The Importance of Honesty
“One of the hardest things in this world is to admit you are wrong. And nothing is more helpful in resolving a situation than its frank admission.” – Benjamin Disraeli
I confessed to my readers yesterday that I almost lied to them about having gained weight last week.
As much as I would prefer my first post on FatBloggers.net to be about my miraculous weight loss, or my successful completion of a couple of the exercises on the MAN Fit test, I decided to start with this admission because the lesson I learned yesterday is an important one in my own development as a fit person and I hope this lesson resonates with one or two of you as well.
You see, as much as I would have regretted lying to my readers the reality is that the person I was really lying to would have been myself. Again. I’ve been lying to myself for the last 20 years that I’ve let my body go to pot, and now is the time to stop.
Whenever I see a fat person I always compare myself to them and I know that I am not that fat; that I am more athletic than they are and for that matter I am more athletic than a lot of people weighing much less than me.
And then I huff and puff after walking up two flights of stairs.
When I know the family is going out to dinner I still manage to find myself eating a foot-long at Subway beforehand. And then I eat a full meal lest they know I had already eaten. When I eat three quarters of the bag of Double-Stuff Oreos I feel bad for a moment. And then I finish the rest to get rid of the evidence.
It’s time to stop the lying and start being honest. I’m fat and I need help.
I confessed to my readers yesterday but most importantly I confessed to myself. And that admission will make me stronger.
“The best measure of a man’s honesty isn’t his income tax return. It’s the zero adjust on his bathroom scale.” – Arthur C. Clarke
I think that you will find that your story is quite common for most of us. Or maybe all of us, who knows. Thing is, it’s the lying and cheating ourselves that has gotten us into this predicament. Even though I’m in maintenance, I still find myself falling into that trap sometimes. That’s why I stick around here.
Thanks for your candor. Our thoughts, prayers, and blog comments are with you as you start on this journey. Welcome aboard.
[...] first post there called The Importance of Honesty is a follow-up to my Confession Time. Give it a read and let me know what you [...]
John, this is a great website, and I’m glad to see you’re a part of it! As I told you over on your own site, I think your honesty is inspiring. Keep up the good work!
John,
I was in the same boat as you just 11 weeks ago. Sneaking food behind my families back, avoiding the scale so I could pretend I wasn’t “that fat”. You’ve made a huge first step in going public with your struggle. If you can continue to be honest you’ll be amazed at how it changes everything…and at how supportive the people in your life can be.
Keep up the good work.
See John, you ARE one of us!
I just want to echo what has been written here, I think that ‘lying to ourselves’ is a pervasive problem amongst the obese. We lie to ourselves saying, “I don’t know why I’m fat, I don’t eat much”. Our friends and co-workers prepetuate it because all they see us eat is salads. What they don’t see is the stash of Snickers in the nightstand, or the JUMBO Blizzard that we wolfed down on the way home from work (car calories don’t count, you know?).
To paraphrase my own quote from the right side-bar, “If we could control ourselves and be honest with ourselves, we wouldn’t be obese”.
Welcome aboard!