Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Haters & Food Pushers: NO MEANS NO!

Last Saturday's WW meeting AND tomorrow's impending Thanksgiving celebrating, prompted me to republish one of my favorite post titled HATERAID #1 DRINK OF HATERS. With any holiday, food, family, and friends surround you. And unfortunately, the food pushers come from out of the woodwork to bombard you with phrases like, "Try this, one little bite won't kill you." Or, "You can work out tomorrow."


As well as food pushers, a hater or two may try to throw salt in your weight loss "game" my making you feel bad about your weight loss efforts thus far. They may say things like, "Why do you want to lose weight?"   Or, "50 lbs...that's it! You could stand to lose more!" To help you survive the Thanksgiving pushers and haters, please use the following post at your own discretion. 


throw salt: throw salt means to interfere with one's plans or actions.

Hater: Someone who makes themselves feel good by knocking others down. Haters fail to recognize the accomplishment of others. Put simply, haters will not be happy for you.

An example of conversing with a hater:
TinaEvery since the promotion, Martin has stepped up his wardrobe.
Lisa (hater)If he's stepped up his wardrobe then why does he still wear that 1985 Member's Only jacket?


Hater-Aid: The drink of haters.
Used in a sentence:
Dang, why are you hating on Martin? Have you been drinking hater-aid?

Unfortunately haters live among us. Some work with us. They arrive at work with their boxes of kolaches and donuts coercing us to gobble them up. "Go ahead....eat one. You can eat just one." I call them THE PUSHERS. Drug dealers more like it...pushing my drug of choice...FOOD! The pushers push and push and push and push until you cave. AND THEY KNOW...they know you're trying your very bestest (not a real word, but it is now) to lead a healthy lifestyle. They know. In my opinion haters thrive on your failure. In the mind of a hater your failure confirms what they think they know about you...that you will fail to succeed at losing weight.


At my previous job (Head Start, no names), my colleagues sometimes made comments dripping with sarcasm, "Oh look at you eating all healthy. Hmmm...good for you." Whatever hater! I so badly wanted to respond, "The grocery store sells healthy food to everyone, not just me." Fortunately the ladies at my current job respect my weight loss efforts and offer food just once. AND A few of them provide encouragement and cheer me on...THANKS LADIES! But for those of you, not so fortunate I offer a few ways to avoid the THE PUSHERS a.k.a workplace HATERS:
  • Bring snacks or store snacks at work in case of hater emergencies. Same thing applies for holiday gatherings. Bring an emergency snack if you arrive and the holiday feast is not ready.
  • Lead by example...bring healthy alternatives for breakfast like bagels from Einstein Bros. 
  • STAY OUT OF THE LOUNGE or whatever "corner" the pushers hang out on. During holiday gatherings, stay OUT of the kitchen or away from the dessert table. Hang out outside and toss the old pigskin with the kids. 
  • Eat a hearty breakfast.
The same rules apply for potlucks or holiday feasts:
  • Bring your own lunch and only serve yourself the healthier potluck options: fruit, salad, low-fat dishes, etc.
  • Lead by example..bring a healthy dish to the potluck and only eat your food and some of the healthier options.
Refrain from falling victim to haters at work. Simply tell them no and keep it moving. If they can't take no for an answer then simply high-five their face with your hand. Keep in mind, not all pushers at work are haters. Just explain to unintentional pushers that you tend to move in a healthier direction when making food choices.


Now, the next type of hater (the most devastating type of hater) which I tend to lump into one category...THE FRIENDS AND FAMILY HATER! I deemed this hater the most devastating BECAUSE you expect friends and family to support whatever decisions you make regarding your healthy lifestyle changes. Sometimes your friends and family take on the role of the saboteur by making you feel bad about wanting to better your life and by discrediting weight loss progress made. O...you can count on them all right...you can count on them to point out ALL of the mistakes your making during your weight loss endeavor. Fortunately I have an awesome support system composed of my MOM and the SC (shout out to the Sista Circle). You know your friends and family better than I do, but when faced with a FRIENDS AND FAMILY HATER I offer the following advice:
  • You can't pick your family, but you can pick your friends. I've HAD friends who made me feel like I needed to hide my successes. The operative word in the previous sentence ...HAD! 
  • Try to refrain from forcing your new lifestyle on other people. This is a hard one. I enjoy sharing new products, successes, tips and recipes. Just make sure you share with people who...ummm...actually care. I decided a "safe" place to talk about my journey is here in this blogosphere chocked full of encouragement!
  • DO NOT RELINQUISH YOUR POWER TO HATERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Haters can't make you feel bad about yourself UNLESS you give them the power...YOUR POWER!

Well, I decided to STOP handing over my power to haters, and I resigned to stop associating with them as well. Hanging out with haters produces too much negative energy.

In closing...I leave you with this:

BEHIND EVERY SUCCESSFUL PERSON IS A PACK OF HATERS!

How do you deal with the haters in your life?

11 comments:

  1. This so reminded me of my last job. I worked in a distribution office for a soda company. The office employees were all women and most of them were married but there were a few that were single, including my big butt at the time.

    The receptionist was older and single. She had been big but was slim now. I had been close to 280 and was 220 around this time. She used to keep a GIANT bowl full of candy. It was like the bowl they bring your salad in at Olive Garden and she bought the good stuff. She was broke as hell but bought the candy b/c all the guys would come up to see her. I was in Accounting but we swapped out covering her breaks, lunches, and off days. I had to work one day and I moved the candy off of the desk and onto a table. She was PISSED about it. Left a note the next time she was off that the candy was not to be moved off the desk. My opinion was that if she was off and the guys could still get candy, what did it matter? I had my doubts as to her motivation. Ya know, as the only skinny single woman in the office :) That stupid bowl was a constant temptation to me if I had to work her desk for the day... So glad I'm not there anymore

    Sorry for the long post :) Ya brought back some memories.

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  2. This blog post was the shit...it caused me to LOL several times (and Im alone!)...it offered great advice with a heavy dose of sarcasm--the best combo! I have had haters in my midst, the worst of whom was a very close family member--mom! I DID give her my power, unfortunately. This was last summer, but THIS time around, THIS visit I was prepared and her hater-ation did not phase me! I am going to face like 2 or 3 more holiday themed pot-luck type parties at my job here real soon, so I'll use some of your tips. I especially like the high-five to the face one hehehe. Happy Thanksgiving, and ignore all the haters!

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  3. YES!! The Pushers! Oh i hate the pushers! Why the heck is it so important to you that I eat the crap you're pushing on me???? Office Treat Guy strikes again.

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  4. great post! I am lucky to not have to deal with any food pushers (YET), and I have never understood that particular phenomenon. Why should anyone care what I eat??!!

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  5. Such a cool post! I was already thinking of people in my life who fall under these categories. Some cool tips there too! Lurve the post :)

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  6. Yes! Yes! Yes! You got it EXACTLY!

    How do I cope? For family gatherings, I just smile and say thank you. Then I politely scrape the offending food in the trash or slip it to the dog as soon as nobody is looking. I also volunteer to take all the kids outside for a walk/romp/football game to get away from the desserts.

    In the office? I just smile and walk away. Nobody has ever actually grabbed my hands and shoved a plate and fork in them.

    Candy dish lady? Dang. Next time I sat at her desk, I'd swap out all the candy for little bags of pretezels. Really. I would.

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  7. LOVE this post so much. I hate haters, especially the ones that make me feel bad about what I've done so far. Only 45 lbs? Not more? Ugh. Shut up already! Haha, sorry you got me thinking about the haters when I just meant to say great post! I won't be handing over any more power to them!

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  8. first time reader - thanks for the smiles.

    ((high five, fist bump, chest bump))

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  9. brilliant! This was smartly written, intelligent and inspirational. Thanks for your hard work putting it together.

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  10. Great post!! I have haters at my current job and we have a gym onsite yet people make excuses not to use it! CRAZY!!

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  11. This was so funny to me! I know exactly what you mean. I'm in training right now and it seems like everyday is a food day. The table of food sits RIGHT in front of me. Its so tempting! I do bring my own snacks though so that helps. =)

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First off all, THANKS for stopping by and for those of you following...THANKS for following AND indulging my MADNESS. Please feel free to holla back or provide your 2¢. I WILL TRY to respond to ALL comments via email. AGAIN THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGEMENT!

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