I’m terrified of public speaking. That included speaking on my first panel and that also includes asking questions of those speaking on a panel.
Once I get a question in mind, my heart starts pounding and my palms start sweating. (This made things very difficult as a reporter at press conferences. I usually went up to the person after the press conference if I really had to ask something.)
This weekend, I attended a session on blogger responsibility at Fitbloggin’. (My recap here, transcript here.) I have a lot more to say about blogger responsibility that I’ll be posting about later in the week, but during the panel, I asked this:
“Hi! My name is Theodora and I blog at Losing Weight in the City. I lost 50 pounds and changed my life, and I get a lot of questions from readers who want to know how they can do the same. I’m always afraid to answer the question, because I know everyone’s different, and I don’t want to say the wrong thing–but I still want to help them. How should I answer this?”
I wiped my sweaty palms on my dress and sat back down. The panelists answered that I should answer with what I did and say that it worked for me but might not for everyone else.
At the end of the session, a woman walked over to me and said:
“I never would have guessed that you lost 50 pounds. You just look like a young, blond, skinny girl.”
With my weight loss being so recent and Losing Weight in the City being such a big part of my identity these days, I forget that it’s not obvious that I lost 50 pounds. That I don’t wear it on my sleeve or on my face. If you just look at me, I guess I do just look like a fit (sorry, I’ll never call myself skinny), young blond girl.
You don’t see the years I struggled with my weight. The blood, sweat and tears I put into losing 50 pounds. How I still think a lot about my food and exercise so that I can maintain the weight I’m at now. I almost wish it is something I could wear on my face–as needed. I’d turn it on for those who needed it, who needed to know that I had struggled too, but I did it, and they could too, and I’d turn it off when a cute guy was talking to me. He doesn’t need to know I once weighed 50 pounds more than I do now, right?
Either way, it was a really nice compliment, and I’m still smiling thinking of it.
No idea why I chose Frank Sinatra lyrics to name my last post on this…
As I mentioned in my last post, I've really been going through it with headaches.…
(tw for diet culture talk—mostly how it's BS, but how it's affected me, too) This…
I have been thinking about this post for a while—on why diet culture is unhealthy…
I woke up this morning already feeling anxious. (Yay!) My standard iPhone alarm is set…
I read The Midnight Library over the weekend, and I need to talk about it.…
View Comments
Aww, that's awesome!
I got that same compliment last week. Except then my co-workers REALLY didn't believe me, so I showed them a picture, and they all commented about what a chunk I used to be. And that did not feel so good.
Yeah, I showed this woman my before. (She didn't say anything about my previous chunky state...but yeah, it is weird to handle when people are mean to the previous you.)
This post brought tears to my eyes!!! And I've said the same thing. You look like you've always been that size and you look beautiful just the way you are. I'm proud of how hard you worked!
Aww. I <3 you :)
Awww what a nice compliment :-)
That really is the best compliment!
And though I know your story, I totally agree. You look like you've always been fit!
What a wonderful post. I especially love when you said "You don’t see the years I struggled with my weight. The blood, sweat and tears I put into losing 50 pounds. How I still think a lot about my food and exercise so that I can maintain the weight I’m at now. I almost wish it is something I could wear on my face–as needed."
I've recently lost a considerable amount of weight myself, and sometimes it would be easier if people knew that that struggle was a part of my history. Your story is so amazing to me and inspires me to keep up with my healthy journey :)
You deserve to fly high! You look amazing, and you've put so much work into your body and yourself. I hear stories of some women being dissatisfied when people say things like this to them because it makes them feel like others won't know the struggle that they've gone through to attain the weight that they're at, but I know that if I ever got a compliment like this I'd be bouncing off the walls!
That is awesome! You DO look like just another skinny girl! I PRAY that someday I can receive a compliment JUST like that!
Congratulations!
You look fabulous! And what an awesome compliment!
When you first started out, what kept you motivated? Do the same things keep you motivated now?
There's always that sense of fulfillment and happiness when someone recognizes your hardwork. It keeps you motivated and it makes you feel like you are worth the effort you have exerted in order to lose weight. And with all your hardwork, you definitely deserve it.
Congrats on the great compliment! You've kicked some major ass to get to where you are and it's nice to have people recognize that.
I know what you mean, sometimes I want people to know I've been "there" and other times, I don't people to know I've struggled.
I work at a gym and I find myself turning it on (encouraging new members) and off (around trainers) all the time.