Not at all, I just feel that people coming from my background in that sense can "get" me in a way others who haven't been through it can't.

Opinions are like... well... you know Everyone's got one, and if it doesn't apply to me, or I don't agree with it, I can choose to leave it alone. But I wouldn't tell someone "Don't listen to them, they've only lost x amount of weight." That's up to the other person to decide whether to listen to them or not, not me.

Yes it does. I believe, in fact, that this thread is the direct result of another thread where one member said....I look at people's stats and if they've only lost 30# in 3 years I'm not impressed. (paraphrased)

Most people on this forum are very nice and very helpful....but there are some that will get nasty if you disagree with them....others that feel "it's my way or the highway"....and others that just make no sense at all (LOL yea, I'm bad! )

I read much more than I post, and Doreen's post above say's what I feel.

I have been reading posts of people who (I thought) had lost a tremendous amount of weight while (low carbing) and I thought "wow" low carbing is the way, but then I would start to read their journals and follow them only to find out that they lost "x" amount of weight trying "this" and another "x" amount of weight trying "another x" IN THEIR PAST and since their low carb journey lost say "x" amount (which is far less than their stats accurately show) while low carbing. WHICH, I FOUND DECEIVING as a newbie turned a little seasoned forum member

When I posted my stats, those stats were for the day I started low carbing, not what I weighed 3 years ago (which would add quite a few more pounds to my stats) while trying (example only, not quoting anyone) diet pills, starvation, low fat, etc.

Actually, the thread is a result of seeing it from 3 or 4 people recently. Same message, more ventriloquists.

I think that's true for the whole internet and message boards in general.

We try to maintain a safe, supportive environment here for our members. One reason this War Zone was created was so heated debates could have their own place, separate from the support areas. That way, readers can choose to avoid this section if they prefer .. and many do.


Doreen

And some just can't resist.

I'm another thyroid sufferer. I can tell you, it affects everyone differently. For instance, when I was hyperThyroid, I actually gained weight. Unfortunately the same was true for when I was hypothyroid too.

At one point in my hypo oddessy I was walking an hour every day, eating 1200 calories, and I was GAINING weight. No, it wasn't muscle. I'm sure there was a point at which I could have lost weight, maybe 800 calories a day would have done it. But I just couldn't have physically done that at that time.

Not to mention the fact that you're tired all the time and you feel like you're walking through extra firm jello just trying to move, and perhaps your joints are hurting or you have a unique set of physical challenges to face.

Now imagine if you had a few kids (I don't), a husband, a job and a thyroid condition. Where do you get the time and energy to deal with your weight problem on top of all that. And how many people in these message forums have some sort of underlying physical cause for their difficulty in moving the pounds?

Even now with my thyroid behaving much, much better, and other hormones getting some assistance, my weight loss is incredibly slow, even on a very strict diet. My first priority had to be fixing the underlying physical cause. The weight just wasn't going to move without that happening.

Your experience was yours and you can't even begin to understand what other people face unless you know them extremely well. So to ascribe to them some sort of lack of motivation or discipline for their slow weightloss is presumptuous. Its like the occassional youthful male we get who thinks that anyone not losing weight or losing weight slowly must be cheating. He's clueless as to the psyiological differences between people, between genders and between age groups. He thinks he's going to to have the same sort of metabolism at 80 as he does at 18. That's just naivete and inexperience. Professionals who study this sort of thing don't understand all the variables and nuances of just the physical side of weight loss, combine in all the other factors and you've got something extremely complex.

I also don't buy that just because one is over weight one also has an eating disorder.

Excellent post, Nancy.

.

Just to complicate things further, let me mention that I have an overweight 17 year old son and it is not easy for him to lose weight. He lost about 13 pounds in three weeks, but then his losses have tapered off to such an extent that his motivation is hard to sustain. Not all young males find dropping weight a breeze! I was an overweight child and I found it frustrating when adults would tell me "lose it now, it will be so much easier." Maybe for some, but it was never easy for me.

Ack! Sorry to hear that Quest. You might want to get his thyroid checked out, just in case. I'm sort of trigger happy with thyroid diagnosis since it plagued me for so long and didn't get addressed properly for so many years. I don't want to see other folks going through life like that.

Well the same could be said for a skinny person...just because someone is "skinny" doesn't mean they have an eating disorder either. So, when does all this arguing and division end around here?

Nancy,
I can only speak for myself but by no means do I think everyone has weight equally hard. Some people, and I think it's fair to say you do, have it abnormally hard due to physical problems.
However I think your case is more the exception, rather than the norm. Just as the male who ate a takeout pizza every night and thus packed on a smidge of weight thinks everyone who is overweight has absolutely no control at all (because tapering back the gorging is all it takes for him to drop it)... so is it the exception on the other end, the woman with severe hypo t that can't lose walking an hour a day and eating 1200 cals of low carb food.

It is more common to be able to lose pretty satisfactorily doing what you did, judging by the number of people I encounter on diet groups who stall doing less and lose doing the same or more. Rarely do I recall someone claiming a stall at 1200 cals and an hour a day walk, when committed to for an extended peroid of time, failed to produce weight reduction.

But I do meet lots of dieters stalling eating 1700, 1800, 1900, 2000 or more calories, often women who don't need all that food because they're older, sedentary, and have self admitted slower metabolisms... these very same women then proceed to point a finger at me and say my loss was "so easy" and what worked for me is useless for them.
Now at this point I have wonder how on earth they could call my loss "easy" when it's clear I'm making a huge effort to get this weight (unless they consider my willingness to make a greater effort, a form of "ease" they do not have).
What's "easy" about walking between 40 and 60 city blocks when I want to go to the store? What's "easy" about eating 1500ish cals per day to maintain, and much less to lose? Yesterday I ate a lot of food, and today I will eat little food. How is that easy?

So Nancy I do not mean to say everyone just needs to stop slacking off, some people do actually have it harder, and I feel very bad that they do...
My experience tells me, though, that when someone claims they have it harder, and I have it easier, a little investigation will reveal the reason they aren't losing: eating too much too consistently, and a complete unwillingness to accept that they must sacrifice more to lose further.


Edit...
If you find my post offensive, I truly am sorry, but you know I also find it offensive that certain individuals write off successful, committed weight reducers for justification of premature weight maintenance.
Again I'm not talking to people who purposely aren't making the same effort to weight manipulation as many others who lose more and don't care so much about weight... and I'm not talking to the people who truly do have a ridiculously hard time with their bodies and weight loss... I'm talking to the people who claim to be committed to weight manipulation, but KNOW they could lose more if they sacrficied more (aka would eat a bit less fat, or stop cheating so often, etc) and then have the nerve to point their finger at me and say I've got a free ride in this...

I wouldn't assume anyone that was skinny had an eating disorder either.

Now, I went to school with a woman that would only eat white food. She loaded her plate up with plain yogurt and cauliflower... now THAT has got to be an eating disorder.

I wonder if she ate at White Castle?

I guarantee that being thin is not worth this lifestyle for ME! I would happily maintain a size 14 than have to count everything, divide everything, and be THAT obsessive while feeling as if I have "sacrificed" so much. Awareness of my habits is one thing, being that much of a slave to a WOE would not feel too much like living to me.
Isn't this type of obsession and control pretty close to the definition of an eating disorder? Am I just saying this because I am still at the beginning of my weight loss journey and have no idea what lies ahead?

As someone who WAS anorexic, no it's not the same thing.

When you have an eating disorder the border between “watchful” and “can’t function because all you do is try to control your weight” gets too blurred. You don’t think (for the most part) about anything else, because all you can do is think about your body. Being extremely watchful and cognoscente of the fact that the weight can and will come back if you don’t watch it like a hawk for the first few years isn’t the same. I HAVE to be very mindful of what I eat and why I eat it to lose weight, the same as when (years ago) I had to struggle to maintain it. I DIDN’T remain watchful and that’s why I’m in the situation I’m in, doing this AGAIN.
It’s a fine line, it really is, but when you’ve done both behaviors you know the difference. When I was ana I would wake up and count my ribs to make sure they were still poking out and from the moment I got out of bed, my whole world was food, my body, and restricting. Now, yes, I’m very watchful and some might call it obsessive, but I have to be to lose the weight again. The difference is I don’t think about food all day, I just plan ahead for meals and try my hardest to just look at food as fuel. I KNOW how easy it is to slip and start down the slope and gain back the 100 pounds you swore you’d never gain again. I did it. And this time I know I have to keep being watchful, or I’ll end up back in the 98% of dieters, not the 2% like I want.
I can’t speak for Woo, only myself, but it IS different.
There are some people that will always be content to be a bigger size and take the more “peaceful” route, and that’s cool, but there are some like me that want the optimal size and optimal weight and not “the easy one to stay at”, and it means a LOT of work and watching. Someone wants to stay at a slightly larger size or weight or whatever, hey cool with me. I personally don’t want that.
Different strokes for different folks