Being active is something I enjoy. Always have. Wasn't active enough sometimes in college and early grad school. No change there. I do upper body weights in gym once or twice a week of late. I combine moving w fun and what I "need to do". Walk in wetlands for fun and combine biking w errands. Gosh much easier than the ole I have to force myself to do stuff indoors formally. Must move every day so I enjoy it.
My change is less than many especially those who struggled more in childhood. Also I am more the loser of half a hundred pounds ( about 60lb) which is different from the above 100 lb or several hundred lb.
I do have a lady buddy or two who have lost over 100 lb and kept it off and we do well together.

steve0mania wrote: »

--does weight-loss lead to a change in identity, or does a change in identity lead to success in weight loss?

Yes and yes.

a) does weight-loss lead to a change in identity?
As I discussed in the last post weight-loss changed me a lot. I am a different person (identity) post weight-loss. I certainly was not on that path before WW and losing the weight.

b) does a change in identity lead to success in weight loss?
I answer this by thinking what chance would I have had keeping off the weight if my identity had not changed. Not much. I might be using identity, habits and actions interchangeably here, but for me they fit together.

I'm glad you posted a follow-up because I'd like to discuss further. I have no time today so will post this weekend.

Good question to ponder!

I'd say that my two most successful weight loss/weight maintenance efforts occurred after I had an identity shift.

In 2001, I finally had to stand up to my father (very long story but he made my mother's life pretty miserable while I was growing up) and tell him "NO" about something very important. After he got settled into a new living arrangement (it was no longer safe for him to live alone), I was able to focus on myself and be empowered to make the changes necessary to lose 130 pounds. I kept that weight off for nearly a year before other changes in his health status (dementia) led to great emotional distress that resulted in a slow increase in my weight over the next few years.

In 2009, I was in the throes of the fallout of some very unethical behavior on the part of my former program director. I had to have some very difficult conversations with higher ups as I wasn't willing to compromise my ethics to back this person. I ended up with a target on my back for a couple of years before the incident finally faded away (director left, upper management changed, students in program during that time graduated and moved on). By 2011 I was finally feeling empowered enough to reclaim my health and wellness as I had regained about 40 pounds since my father's death in 2005.

I am most certainly NOT the same person I was when I was younger. I also was the fat kid when I was in school who was picked on and shunned. I still don't have a large circle of friends, but I also don't care to. I'm an introvert and find spending time with a lot of people to be draining. The exception is the few friends who like to engage in recreational pursuits with me. I find that very energizing to be outside sharing the experience with them.

I think for me, neither weight loss to identity nor identity to weight loss. I grew up average size. I considered my self to be a "regular sized" kid and teen - not too skinny, not too fat. I gained a lot of weight (for me, though objectively probably not that much) during my first year of college. I spent the next 40+ years yo-yo-ing up and down, on and off WW, losing to a very low, and gaining to a very high (for me). My goal was always to get back to my "regular sized" identified self.

Since getting to goal weight and now maintaining for the past 6 years, I've been working to identify as a person who maintains her weight. Though I have been maintaining within 5 - 6 pounds of my goal weight, I still don't feel comfortable identifying as a maintainer. I work very hard at this, I feel that I'm always on the brink of regaining all my weight, and I'm very frequently battling weight creep back in weight loss mode.

"Thanks to those who responded...I guess this wasn't such an exciting question!"

@steve0mania I think it's a great question, but Saturday is slow day on GoaD.

In my case the change in my identity came first when my son's words made me realize how my weight and health were impacting him and my family.

Four years ago I was 376#, 65 yo, retired, sedentary and had no outside interests. I was slowly killing myself and ignoring their pleas to do something. It reminded me that I had that same exact feeling when I was young and my alcoholic mother died at age 54. Our family tried to help her but...
I promised him I would do "something".

After losing 100 pounds I began to change more than just my bad eating habits. I began to enjoy exercise by joining aqua Aerobics, then adding swimming laps, then 10K steps on Fitbit. I get out and do things and volunteer.

I can say I have a New and better Lifestyle. So seeing my own self identity led me to lose weight and then losing lots of weight has changed the way I see myself today.

I am much more happy as Jim221 than the old Jim376. Someday I plan to meet Jim199. A persons weight doesn't determine their happiness but being obese can impact it. (IMHO)

Onward and downwards!

Very thoughtful Gavin. So sorry for your losses. I still do weekly WW meetings and think the reinforcement helps my emotions and depression. Activity helps me too.

For me, a change in weight loss creates a change in identity. I've only sucessfully lost weight once. When I was 40 I went from 278 to 238, and I can remember starting to feel like a normal person when I hit 250. I didn't feel like I was the heaviest person in the room anymore. And I felt pretty good about myself. Then I let it all go...