
    flgirlsteph Posts: 125 Member
    Like others, I agree with the point the OP is making, but feel it could have been done in a more sensitive manner. But it IS just a number.

    You want to weight 85lbs??? please tell me that was a mess up!
  • ceeceew
    ceeceew Posts: 21
    My problem is that I'm disgusted with my weight. Saying the number makes me want to cry. It's all rooting in the fact that 20 years ago, I was getting teased for being a fat kid and 15 years ago I stopped eating for 12 months. I remember the early days of AOL, when I was about 14, and everyone was doing the a/s/l chatting. Once, I accidentally typed 142 instead of 124 and I distinctly remember thinking "I would want to kill myself if I weighed 142lbs" -- that was 15 years ago. Can you imagine? Of course, I've surpassed that by more than 60lbs now... but I'm living with that number war in my head every day.
  • kklindsey
    kklindsey Posts: 382 Member
    okay, i did not mean this as a challenge to people to state their weight and that they were somehow "defective' if they didn't. I meant it as a way for people to free themselves from the shame they feel about what they weigh. There is no point in being ashamed. It is just a number, it isnt who you are and if you can say it out loud to others and they dont run screaming, the sky doesn't fall, etc. then maybe it would help you to get on with the process. I am a former bulemic and one of the most helpful things I did was to tell my best friend and my husband about my illness because hiding it actually is part of the disease. Now that the two people closest to me know, they can help me not to go back there. by telling my weight it frees me from all the mental tricks I used to do to try to hide it. oh, 152.0 today.
  • shannonkk
    shannonkk Posts: 192 Member
    whenever I say 162 or 161 people say, woah, you don't look like you way that much!! It always bothers me because I was feeling pretty good about how hard I worked to get to this weight and then after they say that, I feel like I am really heavy.
  • kklindsey
    kklindsey Posts: 382 Member
    My problem is that I'm disgusted with my weight. Saying the number makes me want to cry. It's all rooting in the fact that 20 years ago, I was getting teased for being a fat kid and 15 years ago I stopped eating for 12 months. I remember the early days of AOL, when I was about 14, and everyone was doing the a/s/l chatting. Once, I accidentally typed 142 instead of 124 and I distinctly remember thinking "I would want to kill myself if I weighed 142lbs" -- that was 15 years ago. Can you imagine? Of course, I've surpassed that by more than 60lbs now... but I'm living with that number war in my head every day.

    I know exactly what you are saying and that is part of what I was getting at. Once you let that number out there it starts to heal that number war in your head. trust me, it really does. And the people who know you and love you could really care less what your number is, they want you to be healthy and happy.
  • RhonndaJ
    RhonndaJ Posts: 1,615 Member
    Actually no, it's not just a number.

    For some of us it's far more than that. It's a judgment. It's a reflection of how little we've valued ourselves. It's a reflection of our failure, regardless of whatever successes we may now be having.

    I have no trouble stating my weight on here. I have no trouble telling my husband or medical professionals. But everyone else? Honestly, it's none of their business.
  • rgprn
    rgprn Posts: 66 Member
    Good for you!!
  • kklindsey
    kklindsey Posts: 382 Member
    whenever I say 162 or 161 people say, woah, you don't look like you way that much!! It always bothers me because I was feeling pretty good about how hard I worked to get to this weight and then after they say that, I feel like I am really heavy.

    I get the same thing. Right now at 152 people think I weigh 130 or so. Imagine if people were honest we might not have girls and women fixating on 110 and 105 as the perfect weight. Just from the tiny pic of your avatar you look like you are fit and have a rockin body so why can't we let people know that 160 can be gorgeous, you don't have to weigh 110?
  • ceeceew
    ceeceew Posts: 21
    whenever I say 162 or 161 people say, woah, you don't look like you way that much!! It always bothers me because I was feeling pretty good about how hard I worked to get to this weight and then after they say that, I feel like I am really heavy.

    I get the same thing. Right now at 152 people think I weigh 130 or so. Imagine if people were honest we might not have girls and women fixating on 110 and 105 as the perfect weight. Just from the tiny pic of your avatar you look like you are fit and have a rockin body so why can't we let people know that 160 can be gorgeous, you don't have to weigh 110?

    that's a big part of it... I don't FEEL like I weigh over 200lbs. I don't think I LOOK like I weigh over 200lbs. In fact, It makes no sense to me that I do. I'm kinda grossed out at myself.
  • Shizzman
    Shizzman Posts: 527 Member
    Actually recently I've starting wondering if maybe the reason women have higher numbers of eating disorders might be related to the fact that they guess so much about who weights what instead of being able to freely talk about it. I agree with the intent about this that being more comfortable with talking about weight might really help...but hey I'm a guy what do I know...

    Not like anyone would really base weighting under a 100 pounds as an adult as a healthy goal...I mean unless they are like 3 feet tall, then that might make sense. No one likes a fat midget (just kidding, I'm not sure I even have an idea what a fat midget would look like or how they'd act).
  • kklindsey
    kklindsey Posts: 382 Member
    Shizzman, do guys have this hangup with saying what they weigh? I just think it is counterproductive for women to compare themselves all the time and for a number to have so much power over your life. I am NEVER going to weigh 110 and I had to get over it. I find myself doing the same thing with pants sizes and I have to nip it in the bud frequently. If I try on a size 4 and it doesnt fit I have a fit. But I AM a size 4 I think and if that one doesn't fit I get down on myself and have all sorts of negative feelings and thoughts and it is just ridiculous to do that to yourself. You arent the number you weigh or the size pants you wear or any of the other superficial things we take so to heart and torture ourselves with.
  • mystiedragonfly
    mystiedragonfly Posts: 189 Member
    I don't share my actual weight number with people simply because *I* do not like the number. However, when they insist on knowing the number, I tell them that I squat almost double my body weight and in my world THAT is the number I am more interested in. However, people are obsessed with the number on the scales and not the over all health of a person's body.

    Since I began working out and eating right, I have only lost 30 pounds. In that, I have lost TEN pant sizes (I have gone from a size 26 to a size 16). It's the ten pant sizes *I* HAVE to focus on. Not seeing the scales go down when all my friends are dropping 20/30/80 pounds is frustrating and depressing. If I dwell too long on the fact that my scales are not going down, I get obsessed and depressed. I get frustrated to the point of giving up. Then I stop going to the gym to even lift weights.

    I have packed on a lot of muscle (on purpose). I am proud of THAT. However, muscle also has a denser weight to it. Packing on a pound of muscle and losing a pound of fat equals no change in the number of a weigh scale.
  • Shizzman
    Shizzman Posts: 527 Member
    Shizzman, do guys have this hangup with saying what they weigh? I just think it is counterproductive for women to compare themselves all the time and for a number to have so much power over your life. I am NEVER going to weigh 110 and I had to get over it. I find myself doing the same thing with pants sizes and I have to nip it in the bud frequently. If I try on a size 4 and it doesnt fit I have a fit. But I AM a size 4 I think and if that one doesn't fit I get down on myself and have all sorts of negative feelings and thoughts and it is just ridiculous to do that to yourself. You arent the number you weigh or the size pants you wear or any of the other superficial things we take so to heart and torture ourselves with.

    We're all human so we all have our issues. Sometimes it might be more about what we can lift or if we carry too much fat or if we are too light or whatever. Sometimes it helps just to work on progressing in a healthy direction, eating better, making sure to exercise both towards strength and towards cardiovascular fitness....
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