Comparisons

Pin It I'll start today with acknowledging my third gain of my journey.  I gained 0.2lbs this week.  I was pleased that my leader wanted to help me figure out WHY I gained - it's not a sodium-retaining T.O.M., I journalled and I stuck to program...so next week I am bringing her my tracking journal to review and we'll see what she says.

This morning I was reading Skinny Emmie's blog this morning and I found it hit close to home.  One of Emmie's readers wrote in and asked her:

"I was wondering if you struggle with comparisons. I catch myself trying to figure out if I am bigger or the woman who sits down across from me is. I tell myself it’s because I don’t have a sense of what size I really am and a comparison would help me figure it out, but I think it’s really because if I can find someone I am a little smaller than, then I will feel better about myself, and recognizing this makes me feel horrible. I also find myself tracking other people’s progress with weight loss and I get depressed when someone ‘beats’ me or passes me. I am wondering if this is just me or if these are common things… and if so how you deal with them?"

I realize that part of this question hit very close to home for me.  The part about looking at other people (in the malls, on the bus, driving down the road) and trying to figure out if I'm bigger than they are.  I don't necessarily feel better about myself if they are bigger than me - quite honestly I struggle to even recognize if they ARE.  This relates to my body image issue that we've chatted about before.  I am thankful that I don't get depressed when someone else on this journey 'beats' me - so far I've found this very encouraging to see other people succeed - as long as they are doing things right and not starving themselves or on some ridiculous diet (grapefruit?!!), then I figure GOOD FOR YOU! 

Emmie posted a MUST list on today's blog post and I would like to borrow it (all credit goes to her!):

I must:

• Be appreciative of where I am in my journey.
• Be aware of the negative effect that comparisons are having on my self-esteem.
• Not be afraid to congratulate myself on a job well done.
• Acknowledge that what I’m doing is hard, and others might do it faster, but this is MY journey and I have to own it.