swingchickie | and THIS is why i hated WW meetings. (Reply)

when i tried WW all those times before (probably 5 or 6 times over the course of my adult life), one of the main reasons i didn't do well is because the meetings were a pain in the ass. for some people they're a lifeline... for me, i hated having to schedule myself to take 90 minutes out of my day to drive somewhere, weigh in, and then sit with a group of strangers and listen to them complain about wanting to eat a gallon of ice cream every night.

doing the online version of WW has been a big contributor to my success because i can do everything on my own and according to my schedule. but the WW bulletin boards are just as bad as the meetings -- post after post from people who go through life with this victim-y, "woe is me" mentality. hell, i have my self-pitying moments too... in all my previous attempts, i had lapses that sent me into the loving embrace of a bag of fritos with a vat of onion dip, and afterwards i'd be terrified that i'd never find my way back to eating right (and sometimes didn't for many months). so i get it. but when that attitude infuses your entire life, when it becomes almost a mantra, a constant excuse, a crutch, it just annoys the hell out of me. the posts over the thanksgiving week were especially bad:

poster: "waaaah, we're doing thanksgiving at my mother-in-law's and she never makes anything helthy and i'm going to eat until i burst and fail at my eating plan.."
reply: "why not just control how much of the bad stuff you eat, or offer to cook some healthy dishes, or exercise this week to burn some extra points you can use?"
poster: "no, none of those will work, you don't understand, it's so haaaarrrrdddddd..."

poster: "i hate the Core way of eating, and it's hurting my family life... having to eat low-fat beef, whole-wheat pasta... there are restaurants i have to tell them we can't go to... and my whole family hates me for it..."
reply: "if you didn't tell your family that the beef was low-fat or the pasta was different, they wouldn't even know... and you can go to any restaurant you want if you just make good choices off the menu..."
poster: "no, you just don't understand, this is so hard and i'm not going to listen to any of your suggestions because it's easier for me to wallow in self-pity than make decisions that could have a positive effect..."

sigh.

again, i know we all have our bad moments. a few of us here on LJ are all struggling, and we're all being human. but none of us are like some of these WW board people, with their dozens of complainy posts a day.

i've also been watching the show "ruby" for the past few weeks... if you haven't heard of it, it's a reality show that follows a woman named ruby who weighs 500 pounds and is trying to lose weight. i admire her for making this really hard decision, and i know it's a lot of work... but watching her on the show has really shown me what i must sound like sometimes as i go through my own struggles. many times over the course of each episode, she complains about food -- how much she misses eating macaroni and cheese, fried chicken, buying a bag of fudge at her favorite candy store... she's obsessed with junk food, and it's unnerving to watch. it's made me much more sensitive to my talk about food, and i've been trying to cut down how much i talk about WW and weight loss (except for you poor people who get to read about it) because i'm seeing just how annoying it can be.

okay, that's enough of a rant for now... back to the WW boards to see what drama is playing out today.