Comments on: Invited to a Weight Loss Challenge

By: judy wyatt

judy wyatt — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 06:24:19 +0000

Good for you for having the sense to say no. You've been writing for a long time about making realistic lifestyle changes in your life and eating sensibly. Losing weight as quickly as possible to win a pot of money will do nothing to help you achieve your goal of living the rest of your life with healthy habits. Keep in mind that this challenge wouldn't be any healthier (physically or mentally) if the group were all women.

Congratulations! You're learning something about yourself and making good decisions based on that knowledge!

I recently dropped my gym membership because I am too competitive with myself. Each time I would go I would see if I could go longer on the elliptical machine and lift more weights on the other machines. It was too hard for me to say "hey, I'm here to get some exercise in my life -- this is supposed to be for the rest of my life, so lighten up!" I kept getting exhausted and sick and having to stay home for a while and each time I returned I couldn't just do a reasonable amount of exercise. So now I'm working on the concept of how to get a reasonable amount of exercise in my life on most days of the week. At home. I'm ok with the food issues -- as long as I keep in mind where my weak points are.

You're an inspiration to us all and I'm learning a lot from reading your blog. Thanks!

By: Phil801

Phil801 — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 06:07:55 +0000

Oh, I also think you totally made the right decision!

By: Phil801

Phil801 — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 06:05:31 +0000

Laura,
I’m mortified that I may have insulted you or caused you stress. My invitation was based on knowing about this particular blog and that you were working on weight loss/fitness. My wife (Adria) follows your blog very closely and talks about you all the time, you’re an inspiration to her. Yes, I was directly challenging you, but it was mostly because I was also trying to get my wife to join the challenge but she didn’t want to be the only girl – that would be the “counting on you” part. I don’t know very many female geeks and I wanted to create a place for geeks around the area to congregate and have fun together. You were a natural candidate in my mind, if only for the fun of it. After reading your post here, it occurs to me that the whole ‘challenge’ part of it might be more of a guy thing – I’m highly motivated by competing with others. I also totally understand your reasons for not wanting to join, and if I hadn’t been on vacation and only minimally paying attention to my blog I would have responded to your comment instead of this post. I sincerely apologize for any insult, slight or discomfort I may have caused you – it was totally unintended. Sign me a thick-headed male that thinks everyone wants to do what he wants to.

By: lovelines

lovelines — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 03:08:53 +0000

I think you made the right decision. Competing for most pounds lost is highly dangerous for women who are prone to eating disorders, especially because you're almost definitely going to be losing less than the men. Weight loss and fitness should be for you, not anyone else.

I've never done a weight loss challenge, unless you count the "I challenge you to workout today with me" type of thing you do with gym buddies. =)

By: Sarabeth

Sarabeth — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 14:22:01 +0000

I would say that you did the right thing. I’ve never entered a weight loss challenge because I never thought it would help me. My biggest competition is my own self, not someone else. I liked being on Weight Watchers with a bunch of other women in the same situation as me, but we didn’t ever compete against each other. It was about being accountable–because any loss was a win.