I've always been chubby. Always. Well, last year I decided I was sick of being overweight and I was going to do something about it. No more excuses. I weighed around 181 pounds (probably a little more) and at 5'7" I was uncomfortable in my own body.
It's been a year now, and I'm down 30 pounds. My BMI is "normal" instead of "overweight." I want to lose at least 10 more pounds before summer. This past year has been HARD. I've had to log all my calories, work my ass off in the gym, cry, bleed, cry some more, and exhaust myself physically and emotionally. If you've never been overweight (not the, "I want to lose 5 pounds before bikini season," that doesn't count. I mean honestly overweight. As in your BMI says so.) then you don't understand how hard losing weight is. But whatever, I did it the right way, no diet pills, no "quick fixes", just time and hard work.
I have this friend who is obese. She's tried to lose weight before, but she tried "quick fixes" like only eating salad (didn't last long) or diet pills, or diet shakes. But she never sat down and logged her calories, changed the crap foods she was eating, and exercised. So obviously she never lost weight. But throughout my "journey" if you want to call it that, I've leaned on her for support. Nobody knows about the highs & lows of losing weight better than a fellow fat girl, right?
Except she wasn't very supportive. At all.
When I just needed to vent about a stall in my weight loss, or about being sore, she would lecture me about what I was doing "wrong" and tell me all about the "right" things to do, because she obviously knew it all. I just wanted support. I didn't want to hear all about this new diet you heard of and I should be doing x/y/z instead of what I'm doing now.
And when I did lose weight, and was excited. She didn't really seem to care. I wasn't expecting a party or for her to jump for joy...but a simple "way to go" would have been nice.
So this friend got the Lap Band surgery in December. She still eats crap foods-just less of them. (Does only eating 1/4 of a cheeseburger instead of vegetables really make you healthier?) And doesn't really exercise. And yet, she's lost 25 pounds IN.ONE.MONTH. (and it took me almost a year to lose that much.) And does she remind me of it every single day? Oh yeah. And it's driving me nuts.
Look, I was overweight too. Just because I wasn't as obese as her doesn't mean I didn't work my ass off losing this weight. And no offense, I know she had to go through a surgery and everything, but shouldn't she have at least tried losing weight with counting calories/exercise before she had a surgery? (She didn't) I know for some people this surgery saved their lives, and it really WAS their ONLY option. Not true for her. She's just lazy. I'm glad she's losing weight, but she can't expect me to be supportive when she wasn't there for me.
But I guess I will continue to be there for her because losing is weight is hard work, no matter how you do it. And there are far too many obese people in this country.
Now, go eat your veggies!
2 comments:
I'm going to take a lot of flack for this comment someday... but I think obesity-reduction surgery is a cop-out. I don't want to hear about food addiction or any of that crap. There's no such thing. That's something some "doctor" thought up to make a name for himself to get really rich and then thousands of markets capitalized on because humans are by nature quite lazy and will do anything to do NOTHING. Bottom line - Stop eating sh*t and take care of yourself. Your friend is losing weight now, but she's going to plateau and she's never going to be 110lbs because she's still eating crap. Your relationship with food is cause and effect... eating lots of french fries and drinking tons of "diet" coke will cause you to gain weight. The cause is the french fries/diet coke... the effect is the weight gain.
I work very hard at being a "skinny b*tch". I HATE when people accuse me of being one of those "naturally skinny girls". Ummm no... I have to watch everything I eat and it SUCKS... It's the price I pay for vanity though. (and good health *sigh*) The thing is... your friend clearly only wants to be skinny for vanity sake... She got her surgery and she'll be "skinny" but since she's still eating crap she won't really be healthy so she'll have the body of a skinny fat person... At least you'll be truly skinny! She may look skinny, but her body won't feel it. Trust me... and she won't ever understand why either. I know lots of girls who have had that surgery and their weight STILL fluctuates dramatically because they never bothered to alter their eating habits.
Just remember... Nothing TASTES as good as being skinny FEELS!
i agree so much with ophelia... it's a quick fix. there are a few girls that i went to high school with that went and got lap band or gastric bypass (granted, they were way more overweight than i ever was) and it made me so angry. at our age, there is NO EXCUSE to go to such drastic measures just to be skinny. go out and run, lift weights, just take a walk! stop with the fast food and garbage! you know?
i was almost 180 pounds two years ago. it took seeing a picture where i hardly recognized myself to get me on the right track. i never over ate, in fact... i probably under ate, which is bad enough. add to that the wrong foods and poof! 180 pounds on a little 5'2 frame. NOT attractive.
s did it much the same way as you, hard work and counting calories. sparkpeople was a HUGE part of my success too. you are doing this the right way, your unsupportive friend is taking the easy way out. i'm betting that she totally resents you for your strength and ability to change your life and do it the hard way.
you're amazing!!
xoxox
ps. thanks for delurking on my page!!
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