Jane’s World: TC Trimdown, Week 3 – Comparing Ourselves to Others

The weeks are flying by, and here we are already in Week 3 of the TC Trimdown. The TC Trimdown is a region-wide weight loss effort consisting of teams of folks all with the same goal – lose weight during the 13 weeks of the challenge. I’m on a team of four, and we’re all doing well. I’m keepin’ it real by documenting my journey here on Old Mission Gazette.

I had some good numbers for Week One and Week Two, and I figured things would level off a bit from those higher numbers at the beginning. That’s ok. I’m still losing weight and moving forward with healthy eating and exercise.

Pictured above is me in front of the woodpile we stacked yesterday. I tell you what – cutting, hauling and stacking wood is great exercise! I’m guessing that just about every body part is worked during the process.

Running Naked Through Mapleton

It’s been an interesting weight-loss journey so far. First of all, posting my starting weight and weekly weigh-ins here on the Gazette is making me super accountable! Moreso than just reporting in to my team every week. Thank you, readers, for keeping me on track, whether you know it or not.

I’ve also had several people tell me how brave I am to post my weight out there for all to see. And yeah, that first week when I posted my starting weight, it felt a little like running naked through Mapleton.

It made me wonder why most of us – especially women – generally don’t talk about our weight in numbers. We might talk about being overweight or underweight or the struggle to get healthy, but putting that number out there? You don’t hear the actual numbers all that often, unless you’re in a supportive group of like-minded people.

Comparing Ourselves to Everyone Else

And I’ve been that way, too. During the first week when I talked about being in the 180s and 190s, that’s the first time I’ve ever said that publicly. I’ve decided it’s because we – again, I would say mostly women – are always comparing ourselves to everyone else. Not just weight, but money, homes, cars, travel, level of happiness … you name it and we’re comparing it.

I put at least part of the blame on consumer magazines, which are great at giving us unrealistic expectations for how much we’re “supposed” to weigh. Early in my freelance writing career, I wrote for a lot of those magazines – Woman’s Day, Ladies’ Home Journal, Family Circle, People Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, etc.

One reason I stopped writing for them is because I felt like I was contributing to the facade that everyone else has a way better life than we do. In fact, the dirty little secret among my writer friends is that the editors of those magazines often ask us to find specific people to interview for those stories.

While looking for sources, it was always the joke among us that we needed to find a blonde-haired woman, aged 38, with 2.5 kids, a beautifully organized home, happy marriage and thriving business that she built herself to interview for a magazine article. And those cover photos? All photoshopped. All designed to turn us into envy monsters.

Much of my previous writing career was also spent interviewing celebrities, and I can tell you that their lives are just as messed up as the rest of us – moreso in many cases!

Social Media Fiction

And let’s talk about social media. You’d think that a good portion of the people on Facebook, Instagram and other social media are seemingly living their Best Life Ever – traveling the world, living in beautiful homes, driving new cars, reveling in happy marriages and finding joy in all of life’s moments every.single.day.

If it’s true, I’m super happy for them. But more often than not, it’s a carefully curated and enhanced view of their life. And the rest of us feel bad that we’re not them.

I started my Reality Wednesday section of the Gazette a few years ago to sort of counteract that. I love posting about my ancient car breaking down, all the crap in my house, projects that take forever, and so on and so forth. People need to know they’re not alone!

But the bottom line is we all need to stop comparing ourselves to everyone else. Everyone’s journey through life is unique and beautiful, and if we’re always comparing ourselves to everyone else, we miss the beauty and magic in our own journey.

TC Trimdown – Week Three Weigh-In

This week, I lost 2.8 lbs., bringing my current weight to 183.8.

• Starting Weight: 196.0
• Week One Weight: 189.6 (down 6.4 lbs.)
• Week Two Weight: 186.6 (down 3 lbs.)
• Week Three Weight: 183.8 (down 2.8 lbs.)
• Total weight loss so far: 12.2 lbs.

Since my self-imposed goal is to lose 40 lbs. during the 13-week TC Trimdown, this puts me at 27.8 lbs. yet to lose. With ten weeks to go in the challenge, that’s 2.8 lbs. per week.

Are you doing the TC Trimdown and/or otherwise trying to lose weight? How’s it going? Leave solidarity comments below!

Also Read…

• TC Trimdown: Week One Report
• TC Trimdown: Week Two Report