There's quite a bit of talk on the board from a few members about how people who've not lost huge amounts of weight or reached goal in record time aren't as worthy of giving advice as others.

Yes, I'm still fat, but that's not the main reason for my rant. There are many long-time members who haven't, number-wise, made goal yet whose advice I would take any day over someone who has coasted to goal in a few months. Simple reason? They share MY journey and would have answers to my questions where someone who's never had my particular struggles. There's a whole perspective they share that can only come from being in the same boat. If they say they've tried x, y, and z and share that with me, it can give me some insight into why I might be struggling and what I might want to try.

Some people low-carb for health reasons. They may or may not be significantly overweight yet, but have a great wealth of knowledge about low-carbing that only comes from experience.

I'd wager there are people who have lost 100+ pounds who've never read the book, or who might have reached goal through unhealthy means. That doesn't make them experts in low-carb by default, does it?

Shoot! There are newbies with an encyclopedic knowledge of the book who I could call on for advice after all the time I've been at it!

If you write people off as some sort of slackers because they haven't lost what YOU consider enough weight to know what they're talking about. So be it. You may want to stop and consider, though, that you might be missing out on a wealth of insight by writing them off.

I'm proud of those who reach goal, or are even marching slowly towards it. It's just as irritating as sandpaper underwear to keep hearing people say "Look at the numbers of the person giving the advice...." when we ALL have experience to share.

Good post, Tater.
Maybe I'm sensitive on this issue because I have yet to achieve my goal, but it irks me to think that my advice will be disregarded because I have not lost "x" amount of weight.
Not that I'm saying for a second that the advice of many of our members who have lost a lot of weight is any less important than mine.
It just saddens me to think that people don't take advice for what it is.

Roz

BTW, just how irritating is it to wear sandpaper undies...?

It depends entirely on the grade of sandpaper.

Good answer!

Thanks potato I agree!

(lol sandpaper undies huh?)

As someone that relates to marching slowly towards goal with LCing...weight loss is the icing on the cake but the other positives I am getting from low carbing have kept me going. Cholesterol decrease, improved skin, inch loss even cellulite is less due to all the damn water I am guzzling.
Most of all the support and friends I get from buddies at this forum. That one is a major positive.

I judge all advice given - purely on content, never on who is offering the advice.
I haven't lo-carbed with Atkins for very long, but I have a long history with lo-carbing that reaches back to the early ninties. I was teaching others about lo-carb diets back when they were relatively unknown (at least here in Aussie).

I hope that any advice I offer also gets taken on it's value and not discounted because I haven't lost heaps, or I'm not at goal - or worse still - I don't have as much to lose as other people.

Advice is advice, good advice is good advice and bad advice is bad advice. They are the only judgements we should be making.

I second Roz. I think it's sad that advice is being discounted simply because the advice-giver hasn't lost all their weight. I think it's sad that a form of sizeism exists even here among those that should know better since they have [most of us] been victims of it.
Wise and intelligent people come in all sizes and those that don't recognize that are missing out.

I agree, I'm another one that believes in SLOW weight loss so my stats don't change very fast, but I've read the book 3 times so far and I'm constantly reading about LC and trying to learn more. I'm also learning which strategies work to keep me on plan, and which do not. I'm not claiming to be an expert or anything, but I think that my opinions and suggestions are worth considering.

Thanks for saying what needed to be said,PF.

You said it right, Potatoefree. I am one who coasted to goal pretty quickly and painlessly, but I share your opinion. There are many members here who are stalled or losing very slowly who are probably much healthier than some of the fast losers.

Good post!

Well, exactly!

Actually, rather than the numbers, when I'm looking at someone to decide how much to value their opinion or advice, I tend to look at a number of factors. Did they really listen to the original poster's issue and consider what would work for that particular situation or are they black & white thinkers that think that the same solution works for everyone. Do they offer their experience as a guide or preach their way as gospel? Are they actually offering help or using the thread as a way to congratulate themselves for their own weight loss? Does what they are saying make sense? Sometimes the advice that I see is akin to internet folklore, everyone parrots back the advice they read somewhere else and it's considered common knowledge but it's not verifiable nor does it even make sense.

I think considering the source is a smart idea when deciding whether to take someone's advice, but if your only consideration of the source is their numbers, well then you deserve the advice you get, I figure!

Val

Good post, Tater. I'm another slow loser. I struggle for every pound lost, unlike some folks who melt faster than a stick of butter on a sidewalk in my city right now. I've got a lot of perspective and experience on it that faster losers won't ever have!

As this is the internet, people can lie about their statistics and no one would know.

I agree to some extent, but here is my personal exception. When I see someone telling about how this or that food causes them to stall, and I see that they've only been dieting for a couple of months or have lost a very small percentage of their goal weight, I tend to discount their advice. I think they are doing a disservice by spreading what amounts to misinformation. These people hit a slow spot, and figure it must be caused by whatever it was they ate the day before, and proceed to scare hundreds of vulnerable newbies. When in fact it is not even a good correlation let alone cause-and-effect.

But then, all free advice is worth at least what it costs us.

Hey its the War Zone, and I was afraid you all were going to break out singing Kum By Ya.