[ SECRET POST #3797 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3797 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 00 secrets from Secret Submission Post #544.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

TW: Diet Talk

[(Anonymous)]

See below.

Re: TW: Diet Talk

[(Anonymous)]

Background information: I have a long history of disordered eating. Looking back on it, I'm incredibly lucky that I didn't end up with an actual eating disorder.

A couple of years ago, I made the conscious decision to stop dieting. Since then, my weight has stabilized; I'm no longer yoyoing with an upward trend. Though I wish I was about a hundred pounds thinner, at least I don't seem to be getting any fatter, for the first time since I was a preteen.

So now, my work has a promotion to get a free fitbit if I sign up for the health website, because we're going to be doing a friendly competition on which department can do the most steps. And I'd like to increase my activity level; completely unrelated to any weight loss goals.

So I signed up for the site. And they said I had to complete a "wellness questionaire." And I should have known, but hey, free shit!

So I took the questionaire, and when it asked whether I was interested in starting a weight loss plan, I clicked the option that was the closest to "NOPE, FUCK NO, NO WAY IN HELL."

(I also was honest about how much I drink, which is maybe one or two times a week, maybe one or two drinks, and drink more than four drinks less than once a month. Which in practice is Hardly Fucking Ever. Buuut the judgy program thanked me for being honest about my drinking, and said that it was an "issue" I can deal with. Yes, you judgy piece of silicone, I sometimes have a glass of wine or a beer. That's not even close to alcoholism territory.)

Then I got my results and what does it tell me? That one of the "plans" it generated is to work on my weight. Which sent me into a tailspin and I barely slept at all last night because I was thinking about how fat I was and how I should diet so as not to be such a fat, useless, unloveable cow, and it was really tempting just to run off to work without breakfast because that's a few hundred calories saved right there. Literally the only way I convinced myself to eat anything was by telling myself that missing breakfast was actually correlated to weight gain.

So yeah. I should have known better. But I would have thought that with access to my medical records (this is a known issue, and my doctor is okay with me not trying to lose weight; she thinks the fact that my weight has stabilized is more important.)

There was an option for "my doctor has said I should not start an exercise program right now." But for dieting? Obviously there's no reason in the world, including a history of disordered eating, that someone "my size" should not go on a diet, including the risk of developing an eating disorder, even though I'm in my 40s. (Eating disorders in "midlife" are on the rise.)

So yeah. Even if I decide I want the fitbit after this (which I'm not sure of; just the thought of it sets my heart racing with anxiety) I'm not going to use a website which has already had a negative effect on my mental health, and which, if I used it on a regular basis, would almost certainly lead me, at some point, to engage in harmful behavior.

Re: TW: Diet Talk

[(Anonymous)]

Damn, I'm sorry, that really sucks. Fitness=lower weight has some truth to it, but there are other kinds of health to take into consideration, and stress=weight gain, too. I'm glad your doctor is at least sensible and doesn't make a big deal of your weight. I don't know if the fitbit would help you. I use the activity tracker on my phone to see how much I walk a day; my average for the year has stayed steady at 3.4 miles a day, but I'm hoping to get that up to 4 a day at least by doubling down on walking for the rest of the year.

I stopped trying to diet by the time I was in my early twenties; it wasn't worth the stress and crying for so little reward. My weight's been slowly creeping upwards as my stress level climbed over the years, and would be worse if I had a car. Since I don't, I walk a lot, but with my weight gain my knees have been complaining about that. I need to figure out some other exercise to do I don't hate; I'm only 33 and I'm gonna need my knees for hopefully another 60 years. And it's not really dieting exactly but I need to cook more and eat less prepackaged food. I know how to cook healthy stuff, but for the last couple of years I haven't had the time. I've always eaten what my mom called "truck driver portions," but there's a big difference between eating a ton of stir fried brown rice with tofu and veggies, and a whole bag of cheetos.

Re: TW: Diet Talk

[shortysc22]

If you don't feel comfortable with the fitbit and don't mind not being a part of the competition, can I recommend a regular pedometer?

I use the Pokemon step counter that came with HeartGold/SoulSilver to encourage kids to walk but it's a great tool for just tracking how much I walk around and it's only connected to the Pokemon game and I honestly don't even check in with it anymore, I just use it for the steps. I'm sure there are other basic step counters and this way you can track your activity level without it being tied to weight/diet.