The most difficult part of communicating as we do online is that so much of what we say can be misconstrued.

Yesterday I posted to a forum from a new person, brand new to Atkins, who had some bad body issues and an obvious assumption that her losses would mirror a friend's. We've all done that before, right? "If she lost 25 pounds in 3 months so can I!" She put herself down in her post and started asking about how much she could realistically lose...looking for some magic numbers as well all have.

So I gave her a few pieces of my best advice, tried to help her put her body images into perspective, and she took it the wrong way. She was insulted, upset, and basically called me out in her response.

This little girly was fuming. Then I realized that it was so stupid. I went to respond and saw that two others had also gotten my back while I was taking a breather. The response I wrote back was much more reasonable and polite once I was calm again and happy that others had seen my intention for what it was, advice and support.

Sometimes I forget just how fragile we can be when we are unhappy with ourselves. I got through that phase many years ago and came to terms with who I was. Now I'm very happy with who I am, and I'm working on being exstatic about it, which I'm sure will come once I'm healthy.