Kevin Before I go any further into this, I want to take a moment to make it clear that I will not be naming any of the weight loss influencers on YouTube discussed, and will also refer to them using they/them pronouns as an extra layer of anonymity. However, if you somehow figure out who I’m talking about, I want you to leave them alone as a solid to me, and as a solid to them. Don’t engage with them, don’t start shyt with them. Leave them to it.
While I was losing the weight, sharing my weight loss journey, or weight loss mission, as I like to call it, was the farthest thing from my radar screen. I’ve had people tell me I should blast my progress pics all over the internet, and tell me I should do a YouTube channel, I should do this, that, and the next.
It left me feeling weird. Not horrible, but not good, either. Like, I gotta be the one to decide what to do with my weight loss progress, and I get to be the one to decide who to share it with.
If you can relate, then I want you to know that I’m so sorry this happened. It’s not their fuckin’ place to dictate what you do with your weight loss progress. If you wanna share it, great. If not, then also great. Lucky for us, nobody died and made them the boss of the world. It’s your call to make, not theirs.
When I first lost any weight worth writing home about, back in college, I went public about it. I told everyone who asked, and believe you me, everybody and their damn dog asked. I had some people who were totally behind me, 100%, and mad props to them!
Unfortunately, that wasn’t always the case. Many ppl tried to talk me out of it, sometimes even outright discouraging me in the process, including one who really shoulda known better.
I gained back the weight, and got caught up in a merry-go-round of lame fad diets. The weight I’d lose was such small potatoes, and I’d gain it back and then some.
This time around, I came to the conclusion that every time I try to talk about losing the weight, I get clapback without fail. I realized that I didn’t need anyone’s permission, and I didn’t need a co-signer for my weight loss goals. Like I said, I was done talking about it. It was time for me to be about it.
I needed the space and the solitude to lose the weight. I didn’t need a fan club and an audience. That got me nowhere in the past.
Which brings me to my next point: there are weight loss influencers on YouTube who are killing it in meeting their goals. Others haven’t gotten there, yet anyway. There’s one I’ve seen around who I believed where this was their first time trying to lose weight.
Fair enough. I had no reason to doubt them.
Until I learned that this hadn’t been their first rodeo in failed weight loss attempts. There’s no shame in that, b/c it is what it is. It’s where we’re at, and tbh, if I had a dollar for every time I didn’t succeed in losing the weight, I could probably give Jeff Bezos a run for his money, haha.
On top of their unsuccessful attempts at losing weight, this weight loss influencer has lost weight very slowly, more so than what would be expected at their current size. I started out at a BMI close to theirs, and when I ran at a caloric deficit of 1200 calories, the weight came off very fast at first.
It came off fast enough for me at first that I actually skipped sizes a couple times. True story.
On one hand, slow weight loss is best for anything sustainable, if you’re not starting at a high BMI like yours truly did, and what some of these weight loss influencers are starting at. Slow weight loss also may help in the long run by giving skin time to bounce back and reduce the likelihood of loose skin.
However, if you’re in a life-or-death situation, and you’re at a high BMI, then the priority needs to be your life, and you need to be in a doctor’s care.
Here on this blog, I’m all about sharing the importance of physical activity, and doing so within your abilities and circumstances. Some of these weight loss influencers are doing exercise programs they honestly have no business doing, solely because these exercise programs can cause an unholy amount of damage with one wrong move.
I’ll admit, some of what I’ve done as physical activity before I lost the weight probably wasn’t the best idea. I know for sure I sucked at it, and tbh, I still do. If I had it to do all over again, I’d have definitely stuck with walking, biking, and pool time, and ffs, I’d have never tried to outrun a bus. At least not yet, haha.
Things can go so sideways so quickly with some of the exercise programs these weight loss influencers are doing, and they’re basically playing with fire for profit. As such, I’ve chosen not to follow them, and for the love of all that’s holy, I’m telling you: never copy them.
That’s not to say I’m not cheering them on from behind the door. I am, and I sincerely hope they all find it within themselves to meet their weight loss goals. In order for that to happen, they have to be ready to lose the weight, and some of these influencers aren’t ready from what I’ve gathered.
I wasn’t ready to lose the weight when I was yo-yo dieting, now that I look back. I had to be ready to make that change, and when I made the decision in 2017, I’d say I was.
Over to you, readers? Do you follow any weight loss influencers on YouTube? Did you in the past? Were they inspiration for you to start losing weight, if that’s what you needed to do? No names, but either way, I’d love to hear your takeaways. Drop ’em all like they’re hot below, and let’s talk.
