Losing Weight: What Do You Owe To Other People?
One of my favorite bloggers, Melodee Helms, posted yesterday her “Official Thursday Weigh-In.” She seems to be stuck at 173 pounds, at least for the moment.
I think what impressed me most about this amazing woman was that she didn’t whine about not losing any more weight. She didn’t make excuses.
No, she was worried about what other people might think of her.
Specifically, she worried that her loyal blog readers might be disappointed in her, might not like her any longer.
Well, of course, that was complete silliness as the comments to her post pointed out.
But it got me thinking how much we worry about other people’s reactions when we’re overweight — as though we owe the rest of the world a say in what we do or how we look.
And may I say for the record… if anyone thinks less of Mel because she’s going through a rough patch right now… then I think that says more about the person with the judgmental opinion that it does about Mel.
You can read her post here:
I don’t believe she or anyone with a weight problem owes the rest of the world anything. Not excuses, not justifications, not apologies, not anything.
And yet, only 2 days ago, in my own blog post, “Is Blogging Bad For Your Weight?”, I admitted that I felt ashamed for having gained 9 pounds in the 2 weeks since I started this weight loss blog.
I almost didn’t write about it. My weight’s been fine for years. Why now?
And yet, is it really that terrible? It’s only 9 pounds, for heaven’s sakes.
I know that’s a lot for 2 weeks. But so many people face bigger weight challenges. And bigger challenges of all kinds in life.
I’ll read blogs where someone who gains 1/2 pound or just stays the same, as Mel did, starts beating themselves up emotionally. And for what?
What crime has occurred?
I think we define ourselves too much by our weight, by every ounce lost or gained, and most of all, by our insecurities. Which for most overweight or formerly overweight people can usually be measured in pounds.
And we focus so exclusively on every setback that we don’t enjoy the successes we have.
We lament that other people so often judge us by our weight and yet that’s exactly how we judge ourselves. Kind of makes us hypocrites, doesn’t it?
I don’t think we owe anybody anything. But I think we owe it to ourselves to give ourselves a break.
What do you think?
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