There are a many sites that I read every day. My bookmarks are separated into four categories. Logins, things like Facebook, Gmail, Google Analytics, Twitter etc. Then I have a Misc. category which is random stuff I come across and then want to come back to later. Blogs, mostly local ones like Universal Hub, MenuPages, New Brahmin, Boston Girl's Open Wallet but also things like Perez and Reality TV Digest and my new favorite Obama Foodorama!
Last but not least I have a Weight Related Category. Some are links to sites like Junkfood Science or Yale's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity but the majority are people's personal blogs related to our common struggle. There are all sorts of weight loss blogs, a few weight maintenance blogs, although lately even the weight loss ones seem to be maintenance with people losing and gaining the same 10 pounds over and over. Sometimes I wonder how I broke out of that cycle long enough to drop the 180 pounds? I too seem to be trapped in that vicious cycle. I digress-- some have lost the weight with surgery and others with diet and exercise but all have worked hard. There are unifying themes among them all, desperation, motivation, hope, I could go on.
The saddest to me are the abandoned blogs, we've all been there, good intentions only get you so far. But on the flip side of that there are some who blog despite the setbacks, the regain, the inability to lose weight. I love those blogs, and often they are about more than just weight loss. They are about life. Ruminations about how you got where you are, what you can do to change it and how you can affect that change. Some of these people will eventually get it I believe. Their switch will flip and off they'll go. Hopefully they'll continue to blog about their successes and triumphs and their defeats. There is one blog that I have been reading for a while now that never talks about the latter and it is so clear that there have been some defeats, but yet it isn't talked about. Instead she comes off as a bitch. So disappointing to read don't talk to me about this or I won't talk about that. Such an inspiration to so many, yet can't seem to own up to her struggles. I don't get it.
I'm never going to be "that girl" with that blog, but I like my tiny little corner of the internet. I hope you do too. And if I'm coming off as a bitch be sure to let me know okay?
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3 comments:
As a weight loss blogger myself, I have had times where I simply don't check in to report the gain. I think even though it is a personal journey, I struggle with feeling as though if I share my failure, I will let someone else down, or that someone is judging me, thinking "why doesn't she get it together?" When I know in my heart that sharing all parts of the journey can be inspiring and helpful and I never read someone else's struggle and think they have failed, and that they are not worth reading. I recently flipped my switch and made the decision to really commit to changing my behaviors, and get out of this ridiculous plateau.
Good luck with your surgery - I'm excited for you!
Those plateaus are worst and I think often where people fail. If blogging had been around in 2001 (maybe it was but I didn't) you would have read about the most agonizing plateau ever. For well over a year I tried to continue to lose weight and nothing, it eventually forced me into giving up. But I maintained. I often think that perhaps we should called plateaus, maintenance stops. The body needs time to readjust and those of us who have had to or need to lose significant amounts of weight benefit from them physically even if they are torture mentally.
As for the non blogging of the ups and downs, it's a personal choice and I do understand the "Omg, I'm being judged!" and it does not escape me that I am judging this poor girl, but man, it's okay to tell it like it is. It's how we all learn.
Thanks for the kind words about surgery. I never ever thought I would get here, I mean , I hoped, but the reality of it. Wow.
Sarah, I can relate. I don't read that many weight management blogs but I do remember one that was perpetually upbeat. Struggles weren't discussed, etc. It was almost like maintenance was easy.
My experience is that maintenance is work. I hesitate to use the word hard - I recently 'blogged' about the importance of word choice when it comes to weight maintenance. Maintenance is work. And it is worth the effort.
There are days though, and I've had a lot of them lately, that I've felt like a fraud. I hate to post that I'm struggling. Then I realized that by posting when I'm struggling, I not only help myself, but help others learn that maintenance is not a walk in the park.
My partner doesn't really like it that I blog and he's never read my blog (my choice) but blogging about my weight management journey is definitely a key tool for me.
Wishing you the best!
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