95% of Diets Fail

There is a widely quoted statistic out there that "95% of Diets Fail". A little bit of research will uncover that this fact comes from a small study of 100 people done in 1959 by  Dr. Albert Stunkard and Mavis McLaren-Hume.

This statistic is absolutely everywhere in the current dialogue on weight, and the study is anything but strong scientific evidence. 

However, just because the study isn't suitable for the massive citation it receives, does not mean that "Diets don't fail" or indeed that we have any idea how to lose weight or change bodies on a grand scale.

The many wonderful ladies in the Health At Every Size movement have excellent insight into this.

They point out that while the statistic is based on just one small study, there is absolutely nothing out there to refute it. In decades and decades of research, we have yet to produce ONE large scale "weight loss success" story to refute the claim that diets do not work.

It would be more apt to say that "We have no idea". We have no clue how to lose weight.

Pretty depressing.

But what about the people we know who've lost weight and kept it off? The inspiring stories of people in the National Weight Loss Registry?

Its easy to write them off as a statistical anomaly, as a collection of "freaks of nature". Its even more fun to silence those voices by dismissing them in this way.

If you know me in real life, or from my youtube, you know how irritatingly positive and optimistic I like to be.

As far as I believe? I'm not willing to use the fact that no one has succeeded yet as a way to claim that losing weight & keeping it off is impossible. I'm not even willing to say its improbable. Instead, I believe that we have yet to figure it out. OR that the way to lose weight exists, has been found, and has been discarded.

Why discard it? Duh, what if its completely impossible to turn a profit on it? What if its not something that can be neatly packaged for the masses? What if real weight loss is not only one of the most difficult endeavors, but also so complicated, so specific to each unique individual, that we can't possible make billions off of it?

Who is going to shout about THAT from every billboard? Yeah, nobody.

No, I'm not going to say weight loss is possible for everyone. I'm not inclined to believe anyone will find a way to make it easy, simple, and accessible to all. But I also refuse to say weight loss is impossible; only that we haven't figured it out yet.

From all the stories I've read, the people I've spoken with, and the research I've sifted through, I'm still not convinced its out of reach. I think the way to successful weight loss is likely to be super boring, extremely slow, and impossible to turn into a profit.  

~Love Tiff

Further Reading:

Do 95% of Dieters Really Fail?

95% Regain Lost Weight. Or Do They?

Numberies! Scale Goals Update

Back by Popular Demand!

Meaning one person asked me if I still had it ; )

SCALE GOALS:
X   255 One Pound lost!
X   246 Down 10 lbs
X   236 Down 20 lbs
X   229.5 FIRST 10% loss GOAL!!!

X   226 BMI down to Obese I
X   226 Down 30 lbs
X   220 The weight on my LICENSE!!!
X   216 Down 40 lbs
X   206.5 SECOND 10% loss GOAL!!!

X   206 DOWN 50 LBS!

X   196 DOWN 60 lbs
X   194 BMI=Overweight, not "obese"
X   190 Lowest I've ever been

__   186 THIRD 10% loss GOAL!!!

__   186 Down 70 lbs

__   176.8 "Marginally Overweight"

__   176 Down 80 lbs

__   167.5 FOURTH 10% loss GOAL!!!

__   166 Down 90 lbs

__   161 BMI is NORMAL!!!

__   156 DOWN 100 LBS!!!

__   150.5 FIFTH 10% loss GOAL!!!

Beginning stats JULY 1ST, 2011

Weight: 256 lbs

BMI: 39.5

Chest: 48"

Waist: 41"

Hips: 51"

Stats on OCTOBER 18TH, 2011:
Weight:229.5
BMI: 35.4
Chest: 44"
Waist: 37"
Hips: 47"

WEEKLY WEIGH INS:
7/01/11: 256 lbs/ 0 lbs lost

7/05/11: 253 lbs/ 3 lbs lost

7/12/11: 252 lbs/ 4 lbs lost
7/19/11: 250 lbs/ 6 lbs lost
7/26/11: 249 lbs/ 7 lbs lost

8/02/11: 248 lbs/ 8 lbs lost

8/09/11: 247 lbs/ 9 lbs lost
8/16/11: 246 lbs/ 10 LBS LOST!!

8/23/11: 245 lbs/ 11 lbs lost

8/30/11: 242 lbs/ 14 lbs lost

9/06/11: 243 lbs/ 13 lbs lost

9/13/11: 241 lbs/ 15 lbs lost

9/20/11: 240 lbs/ 16 lbs lost

9/27/11: 237.5 lbs/ 18.5 lbs lost

10/04/11: 233 lbs/ 23 lbs lost

10/11/11: 236 lbs/ 20 LBS LOST!!

10/18/11: 229.5 lbs/ 26.5 lbs lost

10/25/11: 227.3 lbs/ 28.7 lbs lost

11/01/11: 228.2 lbs/ 27.8 lbs lost

11/08/11: 223.6 lbs/ 32.4 lbs lost

11/15/11: 221.7 lbs/ 34.3 lbs lost

11/22/11: 221.2 lbs/ 34.8 lbs lost

11/29/11: 216 lbs/ 40 LBS LOST!!

12/06/11: 213.8 lbs/ 42.2 lbs lost

12/13/11: 213.3 lbs/ 42.7 lbs lost

12/20/11: 212.1 lbs/ 43.9 lbs lost

12/27/11: 212 lbs/ 44 lbs lost

1/03/12: 211 lbs/ 45 lbs lost

1/10/12: 207.7 lbs/ 48.3 lbs lost

1/17/12: 207.9 lbs/ 48.1 lbs lost

1/24/12: 204.1 lbs/ 51.9 lbs lost

1/31/12: 201.6 lbs/ 54.4 lbs lost

2/07/12: 200.0 lbs/ 56 lbs lost

2/14/12: 206.6 lbs/ 49.4 lbs lost

2/21/12: 203.6 lbs/ 52.4 lbs lost

2/28/12: 203.6 lbs/ 52.4 lbs lost

3/06/12: 202.1 lbs/ 53.9 lbs lost

3/13/12: 204.8 lbs/ 51.2 lbs lost

3/20/12: 197.7 lbs/ 58.3 lbs lost

3/27/12: 197.1 lbs/ 58.9 lbs lost

4/03/12: 195.7 lbs/ 60.3 LBS LOST!!

4/10/12: 195.4 lbs/ 60.6 lbs lost

4/17/12: 195.1 lbs/ 60.9 lbs lost

4/24/12: 195.2 lbs/ 60.8 lbs lost

5/01/12: 192 lbs/ 64 lbs lost

5/08/12: 195.8 lbs/ 60.2 lbs lost

5/15/12: 193.3 lbs/ 62.7 lbs lost

5/22/12: 190.1 lbs/ 65.9 lbs lost

5/29/12: 191.6 lbs/ 64.4 lbs lost

6/05/12: 193.3 lbs/ 62.7 lbs lost

6/12/12: 189.8 lbs/ 66.2 lbs lost

Woman Under Construction

This is pretty obviously true for me, huh? I mean, I'm wearing my transformation for all the world to see! Weight gain and weight loss are so very visible, whether you want people to know you're on a weight loss journey or not doesn't really matter.

Every one of us is a work in progress. We're constantly changing, learning, and adapting. We go through periods of rapid and immense change and we go through periods of subtle or little change. This is true for every person on this planet! Neat! So many billions of humans learning and transforming, and constantly growing! I think it is pretty darned awesome.

If you're working on something like telling the truth more often, being kinder to your family, managing your finances better, or any one of the many goals we set for ourselves as we advance through life, you often have the luxury of deciding who you want to share your struggles and successes with.

Fat and the gaining or losing of it upon our bodies isn't so easy to hide from the world. While five percent of your total weight gained or lost may not be very noticeable, anything more than that will be fairly obvious.

No one ever said anything to me when I gained weight. I preferred it that way, and I may still prefer it that way. I appreciate it when people refrain from commenting on my body size without me asking them.

On the flip side, with weight loss EVERYONE has said something to me, and I've always known that losing weight would mean hearing a lot of comments about my body.

Knowing that losing weight would bring comments about my body from all over (albeit always positive and encouraging) was actually something that seriously hampered my weight loss efforts in the past.

Just hearing someone say something as plain as "You look great" would cause me to feel really hurt and angry. The reason is pretty simple. I had become quite adept at shutting out the idea that people may be judging me, but its not possible to believe no one is paying attention to your weight and your body size if they keep commenting on your weight loss.

Every positive comment, no matter the content, showed that people DID notice my body and my weight. Not only that, but every positive comment seemed to carry with it the implication that I was BETTER as a thinner person, which also implied to me that I was somehow WORSE when I was bigger.

I still have these conflicted feelings. I'm thankful that people are proud of me and happy for me, but every positive comment does bring a bit of bitterness out. ESPECIALLY when the comment comes from either my mother or my father. This is likely because I have a lot of unresolved anger in general towards my parents regarding my weight and that is a can of worms for another day I think : )

This is one of those weight loss issues that I haven't confronted yet, hopefully I'll find a way to resolve my feelings about it someday. I'll definitely share when/if I do!

Conflicted Fatty is Conflicted

Tiffany's Epiphany 1: Why I started my Weight Loss Journey

Who am I and What led me to starting my weight loss journey?

Let us create the historical documents of Fatty Fatty No Friends!

I'd like to start by introducing you to Tiffany Sudduth in the spring of 2011. She weighed about 250-260 lbs, but she hadn't stepped on a scale in a couple years. She had gone to college for 5+ years, but she hadn't finished her degree. She'd met hundreds of people, and made hundreds of friends, but she had lost contact with almost all of them. She had a cute loving mom and dad, and two derpy brothers, but she was angry with her parents, and estranged from her family. She had just turned 24 years old in February, and after a long and complicated battle with depression that had raged since she was 10 years old, she was beginning at last to heal. She was a young woman who was raw, scared and still very sick, but the sky was lightening in the horizon, and dawn was finally on its way.

Of particular importance was her age: 24 years old. The thought occurred to her, and began to nag at her, that she had never imagined she would be alive at 24 years old. For quite a long time she had internalized, at the deepest level, a belief that she would not live past her very early twenties. Yet there she was. Alive, and still fighting.

When you're severely depressed, you spend a lot of time in the company of your own thoughts.

In the spring of 2011 I was at a distinctly turbulent place in my own Tiffany-universe. I had decided to fight the depression, and I had decided I wanted to beat it. I spent long hours wondering if I wanted to live or die. Not thinking about the issue in despair, but giving honest thought to it. Okay, so I had committed myself to taking medication, to focusing on my sluggish foe, what did this mean for my life? Well, I had to conclude that this meant I had decided to live. I looked at the options to live or to die. I thought of them without fear; objectively and calmly. I was not afraid to die, but I was quite afraid to live. Filled with a tense anticipation, I turned my thoughts towards my future. If I wanted to live my life out, what did that mean about HOW I was living it?

This was new to me. This planning, this honest analysis of myself, my life. My habit had always been to hide in fantasy and daydreams, constructing microcosms of people and places in my head in which to live. I was not accustomed to being "real" about myself. To looking at who I was in this world, what I was doing, and what life I was leading.

Looking back, the next step was really obvious.

If I was going to live; to really CHOOSE life, there were things I wanted to do, and being overweight was in the way of many of those things. There were things I wanted to do!!!

If I was going to be alive, I wanted to go skydiving, running, swimming, biking, rock climbing and hiking. I wanted to have the energy to do those things! I wanted to dress in pretty clothes, and put together fun outfits. I wanted to wear shorts, short sleeves, and dresses. I wanted to be blissfully in love. I wanted to experience intimacy on a level I hadn't ever sought before, and I wanted to have really good sexy times!

In the spring of 2011 I was raw, scared and sick, but I was healing.

I chose to live, and in so choosing I set out on a journey to transform my body to be a tool that would fit the life I wanted to live.

There were things I wanted to do!

One Pound Obese

As of this morning's weigh in (I do it daily, remember!) I am LESS than a pound away from saying goodbye to "Obesity" as it is technically defined through BMI calculations.

The journey so far has been long, and enjoyable : ) So many revelations about my body, so many beautiful moments rediscovering who I am, so much patience has gone into this!

It's been a long time coming to get here, and I'd be lying to say I'm not scared. I'm trotting into uncharted territory! Going where no Tiffany has gone before, and the land of "Healthy" is finally visible on the horizon.

My first five pounds of weight loss seemed like nothing at the time, but looking back I am able to see how spectacular that accomplishment was. I had faith in myself, and in that simple faith I had the key to everything.
I have not starved myself. I have not deprived myself of opportunities to socialize. I have not worked out to the point that I was being crazy.

I'd like to say at this moment to anyone embarking on a weight loss journey, no matter how small, or large ;), GUARD YOUR MONEY. There is a giant industry out there, it wants your dollars and it does not give a damn about your health. In fact, the diet industry is dependent on the continued failure of diets. If everyone was healthy, who would they sell too? Guard you money, do not buy crazy things, do not be bullied.

Have faith in your body. You are magnificent. Your body has the capacity to astound you, I promise!

Weight loss is inherently "expensive". I had to buy new shoes. Workout Clothes and the like. Purchasing food has been a headache from time to time. More than ANYTHING though, a diet will cost you precious energy from every day, and TIME. It's very true that time is money, and TIME is what makes diets so very expensive.

Nevermind pills, nevermind workout videos, nevermind personal trainers, treadmills, supplements and fads. A true and successful "diet" WILL cost you energy, patience and time. Be prepared to "spend" energy on your diet. Be prepared to "spend" patience on your diet. Above all, be prepared to "spend" time on your diet.

A little foresight can go a long way towards preventing disappointments later on.

P.S. I love you and you can do it!

Intro to the HOBO DIET PLAN

Hahaha! I guess now I'll get into blogging and tweetering too, how very 21st century of me. Not sure how many of my youtube followers would be interested in my blog, but I'd like to put some info up here and I believe pretty strongly that videos should contain visual information, and some things just aren't suited for videos!

So Hello hello hello and welcome to my bloggy bloggeroo. Like the title says I've already lost 44 lbs, so I apologize for not blogging at the beginning of my journey, but it was for sure the right way to do it!

MY WEIGHT LOSS STRATEGIES AND PLAN!!!

Where to start? How about with the bare bones easy stuff:

1. No foods are no-no's.
2. Try to think about why I'm eating before I do it!
3. Go for an hour long walk every weekday on my lunch break.

That's my diet and exercise plan in a nutshell! In its simplest form, these are my 'tenets' for the HOBO DIET PLAN.


I'll add more blogs for more details!