Guys on a Diet (GoaD)

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Living The Lifestyle, Monday, 2/20/17

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88olds
88olds Posts: 4,491 Member
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Everyone says it, but just how do you do it? How do you take the guidelines of the WW program and turn them into a lifestyle you can live every day...from now on? That is what we are here to explore. Each weekday, a new topic is offered up for discussion. Newbie? Join in! Veteran? Join in! Your thoughts may be just what someone else needs to hear.

Monday --88olds (George)
Tuesday --Rachel0778 (Rachel)
Wednesday -- misterhub (Greg)
Thursday --Imastar2 (Derrick)
Friday -- whathapnd (Emmie)

Today's Topic: Fear Of Success

Has fear of success ever hindered or derailed your weight loss efforts? Do you think it was fear of weight loss specifically, or fear of change in general? Why is that?

If you've made it to goal and maintained for a while, did you face any sort of identity crisis along the way? If not, how did you successfully adjust to the changes?

Replies

  • gadgetgirlIL
    gadgetgirlIL Posts: 1,381 Member
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    I can't say that fear of success has ever derailed or hindered my weight loss efforts. However, my sweet tooth certainly has :-(

    No identity crisis either. But I think that is because I never really believed how big I had gotten. I still thought of myself as a normal weight person (can you say self deception?). This may have been because I was always taller than my peers when growing up. No matter my weight, I'm always the Jolly Green Giant of the group. It is rare when I meet a woman taller than I am (5' 11").

    When I was at my largest, I used to get bruises on my upper thighs. They were because I perceived I was smaller than I was and would get too close to corners of tables. I haven't had those bruises since I returned to a normal weight.
  • leeless511
    leeless511 Posts: 243 Member
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    No fear of success for me. I am at goal and maintenance and did not necessarily go thru an identity crisis either. But early on I think I was more positive about "who I am now that I lost weight" and as time passed, I find I pick on myself a little more now about things that I did not find objectionable when I first hit goal. And I weigh even less. On a positive note the greater scrutiny of myself keeps me motivated on fitness and muscle toning etc.
  • Al_Howard
    Al_Howard Posts: 8,142 Member
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    No fear of success, but lots of laziness and effits.
  • minimyzeme
    minimyzeme Posts: 2,708 Member
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    Will have to come back to this one. On the road Internet connection is actually worse than at home. I didn't think that was possible!
  • podkey
    podkey Posts: 5,105 Member
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    Imagining the "what ifs" in my mind and creeping visions of "failure" has been a problem in the past. Fear of suçess? Not really. I am not "cured" and have angst and such. Identity crisis? Not so much maybe because I became quite fat/obese later in life during college/grad school and not as a child.

  • 88olds
    88olds Posts: 4,491 Member
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    Finally getting back to answer my own question. Glad yesterday is over.

    When goal was in sight and it seemed that I that I had a very good chance to get there I stopped to think- If I'm not "trying" to lose weight all the time, what's going to fill that gap? The "struggle" had taken on a life of its own. Now the "struggle" might actually end. Now what?

    I think the fact that I kept going to my meeting helped me with this. I was never out of WW, never over with it, not done. I was still "in" WW, I was just on Lifetime and was the oddball who had mad goal year ago and kept showing up at the meeting.
  • podkey
    podkey Posts: 5,105 Member
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    Great point. I still go to weekly meetings. Sure some of the newbies haven't "drank the koolaid" to figure out how to get the "brain transplant" for the long haul. It's more than carrot sticks and kale.
  • misterhub
    misterhub Posts: 6,307 Member
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    Don't know. What I do know is that I have dropped into the 190s twice since 2000, and I have sabotaged my success both times.
  • spospo1
    spospo1 Posts: 433 Member
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    Second Al Howard....
  • minimyzeme
    minimyzeme Posts: 2,708 Member
    edited February 2017
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    Getting back to my current weigh-ish (don't really know since I didn't ever weigh myself before, but going by my clothes) has been an awakening of sorts back to a prior identity. I am now fitting into clothes I've hauled around for almost 20 years--or more!

    It's hard to explain but it was a slow revelation that I wasn't always as fat as I was when I started WW. But a large part of my closet was proof that I was morphing into the person that I used to be, at least physically. It was weird because even though I knew it on some level, I had lived so much life in and with my fat self, I had forgotten my life before fatness.

    The transformation back to the future has me in two camps. In some respects, I feel like I've found that prior person. However, being this size again also has me doing and thinking about some things I've not done before. For example, I've always been drawn to water. I'd love to do some kayaking. In the recent past, I never would have even attempted it because I was self-conscious about being fat. Silly, I know, but real for me. This is going to be my year. I may not be whitewater kayaking (or, I may) but I love exploring local ponds and wetlands and what better way??

    I think the truth is I'm still discovering my new identity. Losing weight hasn't solved all my problems but I think it's given me a good foundation to create it. I realize the lessons of WW (or similar weight-loss programs) probably apply to so many obstacles we need or want to overcome. I'm a work in-progress. I think having found an approach for one of my biggest challenges has given me a template to take on some of the others.

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