How is your Friend and Family Support this time around?

[elfish99]

I'm just curious about about reactions from your loved ones as you restart the WOE. Are they supportive or do they think that since you didn't stick long term, that it can't work? Do they help or try to sabbatoge?

I have to say that the only person trying to sabbatoge my WOE is my 2yr old. He keeps trying to feed me cheerios. Very sweet but not very helpful Everyone else has really been ambivalent. It's more of a curiosity to them, I think. "You can't eat WHAT? Why on earth... " (said in a southern drawl).

[victoriansoup]

Hubby says I'm fine the way I am, but is very supportive of my choices. I never discuss my weight with my daughter, she has an ongoing battle with bulimia. She is in support groups and is doing fine now, but once a bumimic, always a bulimic. She has had such a tough time of it. And of course she has never had a weight problem anyway. Me, my weight has always been up and down, now that I'm 50, it seems to creep up and not come off like it use to! Its more work! And its hard to buy cloths, i have 3 sizes in my closet! LOL My son....haven't said anything to him, his reaction would be "WHY"! But i do have a friend at work, and we're doing it together, she is on the SB diet and one week ahead of me. She has done great and we're very supportive of each other.
And of course i have all of you, my friends, who are my rocks! and i thank you for being here!!

[DebbietheHugBug]

Support? Let me count the ways....... 0? <j/k> :grumble

My hubby is very supportive, even though he feels I deserve a "treat" once in awhile, ie: Fritos for camping :smackhead I told him to keep them outta my face!

My daughter thinks it's stupid. The rest of my family has that attitude "here she goes again". And my weight is coming off SO DAMN SLOW that it's hard to brag about what I'm doing. :red

But I truck on. I WILL show everyone that I am a success! :ThumbsUp

Basically, other than my husband, I'm in this alone. Except for all of you :hug

[carbcounter999]

My friends are fairly supportive, although that is sometimes a "oh, you're doing Atkins again?" One of my closest friends has been doing the Oprah plan, and we started at the same time, so it's fun to talk about our experiences.

I'm going to visit my parents in 2 weeks and I'm not sure what to expect. The last time I did Atkins the trip home for Christmas was part of what led me off plan. I didn't want to have the confrontation with my mother about how I was eating so I didn't follow Atkins. She often talks to me about my weight (the last time the conversation was started with "Now let's talk about your weight. You're heavier than I've ever seen you" - not exactly conducive to a discussion). I have a history with my mom where she puts pressure on me to lose and then undermines my efforts. "You'll never stick with that... don't waste your money on the gym, you know you won't go" At one point I lost some weight by exercising and eating low fat. One of my friends was my exercise buddy, so my mom proceeded to say to her (in front of me) "that's so great, she'd never do this without you." Talk about losing any sense of my own accomplishment (and the pounds came back on).

This time I will NOT go off Atkins when I go home. I expect she'll flip out about the meat, butter, eggs, etc, both from a health perspective and saying that it's too expensive. I'm 30, so it's well past time to have the "it's my body not yours" talk. But I know I need to be very strong to not get sucked into the "you won't succeed" attitude she has. I do have access to the internet while home so I'll be on here for encouragement!

[DebbietheHugBug]

Carb, be strong. My Mom won't lecture me but she won't force me to eat what I don't want. I have told her that I've cut out sugar (diabetes runs in the family so it's viable). After I have a significant loss, I'll tell her what I'm doing.

We are here for you no matter what :hug

[elfish99]

Deb, whether we've got 10lbs or 100lbs to lose we all need support, so I'm glad your husband cares about what you care about. As long as you stay healthy.

Debbie, people have such a hard time understanding this diet until they actually do it! I was the same way. My best friend lost 75lbs a few years ago and she kept telling me that I should just try it. I thought she was crazy and this was the most unhealthy thing you could do to your body... now I know better.

Just stick with it cause it makes you feel better and you know you can control how you feel. You can do it.

[elfish99]

Carb, what is is about our mothers? Maybe they think they're preparing us in case we fail, but instead they're setting us up to fail! It's so much easier when you know people have faith in you.

My mother is 130lbs in her late 40's. She looks good and she talks about how fat she is! How does that make me, 40lbs heavier than her, feel about myself. if she thinks she's fat what does she think of me? She hasn't been discouraging but her reaction is "Oh, isn't that neat, well maybe you can lose a little more this time."

I've found that my best defense is to educate myself about the diet so I can explain to people just how much sense it makes. That I eat even MORE veggies now than I ever did on my carby WOE.

[Sarah1341]

Well, for the most part I get the support I need. DH doesn't say much about it. He supports that I'm doing it, but I think he feels that I won't stick with it. Work is the hardest. My co-worker (who is not overweight) always attempts to get me to cheat "oh, come on, one bite won't hurt, one cheat." One day she brought me a muffin and told me it was low carb and low fat. I know she doesn't do these things on purpose, but she's never been overweight and probably cannot understand the importance of this diet for me and my health.

[kebdal23]

Well,

My mom is supportive of any diet that I start. She will ask how she can help, and what meals I want her to prepare. I have four kids, so she helps me out with cooking a LOT. She will even bring the food to my car in my work parking lot so I have a hot dinner ready to bring home in my trunk! How awesome is that?

BUT, my husband - he has no faith in me. He has seen me try and give up too many diets. He rolls his eyes when I tell him I'm starting another one. It's hard not having any support there.

My sister used to be on Atkins, she actually lost about 45 pounds. But, now she has a new boyfriend and is back to eating how she used to. So far, I haven't noticed any weight gain though.

I'm happy just to have my mom's support, and of course this board!

[michigangirly]

my mom is actually very supportive. she is living a sort of pseudo atkins lifestyle...as in she doesn't always eat legal foods but she still is low carbing it mostly...so she understands and we can relate. my boyfriend started on this bandwagon with me..but he is all about "rewarding" himself for eating good...with pizza and ice cream. sometimes it seems like everyone is just waiting for you to "mess up" or stop "dieting". sort of frustrating. especially when people don't really know what the atkins lifestyle is all about. and different strokes for different folks...atkins is not for everyone..but i wish people wouldn't criticize (sp) before they knew what is was about.

[ladyhairg]

I have two sisters who are convinced that carb loading is the way to go, and they call me on a daily basis to see if I have died yet from being on Atkins. And an aunt who keeps telling me that some people are just meant to be fat, so I should just stop fighting it and enjoy my life as a fat person. My DH keeps bringing home bags of my favorite candy to surprise me (which he never did before I started Atkins).

So, um, I guess I'd have to say that my support group is not good right now. At least I've got you guys.

[Laurenfra]

Thank God we have this place or I would never make it. My Dh tries but just doesnt get it. Always telling me if I want to loose weight I should eat less and less fat :yikes

[DragonflyMoon]

Wow. What a mix of support and not-so-much-support, huh?! This time around i severely limited who i am telling about the diet. My husband knows, and is very supportive. And i know how frustrating it must be for him since i have tried so many times. But he even said yesterday, "This time you really seem committed." So that is cool. We also rent out a basement apartment to a friend and i told her, since she technically lives with us and she is completely supportive too.

Other than that, i have told no one (which is really hard - i tell my mom everything!) But i am hoping to surprise my NJ family and friends next time i see them. And so far no one else has asked me around here.

Coming to the decision not to tell anyone made me realize that i desperately needed people to talk with who were going through it too... which is how i found all of you! My fabulous new buddies... :hug

[goin2Bgood]

Hubby is totally supportive. Honestly he would be supportive if I wanted to try a new diet that involved eating tree leaves and grubs though. Nothing fazes him

It's funny, my parents were the ones that actually got me started on Atkins a couple years ago. I was pretty much one of those "Atkins is evil" type people until I sat down and read Dad's book.

Fastforward a year and a half to where I'm starting again, Mom & Dad are off Atkins because she think it's unhealthy (but she's not giving me too much flack). Her holistic Dr. said so. The same Dr. that tells her what diseases she has by zapping a low electric current through her fingers and pinging it on some machine.

So she eats what she wants, takes some Chinese herb concoction from him and calls it good. Her GURD is irritating her though, her gall bladder needs to come out because it's sluggish or dead (they're not sure which) and she's doing that drink oil and apple cider vinegar flush instead. More power to her, I hope it works, but I'm a little more skeptical. I believe in natural healing, but there are some things I have a little more faith in than others. $30 purified ionized water to drink is NOT one of them.

As far as other family members go, like brother in-laws etc., no one cares one way or another. It's a non-issue which is cool