Let me start off by saying, I generally don’t watch the various WLS type videos out there by the various folks on YouTube. It’s not to say I don’t like some of these folks, it’s not that I’m not interested in some of the stuff they have to say. I don’t know, I just have trouble sitting through the various videos on a regular basis. It’s probably why I also never got in to recording them all that much.
So no, I don’t watch many. I’ll check out some here and there when I hear about something that specifically catches my eye… or ear, whatever the case may be. And that’s sort of how this blog post came about.
I can’t point you towards the video at this point, because it’ has since been taken down for a few different reasons. Let me try and boil it down for you. At some point in the past, this particular person did a video where they took the water bottle they had been drinking from, lay it on it’s side and put it up next to their waist in a profile shot and noted how they were thinner from front to back than the water bottle was tall. They declared it an NSV. Sometime in the last couple weeks, a friend of theirs posted a similar video and sort of challenged others to take the “Smart Water Bottle Test”. So called because the bottle being used was the Smart Water brand, 1-liter or so I think, which is a fairly tall bottle.
So the person who had done this last year, posted about this on FaceBook and it caused a bit of a stir with a few folks, prompting someone else on YouTube to post a video saying this was irresponsible behavior and such. Then a video response was made to that in which a proverbial gauntlet was thrown down… and more people took that challenge in a way that it wasn’t intended and more videos went back and forth, more postings on FaceBook where different folks got caught up in the fervor. Insults were made, others came to their defense, parody photos were posted, people were called names, and more.
All because of a water bottle.
Ok, fine. Maybe it’s not just because of a water bottle.
I purposely have not named anyone above because I don’t think it really matters. Plus, I don’t know all those involved and would hate for someone to think I slighted them because I forgot to include them or something.
Bottom line is, I don’t get it.
Scratch that. I get some of it. As I see it, there are certain folks that don’t particularly like the person that did this whole bottle thing. Fine. Like I’ve said, I don’t care about that. What I do care about is that it looks like these folks are using their dislike of this person to turn this whole water bottle stuff in to something it’s not. Yes, I can understand some of the issue folks have had over… well… the tone of the videos done by this person. They can be pretty intense. It’s not for everyone. It’s not for me. But like I also said, I don’t really watch the videos anyways. And even if I did, whatever she is doing is working for her, it may even be working for others… so who am I to judge? But I have been seeing WAY too many people posting crap online over this, name-calling, personal attack crap.
What I don’t get is why people are fixating on the water bottle.
If you have ever used a scale and declared hitting a certain weight as an NSV… if you’ve ever take a photo of yourself standing in one leg of a pair of pants that used to be tight on you… if you’ve ever posted a status update about how you just tried on a piece of clothing you thought would never fit… If you have in any way shape or form ever done something, take a photo of yourself or otherwise noted and or celebrated your progress using something… anything… as a means of measuring that progress then what the hell do you have against a water bottle?
Yes, I have seen a few whispers about how this sort of thing can lead to eating disorders. And I agree.
But to focus on a water bottle misses the point. The water bottle is not the problem, it is merely a symbol of a potential one. To focus on just the water bottle feeds in to the problem of attacking the messenger and not dealing with the message.
And even the message here is entirely invalid. I think we all nened to find a healthy yardstick by which to measure our personal progress by. Something that can help us keep our focus, our motivation, help us keep our head in the game. For me, right now, it’s my jeans. I’m not focused on a specific weight, it’s gone up a bit, fluctuated a bit, but Iv’e been in the same size jeans for about two years now. I do not want to have to go out and buy a size larger, so that is part of my motivation for keeping my head as much in the game as I can.
The operative word there though is healthy. And what is healthy for me may not be for you, or you, or you. But does that mean I shouldn’t post something like “Hey, it’s been three years and I’ve stayed in the same size jeans!”? Or heck, maybe I’ll win the lottery and get some skin removed, or finally take doing crunches serious and trim down a bit… if I were to post about moving down a size in jeans, would that cause others distress? If I posted a challenge for others to post a photo of them in a piece of clothing they wore a year ago that they still fit in today… would people start calling me names online?
And probably one of the worst parts about this whole thing is that I find myself at odds with folks that… well… had the messenger been someone else we know, I don’t think they would put up with half the things I’ve seen said recently. That distresses me.
So no, I don’t get it. If this is really about using a water bottle as a way to measure progress, fine, then try to explain me the difference between it and any similar methods I talked about. Help me understand.
If it’s about the whole idea that doing things like this in general is a bad thing. Fine, then help me understand why now? why this?
If it’s about the messenger… I don’t wanna know. You can keep that to yourself.
Awesome post!!! I agree 100%
Nail, meet hammer! hit right on the head and any participation i had in this saddens me as i now realize that my slight (intentional or not) matters little now or in the larger scope of things. thanks for stepping out there on that ledge my friend…. (thanks whoever wrote that song)
Barb, I don’t know everything that happened, but from what I hear… you didn’t participate. You had a direct conflict with someone over things related with this broader topic, but because the attack was unfounded does not mean one rolls over and takes it. From what everyone has said, you responded calmly and rationally… I will never fault anyone for that.
it’s tough, because there is no one place this discussion is taking place. From somewhere on FB where I asked how using a bottle is any worse than using a scale or tape measure… I felt this was worth sharing here as well.
Rob Portinga They’re all just units of measurement. One represents the effects of gravitaional pull, one measures a distance. When someone has posted about stalling, how many of us have asked if they have checked their measurements lately?
How many of us have told others that when the pounds stop coming off it is often the time your body will change and to check measurements to keep from getting too frustrated? A water bottle is just another measure of length or girth or whatever you want to call it.
What if instead of a flexible tape measure someone were to start holding up a ruler and using that to gauge their profile? Would that be as bad as holding up a water bottle? Rulers can be in different sizes… there’s yard sticks, I had an 18″ one for drafting use.. 12″ ones, and a 6″ one.. for that matter, tape measures come in different sizes.
When I started, I would not have fit a 36″ one, I do now. Does that make using a tape measure a bad thing? These are the questions that run through my head as I try to figure out what was so bad about using a water bottle?
Is there problems when it comes to promoting certain images that are unattainable to the majority? Probably, but I believe there has been too much focus on the water bottle as a tool… too much focus on the messenger… and nowhere near enough on the message itself. The good and the bad of it.
Rob – you know I watched the video and within 2 minutes knew this was not a person I would care to ever watch again. When I saw her compare herself with the bottle I said “good for her” BUT when she challenged others, I didnt care for her, the challenge, or the infliction of her voice. Nope not anyone I wanted anything to do with. I am one that I beat to my own drum — I’ll listen to what you have to say — roll it over on my thought process and if it will work for me cool, if not Next. I also the type to not need a water bottle to measure as I use the scale and my clothes and So I did something I have never ever done on a weekend before — usually on a Monday — but never on a weekend and in the middle of the day? I jumped on the scale. Yep I did. I’ve been sidelined with a sinus/bronchial infection that had taking me off my exercise and eating program schedule for a good week. I honest to God jumped off the damn thing like quick before it adjusts itself back up. I am elated its going down and made a promise to myself that never again would it go over 200. I found a free weight tracking app that looks pretty motivational as it tells you on the icon how much you have to lose before making it to goal (or you can set it to how much you have lost). I originally set my goal at 145 as that is my ultimate “goal” weight that I never quite met – so – I reset it to 175 — a workable but not overwhelming number – kinda the half way – as y’all know how incredibly difficult it is to go down once you’ve regained. I know long post but wanted to share just a small thing I’m doing to help me get back and keep the upper hand :)
I don’t know what just happened on my comment. It Was pretty long so I copied it all incase it poofed and it started well but then pasted a post I did on another board this weekend. The weird thing is I did a memory clear earlier of the iPhone. Technology – just wanted to explain why it made no sense
It didn’t poof, just everyone posting a comment the first time needs approval. Spam prevention.
The difference between the water bottle and other “visual” measures of success (new number on the scale, standing in one leg of pants that used to fit you, buying a smaller size than you used to wear) is that all those things are RELATIVE to where you started. Using a water bottle as a measuring stick is like saying that everyone who is successful with their WLS journey should end up wearing a Size TWO. We reject that on its face as a ridiculous benchmark of success. So too with the water bottle.
Well, I never got the impression that anybody that participated in any of this ever inferred that everyone who is successful should end up a size two… and for at least one person, they’ve been using this visual for over a year now, so for them it likely very much showing a progression. Maybe not from exactly when they started, but it was a change over time.