Weigh-Ins are on MONDAYS - Updated July 3, 2017

Surgery Date: October 20, 2009:

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Shut Your Mouth Already

Oh Em Gee.

Did you read this article: "Want to lose weight? Shut your mouth"?

The woman in the article, Anita, lost 242 lbs.  Pretty amazing, right?  Congrats Anita! That's a lot of hard work.
Here's how Anita did it:
1. Eat 8 ounces of food every 3 hours
2. No sugary drinks
3. Do not skip meals
4. Do not tell anyone what you're doing

What?  Huh?  Seriously?  This sounds like "secret dieting" to me.

For me, secret dieting always led to thoughts and behaviors like:
  • "No one knows that I'm dieting, therefore I can eat this donut.  Who will care? No one will ever know."
  • "No one knows that I'm trying to lose weight, therefore I don't have to exercise.  No biggie.  My own little secret if I don't go to the gym today."
Ultimately, secret dieting for me means that there is NO ACCOUNTABILITY.

Yes, I lost 115+ lbs for me. I did it to improve my health. I did not lose the weight for anyone else. However, I do get a lot of accountability and support from others.

Anita must have some fabulous internal accountability.  I wish that I some of that internal accountability, but I don't.

I've read many posts from weight loss bloggers (banded or not) that they notice that their weight loss stalls or they're seeing gains on the scale when they stop blogging.  Blogging is support for a lot of us.
 
I can remember when I used to be a Weight Watcher.  If I just weighed-in and didn't stay for the meeting, I was usually not as successful with my weight loss that following week. Why? For me, the support that I would get and give during the meeting was crucial for me.
 
I'm going to my surgeon's support group tonight because I will never shut my mouth about my weight loss journey (even though some people in my every day life probably wish that I would).

What do you think about secret dieting? Were/are you successful with this method of weight loss?

7 comments:

  1. Interesting. I find the blog community essential to my weight loss effort. I know it will be part of my maintenance when I get there as well. I agree with you that when I was actively going and participating in WW meetings, I did better. However, people in my life outside of the blogosphere, I only have told 7 people. I'm comfortable with that. There are days I wish I were honest about my tool, but most days I'm just glad to have lost over 73 lbs and be getting healthier.

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  2. I feel the same way... the times that I didnt tell anyone... Is when I would do the worst. I need to tell people, so they can remind me when or if I go off track.

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  3. Yeah I definitely find it odd that she didn't tell ANYONE what she was doing. I mean, NO ONE? Not one single person? I need support coming from somebody somewhere.

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  4. I find this interesting, I need accountability. Sometimes I don't grab the cookie for the faculty room because I know people are aware of my journey!

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  5. I feel the same way. The support I have can't be replaced by anything else that I have done or will do. My blogland family reminds me everyday of what I am doing and who I am doing it for....ME. Support is key.

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  6. Hmm what an interesting post! For me I need the support network. Although I've kept my decision to have lap band to only close family and friends...hmm I wonder if having this secret from peeps will affect me...hmmmmm

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  7. Yeah, I need support and accountability, too.

    BUT the thing that stands out to me about Anita's journey is 8 ounces of food... doughnuts and potato chips don't weigh very much. How many Krispy Kremes can you eat every three hours?!?!?!?!?!?

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