The Boot

So, as part of my experiment to reduce calories (beyond the norm) and increase exercise (beyond the norm), I joined http://www.myfitnesspal.com/ anonymously. It's a great site full of great people, all working to get healthy.

And I commented somewhere on the site, and as a result, was invited to join a group of women who were going to support each other.

When you join a group, there is a "newsfeed" on your homepage, that looks a lot like the dreaded facebook, where when others in your group post something (be it exercise, logging in under calorie alottment for the day, or posting in the forum) it shows up and you can comment.

I would give my daily "attagirls" and high fives when I'd log in, and so I was very surprised to get a personal message on the site asking why I wasn't participating or weighing in. Apparently, there was a required Friday weigh in for the group.

I have been down this weightloss road before...I know me. I had a scale and would weigh myself up to three obsessive times per day. Until Steinvic accidentally kicked it and broke it and I think it was one of the (mentally) healthiest things that ever happened to me. So, for me, this time, I have decided that I'm making a lot of deliberate choices for me...and one is not weighing in until I feel like it.

I will weigh on days where I feel light and pretty and confident. I did WW and it didn't work for me like it worked for everyone else...I had to walk excessively to acheive weightloss, while my friends followed "The Plan" and kicked butt. We're all different...whatever works for you, right? But for me, the weekly weigh ins and the "What did you do wrong?!?!?" exclaimations from a douchey group leader didn't do it for me. (I don't think most group leaders are so annoying.)

I weighed in after 12 days on my own unique plan and found myself down 5 pounds. YAY! But since I didn't weigh in on Friday, I got the email asking what my problem was.

Long story short, they booted me from the group because I explained that weigh ins without progress made me feel crappy. From a motivational standpoint, I need to do it when I feel like it's going to be good news. That if it wasn't good news, I wouldn't feel like eating a carton of donuts (never has been my issue) but I would feel bad and I want to feel good. "Accountability" from other people doesn't motivate me...I'm plenty hard on myself. So...no.

When I posted a "Farewell" on my newsfeed so that other group members wouldn't think I was rude, the group host went off on me! And I was unfriended by the entire group, save for two ladies...one who had my back and another who thinks I'm nice.

At the end of it all, I am amazed at the immaturity of "grown ups." This is why I'm not on facebook. I hear about this crap all the time!

I feel like the buck-toothed kid who no one wanted to play with all over again, but now...I don't give a damn. But how funny...I mean, really...To get ousted by a bunch of mean girls. I'm freaking forty. I don't have time!

So me and the four "friends" I have left on the site will carry on...It's still a great tool to log calories, but not such a great place to belong to a "group."

Me, myself and my calorie counts...