Does anyone else feel frustrated/annoyed when reading success stories? page 2

[sbhikes]

I just celebrate the fact that I can eat as much as I want with leeway to not wake up fatter than yesterday. I also feel 1000 times healthier and happier. I am never going to be skinny. I never was skinny, not as a child, not as a baby. I was born hungry. I'm focused more on what I can do with this body rather than hating myself for not being skinny. Tomorrow I'm going to climb a 5000 foot mountain and on Monday I'm going to deadlift 120lbs.

[Terry H]

(Didn't want to bring potatoes into yet another thread.)

All I can say is that you are cool!

The idea was to keep exposing you to different people, different stories. If you were a lawyer, you'd probably discount the construction worker's story, but you'd listen to the tax lawyer's story because you'd make a connection to him on some level (same background, similar class/income, same education, same challenges, etc). If you went over and over, eventually you found someone who was pretty much you up there...and you'd feel at home.

So...if I were you, I'd just keep reading them. Eventually, you'll find a muffintop that spent 15 months at it, and then, wham, she figured it all out. Just a theory, but, hang in there. Also, there's a "primal women's thread", and I bet you could find someone in there whose story you mimic, that might be willing/able to help.



(PS, I dropped out of Amway. But other than that...)

Great comparison!

[Pilatesmom]

I'm with you. I struggle with keeping it low enough in carbs, but still feeling like I am able to do this as a lifestyle forever. So, I do little fasts and stick to the fact that fat is good. I struggle. It's been 3 months and I have lost 10lbs. I want to lose 10 more. It will happen, but I believe that I need to be lower in carbs overall more consistently in order for that to happen. I also believe that Christmas will set me back because I plan to allow 2 days of cookies and celebration, no wheat except for flour in cookies. I'm sure that won't matter to the scale or to my insulin levels. I believe that as long as I always go back to what I know works and stick to 90/10 (for me anyway) that it will work. I have proof and know that my body is waiting to see if I will stick to it. Every time I stick to it for long enough, it works. When I break it, that's when things don't change. I have kept 10lbs off, still have more to go and the trick I think is consistency. Every day is another day you're fighting the aging process

[gopintos]

I do know what you are talking about. Not so much here, cuz I dont get around to reading the success stories as much as I should but I am on Sparkpeople alot and I can see when people started and how much they have lost. Some started the same or later than I did, yet they are farther ahead or whatever. Yes, I can't help but think about it. But usually that makes me look to myself and see where my own program needs tweaking.

[WeldingHank]

Every one of them makes me smile a little more. They drive me to push a little farther, and a little harder in everything I do.

[Damiana]

No, because I'm right where I want to be in terms of weight. I understand your frustration regarding the muffin top though, abdominal fat is a pain in the ass to lose.

[excursivey]

I just celebrate the fact that I can eat as much as I want with leeway to not wake up fatter than yesterday.

Totally agree. I was just playing around "ranting". I was not overweight when I started this. I just want to kind of lean out more. I'm sure I probably need to lift more heavy things. I just wish it would happen faster is all. I actually like the success stories, it's just that it seems like it was magic for all those people. I want it to be magic for me too.

[Cha]

I don't mind them. I feel like I am a success, even though I do still have belly flab. As a woman in general and a mom in particular I see it as NORMAL to have belly flab. I can assure you my kids would prefer to snuggle my remaining pooch instead of a rock hard six-pack when they are sick or hurt. I am not fat by any means but I am simply soft. It doesn't deter from the strength of the muscle beneath, it just rounds out my figure. I guess I have just come to grips that I will never look like a fitness model, but that was never my goal. I won't say I never had times where I was disgusted that the last bit of jiggle never went away. I have just chosen to love my form instead of wish it was like someone else's. Ironically I drop weight easier and and quicker with that kind of attitude. I see it more about nurturing what I have instead of trying to lose. Eating like crap and not exercising simply isn't nurturing.

[Cassandra]

I can't always find the time to read MDA, but I will find a way to see Friday's post. Twenty years ago I started having loads of health problems, along with the typical stubborn extra pounds. I ended up eliminating all grains (except for rice), ALL processed foods, all meat (except for fish) and dairy (gluten/dairy/preservative sensitive). I lost those stubborn pound quickly. I eventually brought beef back into my diet at the advice of my doc. (b/c of low iron) Years later, the market for gluten/dairy foods came about and I started adding these back in with a frenzy. YEA sandwiches and pizza again! BOO, pounds coming back on. Back to no grains, no fake foods. Along comes MDA and I read about all the meat eating. Yum, more meats. Damn, more pounds back on. So, I have found that I can not eat as much meat as people on here seem to eat. My point is, you will have to tweak your diet to satisfy your body. That will take a lot of effort on your part. Keep a food diary for starters.

[BestBetter]

Maybe this makes you feel better:

I started eating paleo / primal about 2 years ago as a way to stay healthy, and not need to go on immune-suppressing drugs (I'm diagnosed with MS). I'd already cut out gluten and dairy about 4 years earlier.

Since switching to primal, I developed a whole slew of new problems that were caused by this new, 'healthy' diet:
-extreme, debilitating fatigue
-feeling cold all the time
-low blood pressure
-hair falling out by handfuls with every shower
-depression, mood instability, anxiety attacks
-reduced quality of sleep
-the worst IBS flares in the 6 years of my IBS career.

The healthier I ate, the sicker I got. Oh yeah, and switching from low-fat paleo to high-fat primal also caused me to gain a bunch of extra fat that I totally didn't need.

I've learned that there is no one way of eating that solves everyone's health issues. I've managed to cure most of the health problems that eating primal caused by switching my diet to high carb/low fat and doing some other things. I wish it was as easy for me as it seems to be for all those people with their happy success stories, but I have to keep remembering that I am a different person with different issues and needs, and one size does not fit all.