Good Morning & Happy Friday. I am here to bring you another dose of Fun Friday. I am here every friday, same bat time, same bat chanel. Donate a prize to the Fun Friday Prize Trunk.

Today's Fun Friday is brought to us by, mickeefynn

Vince Lombardi once said, “Obstacles are what you see when you take your eyes off the goal.”

Sometimes we make up the most ridiculous reasons for being less than sincere about the quality of our efforts both in the area of WLS and in other parts of our lives. What are some of the silliest excuses you've caught yourself making as you trudge through Life?!



PRIZES!

2 prizes will be awarded. Surpise prizes from ME!

GAME RULES!

1. Must be a registered member of the Neighborhood to play.
2. You may win one prize each month, but you should play each week.
3. Two fabulous prizes are awarded each week.
4. Neighbors must answer the Fun Friday Question on the forum.
5. mickeefynn will name the winners on Wednesday, January 16, 2008. She will also tag the Neighbor who will ask next week's question. The tagged person must pm the question to both Kaye and Marla by Thursday Evening (January 17, 2008).
6. The winners will need to send their mailing address to Marla by Personal Message - DON'T post your address on the message boards for privacy reasons!

I'll have to think about my excuses...none are coming to me at the moment. However, one that my mom just came up with was a gem. She was trying to quit smoking and then finally threw in the towel. She discovered that when she wasn't smoking, she wanted to drink. So her excuse was, "I can't stop smoking because I'll become an alcoholic".

This is a tough one! I'm thinking!

OK, this wasn't my excuse, but it was said to me, so I think I can use it....

I was teaching an adult class one day right after the lunch hour. This is a notoriously difficult time slot with adults as they are all sleepy after the meal. I look on the back row and one guy is asleep with his chin precariously balanced in a "Thinker" pose. I immediately call on him after asking a question of the class. He asks me to repeat the question. I respond by suggesting that perhaps I should tape a chalkboard eraser on his forehead to act as a bumper in case he falls forward while he is sleeping.

His response was: "I wasn't sleeping, sir. I was resting one eye at a time and you caught me on the change". I gave him high marks for originality and grace under pressure.........

My excuse for never successfully losing weight and keeping it off was (how morbid is this)
"If I ever get cancer, I'd have no fat reserves to help me live longer."
Of course the likelihood that I'd die of a heart attack, diabetic complications
or just choking on that third ham sandwich was MUCH greater by choosing
to keep packing on the weight! That is some stinkin' thinkin'!

Before wls, I made lots of excuses for not sticking with my program. They were all pretty silly, now that I think back. Don't want to be one of those "fussy skinny women", don't want to be "party pooper wet blanket", don't want to "hurt someone's feelings"... Now I realize that no one's self-esteem was dependent on my sampling their cooking (and if it was, then they needed bigger help than me eating the food!), that I am still the life of the party even if I'm not eating constantly and hanging out at the Chex Mix bowl, and that I kind of like being a little fussy about what I eat and drink, but I love being one of those "skinny women"!

I don't have any really funny ha-ha excuses, just funny strange ones...

These are all so good!


I am still trying to think of mine. I know over the years I have had some good ones. Right now, I am drawing a blank!

hmm, my excuse that I often used was I didn't want to find out if I would like the person that I really was without the food to soften all of my reactions to life. To this day it isn't an excuse any more but it is still a fear because I see it.

Wouldn't want to lose weight because I didn't want to lose my boobs. Um, well it happened and I am living to tell about so guess all is good in the world :)

smooches xx

@ mickee: I remember thinking that too! I'd forgotten that one.
@ ang: oh my gosh! I've secretly thought that before too! And just look at YOU! Who needs gigantic floppy boobs when you've got a million dollar smile like yours. You are so much more than a pair of...

I was always BIG MARLA. Everything I did was BIG. Personality, attitude, living, laughing and loving. I was worried about who I would be without the big part. I felt as if I was going to loose my identity, very scary!

Being fat was a shield against my arm. To protect myself. I could handle people seeing me fat. I had trouble with people seeing my arm. From radiation, my right arm is smaller and shorter then my left. I was afraid to loose weight, because people would notice my smaller arm. That is a whole other thing.

Now that I have named my pouch, Buttercup, I look forward to the day I can say, "I can't eat that, Buttercup won't like it. Sorry!"

I think my excuse is that I never really believed I was fat - I am ALWAYS surprised to see myself in pictures because in my mind I still look 17 years old and weigh 105lbs! I recently saw a photo of myself taken from the back - heaven forbid - and I thought (not nice, but true), "who is that fat, balding woman in the picture?" To my horror...it was ME!!!! Wow!
Can't wait for my surgery!
Darien

When people used to ask me why I wasn't married I told them I didn't like being bossed around. Then I got married and found out that wasn't an excuse it was the truth!

How about "I don't have time to exercise." Bottom line - I have time for what I want to have time for.

Wait I have another ( in a resturant prior to WLS).... "That salad with the dressing has as many calories as ___ (whatever I wanted instead) so I may as well have a double cheese burger with fries." No notion of nutritional value etc.

I'm sure I've had others but I can't think of them just now.

OK, this isn't very good, but it's the best I can do today:
Excuse for staying fat...I can't afford a new wqrdrobe. (Like I could afford to be MO, constant doctor's appointments, GERD, diabetes........

Oh these are good ones!! And can relate to all of them!
Of course, I spent a whole lifetime around excuses.
Here's one I JUST remembered! HA!

"God made me fat 'cause if I weren't fat, I'd be promiscuous!"
(and double odd coming from an agnostic)

Sorry friends, this isn't a funny reply but I don't have anything that is funny. I used my fat as the excuse for any failure I had in my life. For example, if I was passed over for a promotion, I told everyone that the boss figured that I was lazy cause I was fat, etc. I was well into my 30,s before I just didn't really care and did the best possible job I could do and it was amazing how I flew up the corporate ladder!

I don't like excuses so I try very hard not to make them. But, we are all human and sometimes, we just do. Sort of a self-preservation thing I think.

Gawd made me fat, cause he knew I could handle it! He knew I could handle chemo too and well that was the best diet ever! <--- marla is crazy!

Boy, you got that right! Being fat is a comfort thing. While MO, I always had an excuse. That girl won't go out with someone my size, so I won't ask her out, but the guy at the pizza shop will always say yes!

Welcome, "Big" Mike! Hope you'll post a more official intro too!

I can relate to all of these. I never think I said it aloud, but I think I was secretly afraid that if I lost weight, I'd be so harassed by lustful, out of control men bedazzled by my "fabulous bod" that I'd be unfaithful to my husband...HOW ridiculous that myth turned out to be. I've got a better self-esteem now, and I haven't been tempted to cheat on my husband at all.

I'm not fat! I'm just fluffy!

ANd who wouldn't WNAT to be fluffy?!!!!

"I'm just big boned."
(Like big bones hang from the belly button to the knee! LOL!!!)


In Wyoming when someone makes the excuse, "But I tried!" the usual answer is "Yeah dude! A steer tries." For you city folk a steer is a casterated (neutered) bull. Gotta love the country! I tell you, this is no Brokeback Mountain, but they don't sugar coat the country philosophy either!!!) So please, do or don't but for the love of bovine everywhere do not "TRY"!

I loved your reply Mike! Now how about posting in the introductions thread so we can get to know you?

Oh gosh, I think I've used every excuse in the book on why I didn't stay on a diet. But looking back now, I was afraid to lose weight because I thought I wouldn't be the "popular fat girl" anymore. I'm sure everyone could relate, but as an overweight person, we're always trying to find something else to compensate for our weight. So I had the best personality, laughed, joked, always the party person. So I thought if I lost my weight, they wouldn't accept me for who I was anymore. Little did I know, now that I've lost my weight, I was right. They don't talk to me anymore. And this is my choice, because really, they weren't true friends at all. Once I started losing weight and became more food cautious, I apparently changed into this "stuck up" person. I told the same jokes, still laughed, and my personality hasn't changed. I made myself a promise, that no matter what, I will never forget where I started and I won't change the person that I was on the inside. I love everyone as I did before surgery.

Hi! Well, I always used to say that my metabolism was slow, that I had "big bones" -- actually, now that I've lost the weight, I'm very small! Oh, and I would start working on my weight after the first of the year, or come summer, or in the fall.

Another one -- well, I may be fat, but I'm healthy! And besides, I was a Big Beautiful Woman and comfortable with my size! (BIG lie...)

Lucy

@ Big Mike: Good to see you on. Congratulations on your arrival! Let us know how it's going for you.

@ Ro: Great pic! It is nice to see what you look like!

@ Kaye: I loved your steer comment. I'm an old dairy farmer's wife. You had me rofl!

@Lucy: Welcome! If you haven't posted to the introductions, please do so, so we can give you a proper welcome.

This is a good mental exercise!

Menopause! That was my story and I was sticking to it..

But at the risk of repeating myself... (I posted this earlier) I am going to make sure that the struggle with my Dad's terminal cancer doesn't become a new excuse!

I know that it takes patience with myself to continue to make progress in my WLS journey during this time in my life. In honor of our current Fun Friday question (Hi Marla & Mickeefynn ) I am going to make sure that I don't use Dad's struggle as an excuse during my journey to stop my progress...

"No more excuses, excuses are useless."

IT'S TOO HARD!!

OK everybody! All those lies we used to tell ourselves are OUT IN THE OPEN!
Exposed forever! They're worthless now! So let's throw them all as far away as
we can and look honestly and GRATEFULLY at the JOYFUL work we have before us!
How interesting to know many of us continued to waste time falling back on the same
excuses.... NO MORE! we say! WE HAVE ARRIVED!

Hmmmm....I was sitting here thinking about this question and I couldnt come up with ANY excuses!! I really had NO excuses. I was miserable and I knew it....I was active, I worked out (on and off of course) Balancing life was always my excuse I guess.

I never had a problem getting a man or keeping one. It was me. SETTLING. Settling for men that I didnt love for fear that i'd never get a man.

On the flip side..when I really think about these thoughts it makes me realize...that my excuse was really unworthiness. But it wasnt really an exuse it was REAL! REAL because that is what I FELT INSIDE!

But at the same time I always felt like "WHY ME?" Why did I HAVE TO BE THE FAT ONE?

Gosh...what is that all about?

I dont have those feelings any more...lots of counseling, growth, change, the will to do better and the icing on the cake WEIGHTLOSS SURGERY!

Now I am LIVING as THE WOMAN I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AND AM!

This probably doesnt make much sense...but it's just my 2 cents on the subject.

OK BYE!

OK, I just remembered one: You can't be the pretty, smart sister and be the thin one too.

This was a hard one but this was my usual line whenever anyone said anything about how much weight I had put on:

"What weight, whenever I look in the mirror I see a svelte size 8".

Yesterday my little boy gave me a great excuse for why he should be allowed to have a soft drink. He said, "Sometimes I am allowed one of your drinks and today is a sometimes day".

What a great Fun Friday this turned out to be. Unfortunately, I am opening the door for last call. mickeefynn will be be picking her 2 winners & posting their names tomorrow. Also, she will tag the next Neighbor for the Fun Friday (Jan. 18) Question.

Remember

• winners need to pm their address to me for their prize. DO NOT POST YOUR ADDRESS

• if you are tagged for the question, please pm the question to myself & Kaye by Thursday evening January 17.


C'mon, I know their are more Neighbors who want to play. Come on in, the water is fine.

This Fun Friday closes @ 1pm Eastern Time today! Last call!

mickeefynn, time to post the 2 winners and tag someone for the next Fun Friday!

Today's winners are (Drum Roll Please)
a Key Holder AND a Newer Neighbor!!!
So here goes -------------->

Sandi, I LOVED your comments about not wanting to loose weight
because you weren't sure you'd be able to ward off all
of the men clambering to touch the hem of your running shorts!
Oh what a challenge?! There could be no end to the
unwanted suitors!

AND

BeJean's comment about,
"Who wants to 'have' to buy a whole new wardrobe?!"
Gadzooks!

What a TOUGH decision... you guys found them all;

• slow metabolism
• big bones
• so many calories on the salad might as well have the burger & fries
• if I'm not playing the funny fat girl role, who would I BE?

and on and on!
Many thanks to all who shared! What a great group!

Congrats to the winners - Sandi & BeJean! All the answers were great.

Sandi & Jeanie - please pm me your addresses so I can send you both your prizes. The prizes are good.

In OTHER NEWS (DEE BEE DEE DEEP BEE DEE DEEP ---------------->

I have tagged Lee to challenge us all with the new Fun Friday Question
for this Friday, January 18th!

Stay tuned for details!!!!!