Thursday, April 22, 2010

Thursday morning quarterback

This will be a brief post since I'm going to be putting up the food pics in the evenings. I don't want to overdo it with pictures and writing a zillion paragraphs each day, but you know how I like to chat;D !

Yesterday really felt great, and was the cleanest day I've had in a while with not one extra bite of anything...even vegetables. Not that extra bites of veggies wouldn't be okay, but as Tammy wrote when she started out with her TamCam, if it's going into the body, it's getting photographed first. It was actually kind of fun!

Anyone who happened to read the comments about my day 1 pics saw the comment by someone who said, "That's an awful lot of food for someone who wants to lose weight." I'm striving to be magnanimous about it, but I have to say it made me first VERY irritated; but I quickly felt ashamed and then was compelled to look back and see if in fact it was too much food, or bad choices, or I coulda/shoulda /woulda...blah blah blah. The calories came in at 1510, which I guarantee is more than I actually ate. I gave high estimates on things I couldn't be sure of, like the roasted veggies. I'm sure my actual caloric total was between 1400 and 1500, which for me is FANTASTIC. And for pete's sake...I don't need to defend myself! But interesting how a comment by someone from whom I've almost never had a comment could have me questioning myself. That's entirely about me, not about the commenter...I'm well aware of that!

I remember reading someone else's blog a few months back who was posting food pics (can't recall who) for awhile; at the beginning she stated clearly that she wasn't looking for a critique of her choices - like about how processed the food was or if it was organic, or was it enough of whatever nutrients...rather she was just trying to hold herself accountable. I didn't think it necessary to say that about my own food pics, but after day 1, maybe I do. Tell me it looks good, tell me you hate ________ that I love, or that you wouldn't touch raw squid if that's one of my choices which it would never be...but don't criticize the choices, UNLESS I specifically ask for that kind of feedback. Chris O. wrote about eating 10 saltines with real butter every other day - no one took her to task for that. (Of course the fact that she's lost over 100 pounds might be why!)

I emailed the gal and very nicely thanked her for caring enough to read and comment, but told her I felt criticized in a way that I hadn't asked for. If I said, "Do you guys think this is too much food? Please be honest", that's an entirely different story. I don't want to be a jerk. I love comments - the more the better. People have offered me suggestions and expressed concerns the whole time I've been blogging, but I've never felt blatantly criticized. Maybe I'm over-sensitive (I totally am). Anyhoodles - that's my rant for the day.

In the interest of not further glazing over any of your eyes, I'll sign off here. Thanks so much for the support and positivity that abounds from all of you. When one of us is down, others rally round to bouy that one up, and so on, and so on. We all have ups, downs and frustrations - no one is immune from struggles. We're lucky to have this amazing tool that even 15 years ago (maybe less?) didn't exist.

13 comments:

  1. Have a great day Leslie!

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  2. Honey just brush it off and move on. People do not have the right to judge others' choices yet somehow the safety of blogland makes it seem perfectly ok. (I didn't think it was too much - not that you care - lol!)

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  3. I have to admit i've had comments that have gotten under my skin! I also loves comments but i wish people would sometimes be a little kinder :)

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  4. You know how I feel about comments like that considering my marathon with the anonymous commenter the other day. Yes, I think people should be able to say what they think IF it's done in a way that is sincere and beneficial to the bloggers weight loss journey. It's hard to be honest and say what we eat etc....we all do it a little different. I think it's very important to feel safe enough to be transparent with this process. Food choices and amounts are difficult...we beat ourselves up enough about it...we don't need any negative stuff added on to our own melodramtic chatter that takes place in our minds.

    OK...enough of my opinion adding to your rant.

    I'm very proud of you for having a good day. I made it through yesterday and defeated the hairy scary binge monster myself. Keep at it. We can....WILL....do this :)

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  5. Sorry about how that post made you feel....but glad you addressed it and overcame it. 1500 is not a lot - you're doing great!

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  6. I am with Helen on this one too. Life's too short to let things like that get the better of you.

    I don't think I would ever leave a criticizing comment - if you want to eat a butterfinger after dinner each night, who am I to judge?!

    Hugs!

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  7. 1500 is not a lot at all. OMG you should see what I shovel in in a day.
    Don't let it get to you.

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  8. It would be nice if we just blew off things people say that make us feel defensive... but that is awfully hard to do. I personally was a little torqued on your behalf when I ran across the comment and then chose not to post my original response nor the one I had immediately after reading past the comments...

    Its okay to feel ruffled...

    your goal here is a lifestyle not just a diet complete with failure and binges

    everyone of us, every BODY is a big bunch of filters, we all react to different chemical makeups of food differently, we all have our metabolisms and habits to ad to the mix.... NO ONE CAN KNOW YOUR BODY AND IT'S NEEDS BETTER THAN YOU>

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  9. Okay so I had to go to that post and read it and I think that was R-U-D-E but I went to her blog and it looks like she is suffering from Depression so consider the source and delete the comment. That is my suggestion.

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  10. I actually didn't think it was enough!LOL!

    You know, the fact that YOU were satisfied with what YOU had (and it ALL looked GOOD!!), makes what you had PERFECT...regardles of what anyone (myself included) thinks.

    Thumbs Up for Leslie!!!!

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  11. Enough FOOD I meant :)

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  12. Don't let em get you down. Food picture journals are a lot of fun , and can be really helpful to you on many levels. If nothing else, they can sometimes give you a great excuse to buy pretty plates and so on that you come across !

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  13. Well, the thing is, it kind of was a lot of food. But frankly, it doesn't matter if it's a lot of food as long as it's nutritious, low-calorie choices. And they were. So I don't know why someone would think that was a bad thing. I think it's smart when you can figure out a way to get in as much food as it takes to keep you satisfied while still keeping it at 1500 calories (or whatever amount you're aiming for).

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