How do you feel about people who are not overweight/losing weight on this forum?

I have lost 50lb, and I have been maintaining my weight for a year or so. I still like to post here because the posts are kind and thoughtful and intelligent. I like to share things that worked for me and encourage people. Maintaining is not always easy so sometimes I look for advice and everyone here has been very helpful.

Sometimes I wonder if the last thing you want when you're working hard at your weight loss is to see people who are happy with where they are. I hope it's encouraging not irritating to see someone at the other end of the journey... but I don't know! I know I still find it very frustrating when I see thin girls on here trying to lose even more weight, so I just wondered.

Well, I'm in the maintaining club too, and I'd hope that my presence is more beneficial than not - otherwise, people come on here and all they see are people struggling to lose, and nobody at the other end who can say "Yes! This works! Keep going!"

I am losing.  I say STICK AROUND! :)  Success stories are the perfect motivation.  Congrats to the both of you!

I'd rather have someone on the boards that had lost weight safely and was maintaining a healthy weight successfully than some of these silly people that are already at a very low weight and still trying to lose even more..... Too many of those IMHO.

I still have a few pounds to go to reach my goal. . .and honestly people here who are maintaining have been SO helpful. You're there, you've done it, and it's such motivation to know that there is a means to then end!

Especially when it's a decent amount of weight lost, I find it inspiring!  I love hearing tips from people who have not only lost weight, but successfully kept it off.

What I don't like are the ones who have very little or nothing to lose (well, anyone in general, but it seems like I'm seeing more and more of those types) and come here posting about how they are working out for an hour plus a day, and are eating an insanely small amount, and suggest everyone else do the same.  So yes, it's much appreciated to see people who lost and are maintaining in a healthy way on these boards.

I stay around because I'm trying not to gain weight.  I do a much better job losing than I do maintaining, in fact I've never been able to maintain.  That is my goal for this winter, to maintain my current weight.

I love seeing people on here who have managed to lose the weight and have kept it off.  It's fantastic motivation.  However it drives me nuts when there are teen on here who are stick thing going, 'I want to lose 10 pounds'.  I just want to slap them stupid for being so ridicules.

I think it's extremely encouraging. I mean how else are we going to know that what we are doing will actually produce results? It's refreshing to read posts from the successful losers out there who have reached their goals by doing the right thing instead of struggling with pills or some crazy fad diet. It makes it seem all the more attainable.

In the same breath I do find myself getting increasingly irritated with those who are already in the healthy or even lower end of the BMI group complaining what heifers they are... makes me wonder what I must look like to them.

ETA: I meant lower end as in underweight. Sorry for the confusion!

I also find it really encouraging to see the people who have successfully lost their weight healthily and are still keeping it off.  Especially when it's someone who took a really long time to lose the weight and hit long plateaus in the middle.  It gives me hope.

It doesn't really bother me when I see people who are in the higher half of the healthy BMI range who want to get to the lower half, but it does drive me nuts when these girls who are just shy of being underweight come on desperate to lose 5 pounds.  And quite often, no matter how many times they are told that their goals are unrealistic and unhealthy, they continue to try to justify why they're trying to lose.

Original Post by amethystgirl:

Well, I'm in the maintaining club too, and I'd hope that my presence is more beneficial than not - otherwise, people come on here and all they see are people struggling to lose, and nobody at the other end who can say "Yes! This works! Keep going!"

 no, we hate you.  get out.   :) (ps - <3)

some of my favourite people on this site are my friends that are maintaining.  they have just as much right to be here as we do, OP.  i almost find it motivating sometimes...because i think about how great it will be when i can eat at maintenance like they do.  plus, one of them is the same height, so it helps me get somewhat of a visual of my goal.  :)

Original Post by starlitocean:

Original Post by amethystgirl:

Well, I'm in the maintaining club too, and I'd hope that my presence is more beneficial than not - otherwise, people come on here and all they see are people struggling to lose, and nobody at the other end who can say "Yes! This works! Keep going!"

 no, we hate you.  get out.   :) (ps - <3)

I will now stay just to be a thorn in your side, slo.

i think its great that ppl r maintaining a healthy weight, ofcourse, y not continue posting?!

what i HATE r the ppl maintaing UNHEALTHY weights with UNHEALTHY eating and excercising habits, and then touting themselves as healthy, when they r anything but.

Original Post by ccassidy81:

I think it's extremely encouraging. I mean how else are we going to know that what we are doing will actually produce results? It's refreshing to read posts from the successful losers out there who have reached their goals by doing the right thing instead of struggling with pills or some crazy fad diet. It makes it seem all the more attainable.

^This!  I can think of no one better to listen to and take advice from than someone who has done exactly what I am trying to do!  The community on this website is phenomenal. 

You know, I lost the majority of my weight previously with a site that required a fee.  I won't slag it off because it was really good but I found that I then had motivation to get off it when I'd reached my goal weight because I couldn't see paying to maintain. 

The fact that this is free and that you can dip in and out of it is great.  Obviously I am back because maintaining was a tad difficult.  Not impossible.  but it started to creep back on and I realised I'd best nip it in the bud. 

What I do notice is there seem to be a lot more people using this site to promote unhealthy weight loss than the previous site and I couldn't really say why. On the other hand, I've also noticed a knee-jerk reaction of branding people as suffering from eating disorders without entirely listening to their stories. You may not always realise what a person's height is and what would look like underweight on someone 5'6" may well be overweight on someone 4'8".  

Also, I have a very hourglass figure and I am perfectly content to live at the top end of my bmi. My boyfriend, on the other hand, is naturally very thin and has been accused by numerous people of being anorexic. He's small boned and has cute little love handles sitting nicely over his 28inch waist and eats like a hoover when he gets going. Not the tiniest bit emaciated.  Just thin boned. For someone of his frame to put on a good chunk of weight, they might look pretty heavy in even the middle of their bmi.  I don't think these things are always absolute and I think everyone should be careful in general of making too many judgements about others.

Back to the question though.. if all the maintainers ran away it would hurt the boards drastically.  It is nice to think that they might be representing the healthy middle ground:)

I love reading success stories.  If someone else has lost weight and is keeping off I have a lot of respect for them and they do inspire me.

However, when I see really thin people who have never been fat whining that they have rolls of nonexistant fat, that annoys me and I ignore them. 

I sure hope you won't get mad at me when I say I've lost 50 pounds so far and I've kept it off and working on the last 25 pounds to be at a normal BMI.

The only people on this site that annoy me are the ones who ask for help, then totally ignore good sound advice in favour of "Im going to cut out all carbs" or something similar.

Personally I think maintenance is something everyone worries about-I know I certainly do! After all the effort we put in, it would be pointless to just revert back to the lifestyle and eating habits that got us there in the first place.

Well done!

I do wonder sometimes if people are annoyed if I complain that I'm stuck on a plateau when I'm already at a healthy BMI. And I didn't lose 100 lbs to get there...I lost 27. But I don't think I'm being unreasonable to want to hit the middle of my healthy BMI range, which is 135 lbs (I'm 5'6" and 29 years old, female) or maybe even 130. I don't have rolls of fat, but my tummy does still protrude and I still have a layer of fat on top of my abdomen (hence, the muffin top if I were to wear too-tight pants), and my thighs still have a bit of saddlebags going on. Certainly my tummy, thighs and behind are much smaller than they were 27 lbs ago, but I don't look good naked yet. Wouldn't look good in a bikini for sure.

I've been fluctuating between 140-142 for several weeks now even though I didn't change my eating habits or exercise, which means I'm plateauing because I don't have very much left to lose. But it IS annoying when have no way to predict when those last few lbs are coming off, and it makes a difference in my clothes. Do I pay now to have them tailored to my new size, or do I wait until...the rest of the weight comes off, which could be...???when???

I think it's very encouraging to see people who've met their goals, sometimes our weight loss goals feel impossible.

On the other hand, I'm technically at a healthy weight and bmi and am working to lose a bit more weight and be at the lower end of healthy bmi. I hope I'm not irritating people...

sokkies

I like seeing success stories, and don't mind the folks who are on here trying to maintain a healthy weight. But, what does get on my nerves are the ones who say "I now weight 130lbs and am now wonder how did I get so fat?". I mean, geez, you're 130lbs, yeah you may be overweight by the charts, but fat? Maybe if you were the same height as a 10 year old! Some people need to get a reality check...I've never seen a 130lb average height person and said, wow they are sooo friggin fat! Think about what you post and how it might make someone else with an even larger struggle than yours might feel, because when I saw that, I was like, "well damn, I may as well give up now!" because there is no way in this lifetime that I will ever come close to 130lbs without starving myself to death, so I'll always be looked at "soooo fat!". Luckily for me, I'm a bit more thick skinned and got back in my head that I am not doing this for anybody but me, but some people struggling to lose weight and fit in, may not.

OP - you said you've lost 50 lbs and have been maintaining.  Does that put you at a healthy weight? 

Either way, your question is kind of contradicting to yourself.  You say you're maintaining, yet you are wondering if anyone finds people annoying who are not overweight or are already thin and are posting/participating in CC. 

Anyone and everyone has a right to be on here, as well as post their successes and struggles.  I'm someone who is at a healthy BMI for my height, I'm 28, yet I'd still like to lose 10 lbs.  I'd still be at a healthy BMI for my height if I did, so I don't feel like my goals are unhealthy for me, nor do they demean anyone elses efforts who have a longer journey than I do.

Being on here has opened my eyes to many other women who are in the same boat as me, and have helped me accept who I am.  I've become more comfortable with myself, and have taken it easier in thinking that I have to see a particular number on the scale.  It's also been humbling to see others who have a lot more weight than I do, and it's uplifting for me to try to encourage them.

For the thin adults and teenagers who feel like they need to lose weight due to confidence issues, this is a place they can come to have another source that encourages them to be healthy! 

Everyone has questions and struggles, we are all trying to watch what we eat to conquer the food-obsessed society we live in, and become more educated about what taking care of our bodies means!