Would you bet on yourself to lose weight? | DietBet diary post 2

This is the second of two posts for my DietBet Diary – click here for DietBet Diary 1

Would you bet on yourself to lose weight? I have and it’s going…

I am now 2 weeks in to my bet and things are going well, a little harder than I thought though. Trying to lose weight is so hard and those around just do not help.

In open conversation people will discuss, at length, dieting, food choices, exercise and of course, other people behind their back. Not necessarily in a bad way, but because it’s too scary to talk to them directly.

No-one will ever have a frank conversation to your face though – you’re really overweight, you need to sort that out, look at yourself, have you no self respect? That’s bad, right – wouldn’t it help if they did?

What people say…or not?

The problem with life and obesity is that honesty seldom makes an appearance. What do I mean by that?

My dearest friends and family gave me mixed messages. Your family will tell you that you look fine, it’s OK, you carry it well, don’t give yourself a hard time.

Colleagues would never say anything, because you can’t actually say anything to anyone at work of a personal nature – although, after a few beers, peers seem to.

Finally friends, the most confusing group. I am in a group of great mates who take this piss out of each other, often brutally. Yet, they would never go near my weight. Whilst in normal conversation some of my friends would address me as ‘fat boy’, which didn’t upset me but seemed OK to say. A dear friend of mine told me recently, after I had lost 25kg (4 stone), how he felt my weight was terrible, couldn’t believe the size of my gut and the way it hung over my belt.

“Dude! I love you, but why the hell didn’t you tell me that before, rather than now?”

Let’s assume that most people would like to lose weight. Similarly let’s suggest that motivation and willpower are serious barriers. Surely, if everyone were more honest with each other, that would be a real motivator, right? A genuine reality check.

To my friends and family reading this, don’t feel bad, no-one wants to discuss this stuff – it’s a social nightmare.

Change

My lifestyle had changed, my confidence had changed, my body had changed, my appearance in clothing had changed and people’s attitude toward me, changed.

You get a lot of compliments, shock and general positivity. It’s then, and only then that people talk about how you were before, and how much better you are for it. During the process, this is a enormous motivator, probably the strongest – it’s amazing.

But, for goodness sake, why couldn’t I get that honest feedback when I needed it? I appreciate that the hypocrisy of society makes that difficult.

After a while, I found the compliments to be rather embarrassing. A reminder of how disgusting I was. Yup! DISGUSTING, VILE, GROSS – that’s how ‘I’ felt. You might very well disagree, but that doesn’t actually help people who want to lose weight or NEED to lose weight – it’s not always about how you look.

I recall a few years back having a few beers around the pool with a mate in Vegas. He was telling me how he’d let himself go and referred to himself as a ‘fat fucker’. More importantly he made the point that it went unnoticed, he didn’t notice it and no-one said anything.

He said that as soon as he realised he addressed it – ‘I was a fat fucker’ – brilliant. I bet, and this is a betting related article after all, if someone has mentioned it to him he would have addressed it sooner.

That does not mean you should tell your friends that they are a ‘fat fucker’ though – as funny as it is.

Honesty

To anyone that knows me, I would be grateful if you could call me out if:

• I start to put on weight again
• You don’t feel that I am exercising enough
• I’m eating too much
• You see me reaching for Haribo, Maynards or those giant snakes with the foam bellies (I am addicted to sugar – damn!)
• You think I’m not looking after myself

The latest position from friends, family and colleagues is ‘don’t lose any more weight, you’ll look ill. Your face will be gaunt’.

Really? I am still in the yellow zone for BMI 26.3 and that means overweight. Guys, please – the NHS, Britain’s health service, widely regarded as the one of the best in the world, is telling me that I am overweight. That’s it!

I need your support and honesty, not some ill guided rhetoric to make me feel better, losing weight will make me feel better. Love ya though…

Progress with DietBet

I thought I would nail this and actually reach my goal weight of 88kg, I don’t think that’s going to happen. The target weight for the bet is 93kg and I am 80% likely to reach that, according to my recent update from DietBet.

I have recorded a weight of 92.6kg about a week ago, but since then I’ve ended up at Five Guys and sunk too much booze over the weekend, plus I think I weighed myself at a stupid time, naked too. DietBet requires you to have some light clothing on – so I am actually at 94.4kg and still well within reach.

I started at 96.9kg so I think losing 5 1/2 lbs isn’t bad at all – gotta keep going.