Hiding is Okay in Moderation

The rest of this chapter is going to be about showing yourself off, so let’s pause a moment and talk about the opposite.  Yes, it’s okay to hide sometimes.

The process of losing weight is crazy.  It radically changes your life in many ways.  Some of the time we are simply not ready for the feeling of naked exposure that comes from getting smaller.

As we lose weight, people start commenting.  Suddenly every conversation we have seems to center around or at least start with how we’re shrinking away.  That’s a lot of focus on the body of someone who has been trying to hide the state of their body for a long time.  It’s like a cat who’s been trying to cover up their poop on the linoleum (by blousing out our shirt to hide our belly), who is suddenly given a litter box, and then everyone is constantly going “yay kitty, good for you, pooping in the box.”  Well, yes, we are now pooping in the box, but by you saying that over and over and over you’re also saying we were really damn fat before.

Weight Loss Role Models

There really are people who have done it.  They have lost 50 or 150 pounds and have kept it off.  They have radically changed their lives.  Best of all, they know how they did it.

They can tell you:

– The diet they used and why it worked for them.

– The diets they tried that didn’t work for them.

– What changed in them between being unsuccessful and successful.

– What pitfalls to watch out for.

– When you’re talking like an addict and need to have some sense beat into your head.

Having Fun—It’s Okay. Really.

For many of us, being fat is a gigantic cluster of things that are not fun.  We don’t feel good, we don’t have a lot of energy, we don’t feel sexy, we want to hide our fatness from others, we’re not comfortable standing/walking/sitting in small chairs/etc.  Our reasons for being fat are also not fun: addiction, abuse, fear, self-loathing, depression, poverty, etc.  All of this combines in our brains to convince us we’re not really that into fun.

We pretend we prefer the life we’re living.  We pretend we’re just the “stay at home and read a book” type.  We pretend that the sofa and TV is how we like to spend our evenings.  And the big bowl of ice cream or Doritos does take the edge off the pain, so it’s really not that bad.

Or so we try to convince ourselves.

Individual Chapters only through November 10

Hello darlings!  If any of you are doing the "Chapter by Chapter" method of buying Suddenly Skinny, I want to let you know I'm phasing them out.  You have until November 10th to purchase the rest of the book.  After that, I will only be selling it as one download - the full book.

I hope this doesn't inconvenience anyone too much!  Just clearing out the clutter on Amazon - it's too hard to find the book right now.  ;)

Thank you for reading!!!!

When People Won't Shut Up

If you lose a lot of weight, there will be a prolonged period of time where every conversation you have with anyone starts with a discussion of your body.

Let that sink in for a minute.  Every conversation.  Your body. 

If you’ve got any urge to hide, inner shyness, shame about your weight, or sense of privacy, this is going to suck pretty quickly.  Yes, compliments are great.  Yes, some of us really adore them.  But even for the attention whores among us, it can get old in time.  (Right before it starts to taper off and you miss it like a junkie in withdrawal.)

What Clothes to Buy While Losing

You are going to need a totally different shopping strategy for the losing process than how you shop when at a stable weight.  Basically, when you’re on the way down, clothes are disposable, temporary friends.  They’re only going to be with you for a short while, so don’t invest and don’t get attached.  You can view the local Goodwill as a lending library if that helps.

The first thing you need to learn is that you no longer have to buy something just because it fits. This becomes more and more true the smaller you get (up to a point, of course—if you go down to a size zero you’re going to have trouble finding things that fit you again.)

Seriously.  Sit with this for a moment.  You no longer have to buy something just because it fits.

Please Give Me Your Input!

Well. I just finished the book.  I have a couple late additions/tweaks to incorporate, and then it'll be published both to Kindle and print.  I'll also probably do a Nook version.

For those of you who have been reading along (thank you so much!!!!), is there anything you'd like to see more of, or don't like as it is?  Chapter 12 is on reentry and maintaining for life, and you haven't seen that one yet.  Anything else I can add before I wrap up the first edition?