The 3 Worst Things About My 70-Pound Weight Loss

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
by Emily Abbate 17 hours ago

Losing 70 pounds was probably one of the most emotionally taxing experiences I've ever been through. Granted, it was a four-year difficult weight loss, but during the journey, I grew as a person. I learned about myself. I contemplated the kind of person I wanted to be. I created goals. I did a lot of soul searching. I developed new hobbies, many of them active.

Mostly, the outcome from my journey has been positive. I'm a happier person who enjoys life more. I'm a healthier person who has more energy. I feel like my overall outlook on life is much much more positive and I try to associate myself with people who are positive, as well.

But don't get me wrong ... there have been negatives, too.

WHOA. I'm not complaining. I promise, really. I'm just being real with you here. Thus I present you with the 3 worst things about my 70-pound weight loss:

1. Clothes are fucking expensive. Sorry for the expletive, but it's true. I'm the kind of woman who searches around for the right pair of jeans for weeks, only to contemplate buying them upon location because of their hefty price tag. Now, imagine doing that ... for all your clothes. During those four years I developed a habit of waiting to buy new clothes, thinking to myself that if I wasn't done losing weight, then there was no point to drop the cash. Many times, I was right.

But not all the time. And when it came time to cave in, buy everything from thongs and bras to tops and dresses -- it added up, quickly. That old college job delivering newspapers helped with that. Yeah, I won't bother explaining how I got involved in that.

2. People who don't care about you will pretend to. Mostly men (if you're straight). For me, it's been primarily old high school and college classmates who I haven't spoken to in years. These men remember me larger. They remember me as someone who I'm most certainly not anymore. I've been approached at bars, messaged on Facebook, emailed, texted ... all by men who I may have only spoken three words to back in the day. I'm sorry, but I'm not buying your "we should catch up!" or "it's been years!" fake excitement bit for a minute. You're not getting in my pants. 

Of course, I've been contacted by women too. Women who don't really care what I've been doing for the last bazillion years, but want to know how I did it. While I appreciate the messages and often respond because I feel like it's good karma, the usual trend is they fall off the face of the earth after I do that. Oh well, if I can help someone better their life, too, then it's worth it.

3. Your perception of yourself may never fully change. I know for a fact that I look like a completely different person now. I'm proud of who I have become and the hard work that it took me to get here. But I think I will always, if only for a few seconds sometimes, see myself as larger than I really am. Heck, most women (and men) deal with this even if they haven't been on a similar journey.

What's important, though, is I don't find myself doing crazy things because of this altered perception. On the days I feel "fat," I still feel lucky. Does that mean I won't run an extra mile that day during my workout? I very well may. But what's important is that I'm realistic, that I stay thankful, and that I stay true to myself.

Have you ever lost a lot of weight? Did you find any negatives?

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