The other day I was on Facebook and noticed in my news feed that one of my FB friends announced their plans to diet over the next several weeks. Facebook status updates annoy me in general (if their not lame, or lacking in wit, they are usually way too long and involve way too much information), but this status update in particular really got under my skin.
First of all, I understand it’s a free country and all that, but is Facebook really the place to announce your new diet to the world? If you do choose to diet (and it’s certainly your prerogative to do so although we here at EAC don’t promote dieting), do you need to make sure that each person in your life knows about it? I suppose it’s justified by the old diet advice that goes something like “the more people know about it, the more likely you are to stick to it.”
Secondly, (and this piggybacks off of my first point), weight is not a public issue! We just can’t say that enough here at EAC. Your choice to diet or not diet, is your personal business and one in which, the hundreds of people you know on Facebook really didn’t need to know about. Contrary to popular belief, I do not see Facebook as the appropriate forum to announce personal life choices.
Lastly, I think it leads to unnecessary comparisons. It may lead one to believe, “Well if Sally is going on a diet, and she is a size 4, perhaps I, a size 8, should consider dieting too! I’m like a whale compared to her!” Now although I certainly believe that we should all be secure enough to not compare ourselves like that, realistically, we do compare ourselves like that! So why give people the opportunity to do so by plastering your diet/weight loss/gain news all over Facebook like that?
So please people, realize that Facebook is really not the place to post your personal weight loss goals online for the world to see. Weight is a private issue, and in case you hadn’t noticed, Facebook is a public forum.
I joined that application, to see what they thought I’d look like going from 175 to 130 lbs. Apparently I’m going to turn into a rectangle, and one of my legs is going to get skinny while the other one stays exactly the same. Lol.
Dieting is contagious, for sure. I’m not sure what facebook is for particularly but I gather that people put up all kinds of personal information there. Why, I don’t know. I had thought that was kind of the purpose, even though I don’t understand it too much.
And you’re right – it’s surely the idea of being “accountable” by announcing it to a crowd, so if you screw up someone will…what? Yell at you? It’s a sick kind of negative reinforcement thing; the reality is more like if you don’t lose it, or if you lose it and then regain, you’re going to quietly change the subject, not really announce to everyone that you failed. Unless you’re “back on the wagon” I guess. There was a woman I saw on a blog that hasn’t been updated in years that had a son go missing, VERY traumatic thing, and she lost a LOT of weight VERY quickly via WW, and was telling everyone that they could do it too, and she needed to do it to have the energy to keep up the search for her son, and her philosophy now was food is merely fuel (not pleasure) and also “no excuses.” After 9 months where she just about reached her goal, the blog suddenly ended. She hasn’t updated it since. She does still assist people via her foundation that she started at the time in their search for missing sons and daughters (hers was 17 I think – how horrible) but she never mentions weight anymore.
My guess was that she lost a lot during her time of sharpest grief and horror, and then regained it. I wish she were not ashamed of that, or could find FA and post again to the site, acknowledging that perhaps she was rather mistaken in thinking she couldn’t do anything because she was fat, (she’s still helping people now!) and that perhaps there was really nothing wrong with being fat and come to terms and peace with that part of herself.
This is speculative, but it fits a pretty consistent pattern with these sorts of things. I wish her the best. I wish she could talk about it; I’d love to tell her that food is far more than fuel – it is comfort, from the suckling infant to the man who eats an ice cream sandwich because he’s worried about his daughter, that it’s bonding – from the suckling infant to the holiday feasts families enjoy together…sigh.
I don’t see what the problem is. I have a friend who weight trains and announces his latest body fat percentages.
I had the same feelings of irritation when a fb “friend” updated her status and told her the world that she “finally” fit into those size 26 jeans. I can’t remember ever fitting into a size 26!
Wouldn’t we encourage each other to post up our association with Fat Acceptance and Health at Every Size?
I certainly agree with the comparison issues that this poses and eating disorder triggers, I’m sure there is a difference, but I am not seeing it.
I agree people misuse public forums in a lot of ways. Let’s not join that crowd FAC ers!
truly, i don’t like making my life public, and less in fb…
and i hate the people who says that wants to make diet when the don’t have even 1kg to reduce, agghhh! it’s like saying you: “if i shold make diet you should directly give up eating”