What Happened?

I like to look at other weight loss blogs and when I do, I like to peruse their blogrolls.  You never know where you'll get inspiration. Some are up my alley and others I don't connect with and that's fine, I just move along as we all should if someone's approach isn't our cup of tea.  I'm noticing a disturbing trend on a lot of pages though.  In clicking links I would see months or years pass with no posts or the link was dead. I initially didn't think much about it until I saw more of those than active ones on many blog sites and I began to freak out a bit.  They were trucking along, feeling on top of the world and then what happened?  Were they out living life?  Did blogging get to be too much for them? Or were they going through a rough patch and feeling less than inspiring so they were hiding rather than admit it wasn't going to plan?  Did they gain weight?  Heck for the ones who haven't posted in years, did they die? 



Then I saw a lot of "okay, I fell off the wagon hard but clean slate now."  Boy do I relate.  Falling off the wagon, get run over by it and feeling like you have to come back and either explain yourself or do some big new mission statement on how 'this time is different' if you're part of a weight loss community whether a website, message board or blog.  You feel like you let people who invested in your journey down somehow and it can just as much pressure as it is supportive when all is going well. 

The reason I freaked out is because I thought about how when those people were cruising along losing their weight, doing everything right, they never saw themselves going back.  They came too far, worked too hard, etc.  Then something happened and they became a ghost page or do a 'sorry I haven't been around much' kind of thing.  Is that my destiny too?  I mean at 185 lbs lost and 3 years of doing this, I'd say I've pretty much got it down but how many other people thought they did too?  I see plenty of people who have lost what I lost and more and then they get to this evening out point and then you start seeing "I've gained some weight back" posts if they post at all or wait until 50+ lbs has come back on and they post about what they need to do to get back to it.  It breaks my heart.  I've had several people that lost 200 lbs or a little more and then something happens.  It's almost like it's this cursed number.  So you can understand the mind game trying to creep in as I approach this number.  I mean thank God most of you will never know what it's like to have to lose that much but maintenance (if you get there when you have a LOT of weight to lose like the Mr and I) is the true test over actually losing the weight.

The Mr and I had one of our pre-workout talks the other night and we made a pact that no matter what devastation happens in our lives, we will NOT let either of us get off track.  He said if God forbid, one of our parents or someone close to us died then we exercise in the morning and get on with the grim tasks at hand.  I agree.  We have already exercised and made healthy choices through 2 diseases with family members that would've had me skipping exercise and diving head first into pizzas in the past.  That gives me a bit of confidence that our coping mechanisms have changed but we both have agreed to be hyper aware as there are some potentially devastating events in our future with family members.  We don't want to sacrifice our own health anymore over something we can't change.  I am praying this pact will help us stay true to our goals and that we can continue to trudge on toward our goals to not only be part of the group who loses a ton of weight but to be part of that small percentage that keeps it off.

For all of those people who started sharing their journeys and have stopped for some reason, I hope you're doing well.  I say a little prayer for yooooou.  You know you have it in you to do what needs to be done and if you're still doing it, maybe do an update post for people who have invested in your journey to say "hey, I'm still working it.  I'm just out living life baby!"  I wish every person out there who has a story to tell whether losing baby weight to 100 lbs to having to lose the amount of an overweight dude the best of luck, the healthiest of lives and the yearn to share again!

Have any of your favorite weight loss bloggers/friends stopped blogging?  Does that effect your mentality at all to see someone who inspired you and was so successful suddenly stop?

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