104 Different Pieces Of Advice About How To Lose Weight
I am in a Facebook group of mostly women about simplifying tasks in life, and someone asked about how to simplify weight loss.
You know what she got?
104 comments all giving DIFFERENT advice about how to lose weight.
And the thing is, everyone acted like it was so simple.
“Oh, just do this impossibly ridiculous thing for the rest of your life and you will be sad and won’t fit in socially because of your newly found eating habits but maybe you’ll be thin so there’s that!” (Or something like that…clearly I’m taking some liberties and reading between the lines, but it is pretty much what they are saying).
I wonder what that is like for her, to see 100 different pieces of sometimes conflicting advice. I wonder what it is like for those reading 100 different pieces of conflicting advice.
I guess I don’t actually have to wonder a whole lot.
While you or I may not be posting this specific question in social media, we have all held this question in our hearts before and have received “answers” to it from everywhere around us (playing fast and loose with the word ‘answers’ here). From the news, magazines, social media, coworkers, family, friends, the host of the local radio station - everyone is doling out weight loss advice… we ALL have been given 100 plus comments as a “solution” to this question and it can make you want to try them ALL maybe even at the same time... and if not, it can still make you feel like you are missing out on something.
So look, this is what I want you to think about. What DON’T you get to hear in these comments?
What you don’t get to hear is “I tried that and I couldn’t keep doing it.”
What you don’t get to hear is “I tried that and it sucked.”
What you don’t get to hear is “I tried that and I thought I was losing my mind.”
What you don’t get to hear is “I tried that and it triggered an eating disorder.”
What you don’t get to hear is “I tried that and I regained all the weight I lost and then some.”
Just because you don’t see it, doesn’t mean it isn’t there.
Every woman contributing their weight loss recommendation in that comment section is just sharing what they are doing now, and they too are hoping that what they are trying will finally work for them too.
There was not one person that said “I lost weight doing x and 10 years later I still kept the weight off.”
Everyone might be trying, but it doesn’t mean they are succeeding.
How is prevalent weight loss advice affecting (or not affecting) you right now? Let me know in the comments below, I’d love to hear from you about what you are experiencing and create a community of validation in each other’s comments.