Do you ever feel "better" than other people?

[trisarahtops]

I know i'm new to this whole thing but i have seen results in a short time and i believe in what i'm doing. and lately, i can't help but feel a little, i don't know, superior maybe? when i see someone that starts with the "oh, i really shouldn't eat this third piece of birthday cake" i think "you're right! you shouldn't! but you are so don't cry to me when you can't zip your jeans, missy!" it's not that i'm bitter that i'm not eating the cake, too. i hate cake so at least that part if induction has been easy. but i still feel a little bit better than people that have no gumption to lose their spare tire because i am several days into induction, sticking to it and seeing results. maybe i'm turing into a bit of a snob but every day i am losing weight and every day i look at the the women in my office that so desperately need to lose weight and aren't. they complain about their sizes and then huddle around the vending machine, turning dollars into Twix bars. does anyone else feel secretly snobby because of their dedication to themselves? anyone else maybe looking down their noses at the vending machine pariahs?

[Chicklady]

Re: Do you ever feel "better" than other people?

Well, maybe kind of. I feel sorry for them, but annoyed with the whining at the same time, because they do have a choice. But then I remember what I was like, sitting there with my pint of Ben&Jerrys wondering why i was so fat...... I guess if you can't help them, maybe it's just best to ignore them when it comes to food issues.

[KingLeonidas]

Re: Do you ever feel "better" than other people?

I don't know if I feel superior, but I do get a powerful sense of self-confidence that comes with being able to get control over that part of my life

[kimbat06]

Re: Do you ever feel "better" than other people?

Kinda. My best friend is very overweight... she probably has around 100 lbs to lose. But she keeps eating so unhealthy. It's like she enjoys being fat. But then she actually complains that she is fat... and I am like "do Atkins with me then" and she just can't even fathom giving up her precious carbs and sugar. It's a shame. So anyway, back on subject, I do feel more accomplished when we go out to eat, since I order a piece of chicken and some veggies or something, while she gets a big heaping pile of carbs.

She is one of the reasons I started Atkins. I felt as if I was turning into her. She doesn't care what she eats, and is super lazy. I was slowly turning into that person. But no more

[DLS]

Re: Do you ever feel "better" than other people?

The only person I feel better than is the old me.

I would love to run up to someone complaining about losing weight and tell them Atkins works for me but they've heard about Atkins ( I mean who hasn't ) and they're not doing it. I would feel funny trying to tell them to do something that took me YEARS to do even though I knew I should.

I do pray that I won't turn into another person that I won't like once I am slim and "different" from how I have been for years and years. Although I enjoyed being "checked out" the yesterday in the grocery parking lot I don't want to be the kind of woman that wants to constantly be checked out. Seems like that could lead to a lot of bad things. I just want to be a healthy me. That includes a healthy attitude towards others.

We've all been where they are.

[geogirl]

Re: Do you ever feel "better" than other people?

Ya know, I once did, when I lost weight the last time (not atkins), and I dropped a massive amount of weight and I had several friends who would complain about being overweight but say they weren't eating much, etc. and yet I went out to restaruants and knew better because I saw what all they ate...

and then something happened in my life and I lost control. I had gone from 290 to 165 in about 8 months time (don't ask, seriously)

but then I lost control and then 175 hit, 185, 195 and I begged and pleaded not to hit 200, but I hit it anyway, then 220, 240, 280, 307...

so, as great at it feels right now, just remember the fact that it is damn easy to lose control if you're not caring enough about yourself.

[widget246k]

Re: Do you ever feel "better" than other people?

I know what you mean. When I'm out to dinner with others and they're downing pasta, potatoes, and bread and wondering why they're overweight, I am usually eating a steak, veggies, and salad and losing weight while eating this way, I do feel better about myself and not necessarily negative about the others. This WOE isn't for everyone. I have to tell myself that sometimes.

[Kellen]

Re: Do you ever feel "better" than other people?

I feel shame in writing this, but the answer is 'yes.' Now, I still have almost a hundred pounds to lose, and am not doing this perfectly, (just had a chinese-food cheat this past weekend) but when I go to Walmart (yeah, I feel shame about shopping there too, lol) and see Mr. & Mrs. Fat with all their fat children with a shopping cart loaded up with crap.. I feel a little smug and superior because i'm changing my fat.

Then I feel awful, and note that I have so far to go to become the truly kind, harmless person that I'd like to be, in both thought and deed. I think about how just in June, I was Mrs. Fat loading up my cart with carbaholic "road snacks" for our summer vacation... I realize that to the onlooker, I just look like another fat person, and they can't see the ketones flying out of my mouth... they don't know the resolve I feel to stay with this and become an average sized person again.

The most that should pass through my mind, is a passing desire to proselytize this way of eating... I do feel lucky to have found a way to lose weight that I am basically comfortable with, that only occasionally finds me wishing for some old fave foods.

Part of me having superior feelings, has to do with shifting my perspective on being fat. I used to put a lot of energy in trying to feel pretty and fat. I was a 'goddess' or 'voluptuous' or 'full-figured' not just simply 'fat.' After my hip surgery, I began to see being fat as another form of disability, but a self-inflicted one. Somehow, I began to see how distorted and lost my beauty had become, and how it conflicted with what I feel like inside. I looked at other fat folks and saw their fat differently too. My vitality and mobility had been restored, but how much more could I enjoy it without the fat? Who am I without the fat? Maybe at the core, I'm not really feeling superior, as much as proud of me, for finding the inner oomph to embark on this journey...

Maybe it's just another old destructive pattern, that we as people are prone to do: elevating ourselves at the expense of others... as new zealots on the WOE, and as people who let ourselves get overweight in the first place, we don't have any real place dismissing others for a "lack of gumption." But I love the honesty.

So thank-you Trisarahtops (great name, chuckle) for asking this question, and giving me pause to think about it 'out loud'

[SugarFreeSheila]

Re: Do you ever feel "better" than other people?

I have gratitude for having gumption, resolve, and confidence - without question. Cultivating these attributes will get you through any hurdle in life, and the consistent following of Atkins is no exception.

[D3anna]

Re: Do you ever feel "better" than other people?

I wouldn't say I feel better than others, but I do feel better about myself. I do notice myself checking what other people are buying at the checkout and thinking 'I can't believe they are buying that crap' which was pretty much the same junk I was buying two weeks ago...haha!!

[momtomany1]

Re: Do you ever feel "better" than other people?

I think I feel better than a lot of people I see around. I know I feel better than the me I was a few months ago. When I work in the fuel station and folks stop by for energy drinks and snickers for breakfast I think, 'you are going to feel like crud!'

Oh, Wait... you mean like 'morally better.' No, not really, because I have been 'there' a large part of my life, not taking care of myself and making poor food choices.

I do notice more though, how large the majority of people are. I didn't allow myself to notice that when I was larger.. actively not thinking about it, you know?

I do feel a little judgemental about one category of people. When you see them in the store with very overweight, dirty children. I just hate that. I fed my children pretty carefully and kept them clean in public, looked after their teeth, brushed their hair, etc. If your child looks like she is as big around as she is tall, you are a negligent parent.

[hopejoy]

Re: Do you ever feel "better" than other people?

There but for the grace of God go I... very thankful to know the right way to eat and yet it takes a daily commitment. Carbs are an addiction like anything. I feel I'm just one bite away from losing control... one bite leads to another... and the downward spiral begins. I think that the high carb lifestyle is truly a disease. It's pre-diabetes... the results of an overactive pancreas demanding more and more sugar to feed the beast. The more you eat the more you 'need'. It's instant gratification at it's worse. We are blessed to know that protein, fat and low carb veggies are what's best for our bodies. I'm glad you're in control now and hope that you will look at your co workers with compassion. When they see your success and they will, you can tell them why you're successful. Americans are killing themselves with 'non-food'. It's very very sad.

liz

[MadamPhoenix]

Re: Do you ever feel "better" than other people?

I don't think superior would be the name here, I would feel great that I can be an example for them and maybe help them change their life when they are ready. I was not ready for many years and now I am, maybe you can help them by being an example and help them realize that they can do something about it. Good luck

[StillSmiling]

Re: Do you ever feel "better" than other people?

GREAT question: I can't exactly say "superior". I do get a little fanatical on the "Yay for me! I'm sugar-free" speeches, though.

Recently: me in the vicinity of a freshly baked coffee cake: "Oooh, can't. Sorry - it's the sugar". Sometimes I imagine myself going door-to-door, sharing the "good news" - (this particular fantasy may or may not involve a cape) that kinda thing.

But it's more about spreading the joy; I'm proud of me. I like other people to know it. And if they want to join in? Right ON! We can be proud together!!! "Yay for us; we skip the crust!"

Again, great thread. BigLove, S.

[Bikini Bound]

Re: Do you ever feel "better" than other people?

No, I don't feel a sense of superiority. It wasn't very long ago that I was in their shoes...bemoaning the fact that I failed AGAIN and then had a pity party, stuffed my face and piled on more pounds.

I remember the look of someone with obviously felt superior to me because they were a "normal" weight and I was fat...every time I took a bite of something that wasn't deemed healthy, I could feel their eyes on me. I wouldn't want someone to have those feelings because I was miserable and self conscious before I finally decided that Atkins was going to be my long-term WOE, instead of just a diet.