Celery, carrots and comments, oh my!
A few of you have asked how my quest towards fitting into the bridesmaid dress is going seeing as there’s a little less than three months ’til the big day. I’m happy to report the zipper goes up one inch more than it used to, though it’s my duty to inform you that there are several more inches of that zipper left to conquer.
In other words, I’m looking forward to having celery and carrots three meals a day for the next 80 days.
Oh, I kid. I’m also going to let myself have a little bit of water, too, if I’ve been a good girl.
I haven’t written much about my efforts to lose weight mainly because it’s one of the most sensitive areas of my life. Most people who are overweight will tell you that their physical appearance alone is enough to make them very sensitive about the issue. But those of us who have had people in our lives viciously hurt us through their words about our weight can testify to a whole new level of sensitivity about it, however.
Luckily, I only have a small handful of people in my life who have openly been mean to me about my weight. I am aware, however, that each of them read the blog so I’ve been a bit uneasy about writing about that area of my life simply because I’ve been afraid it would give them an opportunity to use their words to wound. One of the most common comments I receive on the blog is appreciation for my honesty about my life yet I suspect that very few people realize that not everyone in my life wants me to be honest, much less respects my honesty. I absolutely disdain people who take something precious, such as writing about a personal struggle, and then use that information to hurt the person.
So, I’ve been scared to write about it knowing those few people would get to read it.
I started thinking about what my purpose for this blog is, however, and realized that more than anything, the blog is a public record of my life on a day-to-day basis. There are, of course, things that would be completely inappropriate or too personal to chronicle on a public blog; those experiences are recorded in my private diary for my eyes — and God’s — to see. And while there are certain aspects of my journey in weight loss that fall into the above categories, there’s much that I wouldn’t hesitate to post if I knew those three or four people (out of the hundreds who come here daily) weren’t reading. So, after thinking about it for a couple of months, I’ve decided that I’m going to start writing about it some, especially since it’s quickly become such a significant part of my day-to-day life.
And since we’re on the topic of people leaving comments, now is a perfect time to mention that I recently added a disclaimer to the “contact me” section to your left that explains my policy regarding comments from this point forward. I’ll save you the click and list it here:
This blog is a collection of stories, experiences and anecdotes from my daily life, therefore making it a personal blog. As such, I reserve the right to monitor and delete your comments at my discretion. It’s highly unlikely that I’ll delete your comment unless I find it to be inappropriate, abusive, profane, offensive, misleading, spam, etc. I won’t delete a comment that disagrees with something I’ve posted unless it is expressed in a manner that, in my opinion, falls into one of the categories above or violates the values I wish to express through my blog. Please remember that, as this is a personal blog with my owning the rights to it, the decision of whether your comment falls into one of the categories listed above is solely up to me. You’re welcome to express anything you wish in a private email to me, but all public comments will be moderated using the guidelines listed above.
I want to make sure you understand that I decided to have this policy to protect comments on all of my posts, not just ones about weight loss. It’s unfortunate that I have to even have this policy seeing as it will really only affect a small percentage of those of you who leave comments here. Having you interact with my life through your leaving comments on my posts is one of my favorite parts of having a blog. Hopefully my setting this policy will help to ensure that I will continue to feel comfortable keeping comments open on posts. You know me well enough by now to know I’m not afraid to have people disagree with me, but I simply won’t tolerate rudeness or offensiveness from anyone in my life but particularly via my personal blog.
With that said, I’ll be back tomorrow to tell you a bit more about how I’m doing with the weight loss, including an update on the number of times I’ve fallen off the treadmill whilst answering emails on my cell phone.
I don’t wait to ruin it for you, but you can be sure the number has grown since our last count.
[...] Original post: Celery, carrots and comments, oh m… [...]
Darling AB, I appreciate your honesty. As someone who has struggled with weight from the time I was 10 years old, it is SO hard for me to write honestly about it on the blog…even though I am sure a lot of people would relate. I am afraid of insinuating that my parents never taught me healthy eating habits and hurting their feelings. I am afraid of bad memories streaming back and haunting me.
Love you, dear. Be brave.
Girl. My brother is getting married a year from now (almost to the day). His fiancee is a PROFESSIONAL DANCER. She has a body that people pay money to get. It’s ridiculous. And their wedding is going to be on the beach. The thought of the bridesmaid dress is freaking me out. So I feel your pain about getting into a dress…and I don’t even know what my dress looks like yet!!! AAAHHH!!!
AB, I love your honesty and openness. And you know, every woman struggles with their body image to some degree. I look forward to your posts because you’re always so inspirational about the other areas of your life. Maybe you’ll motivate me to get my booty moving!
I have a 10 year reunion this fall!
I’m very sensitive to the weight issue as well. Why why???? If it wasn’t the weight, it would be something else (when it comes to me). I dreamed that you fit into that little black dress and it looked FABULOUS. But would you expect anything less?
*hugs*
[...] Original post by Ministry So Fabulous! [...]
Good for you! Dont let negative comments bother you – delete them & move on!
And I understand – there are certain topics such as weight & infertility & emotions that I too feel like I cant blog about with family reading…good for you for stepping out & speaking on a topic that so many women deal with… weight… ugh!
Good for you for working on getting it off though -that’s the main thing… that you are aware & you’re doing something about it… even if its just plain ole’ water
Cheering you on!!
I have been hoping you would do some posts on your weight loss journey. Mainly what you are doing for your diet and what your first few weeks on the journey were like with excercising and what you did those first few weeks for excercise (I need a little motivation to get going).
I want to add that I know where you are coming from on the emotional side of things… The people that are supposed to love me the most (family) are the ones who say the most hurtful things to me about my weight… it is very sad when the people I am supposd to trust the most are not trustworthy when it comes to the topic of my wanting/trying to loose weight. None of them have weight issues so I guess they can not relate and therefore lack compassion on the subject.
I totally know where you are coming from with people and their negative comments about another person’s weight. I have had a weight problem since I was a wee little kid because my entire family believes that if you haven’t eaten tons of stuff out of all the dishes that are filling the table to the brim, then you haven’t eaten.
I have recently started a diet/workout plan. What I have been told thus far is to do plenty of cardio workouts and eat a small nutritious snack every 2 hours to help your body metabolize better. That’s not it, but I don’t want to monopolize your comments area. I am happy to share all the (healthy!) little tips and tricks I have picked up along the way to help lose weight if you want to know about them.
If it were my blog, I would add “And if your comment begins with ‘Not to be rude, but…’ or ‘No offense, but…’ or ‘Don’t take this the wrong way…’ it will be promptly deleted.” I hate those!
You know, it is sad that you have to tell people to be nice.
I do realize that most people are being nice, but those that aren’t . . . it is just sad that they are that way.
I need to lose weight for a wedding too. Too bad I havent’ started yet. Yikes.
True that, to your disclaimer!! I, for one, love your honesty and your beauty.
You can do it! It’s not easy, but not impossible either. Personally, I’m a South Beach Diet fan after years of struggling with weight. I’m still no stick, but more in control of food.
I can’t wait to see you in that dress. You can do it.
Just picture that trainer Jillian Michaels from Biggest Loser and kick her tight little @$$!!!
Sending you tons of encouragement. I know you are doing it not for the dress – but for you, for your health and out of respect for the temple your dear sweet Father created to store your giant amazing heart!!
Go AB – go AB! Woot Woot!!
Just wanted you to know the few posts/tweets that you have done about weight loss have been motivating! Keep being honest…those honest posts are the ones that preach!
[...] as promised yesterday, I’m here with an update on the whole weight lose thing-y which I first began writing about [...]