Daily Maintenance Weigh In - Thursday 10/18

Good morning all. Happy Thursday, only one day until Friday.

Today's weight: 138.4

Question for you: does anyone here know anyone with Aspergers?  I have always known I was very literal-minded and socially awkward; several years ago someone mentioned to me that I reminded them of a friend with Aspergers. At that time I kind of blew it off. However, it came up again yesterday from a totally different source, another person who has a family member with Aspergers and is very educated on the symptoms. She had me take a long screening test that she indicates is pretty reputable and I scored as 'very likely' to have Aspergers.

So here's the question: where's the line between being socially awkward and having Aspergers and is it even worth going to see a psychologist to find out at the ripe old age of 50? The only "problem" I have that might or might not be Aspergers is my social skills. I fit some of the other descriptions (I like routine and don't handle change well, eat the same things every day, wear very similar clothes every day, only read non-fiction, get mildly fixated on certain topics) but those things just are part of who I am and don't give me any problems. 

Won't let me edit. Grrr..

Weight is 139.4 not 138.4. Typo

183.0

Water water everywhere and not a drop to lose! Oh we'll at least my endurance continues to improved. Did about 1/2 of my normal walk yesterday.

As for the Aspergers question - I think it's becoming the new ADHD. I am seeing more and more people being diagnosed with " Mild" or "Moderate" forms of it. In too many cases I think people want to call personality traits they don't like personality disorders to avoid taking responsibility and possibly changing things they don't like about themselves - same as we most likely did before committing to changing our lives. I am not addicted to food, right?

Psychology scares me like it did before surgery, I still firmly believe that it is an often misused tool. Aspergers is a form of Autism, and both are serious conditions that can have devastating consequences. It is also behavioral in nature and should really only be diagnosed through clinical observation by trained professionals.

I remember being "tested" once for depression by my GP. The test was a badly photocopied True-False test. Had I wanted a diagnosis and mood stabilizers I could easily have beat the test. Proper tests administered correctly can help the clinician, in the wrong hands I think they aren't worth the paper they are printed on.

Ask yourself this, are you happy with who you are? Are the Aspergers like traits you may have impeding your ability to live the life you want? Is it affecting your family in a negative way? Let those things be your guide. If you feel you really need help with these things see a psychologist.

For me, and the interactions we have on here, I think you are perfect!

I actually am having some trouble at work, since my new employer has a much more touchy-feely culture than my old one. Actually showed up on my annual review.

I also have always had a lot of trouble making friends. I have noticed that I do better making friends with folks on-line who don't see/experience my social awkwardness until after they've gotten to know me. In fact, my two best friends (my only close friends in fact) and my husband all got to know me on-line before they met me in person.

I'm miserably, painfully uncomfortable in social situations and avoid them like the plague. This includes folks chatting at the office. I can't participate in those conversations comfortably so I stay away. Makes me seem stand-offish, I'm told. 

So yeah, it does cause me problems I just don't know if I'm convinced it's Aspergers.

My family is fine. My husband and daughter (neither of them any blood relation to each other OR to me, daughter is adopted foster kid) both have ADHD. We have a mutual acceptance pact: I don't expect them to be who they're not, they don't expect me to be who I'm not and we have a remarkably happy family life.

If its really causing you issues - the definitely see a psychologist and try to get a clear understanding.  It could be anything from social anxiety disorder to aspergers to I don't know what.  

I know where you are coming from at work.  As a kid I had Juvenile Ideopathic epilepsy, and was so heavily medicated to treat that I was a zombie at school.  To try and treat that the doctors added ritalin into the mix.  At the same time I started realizing I was gay.  Needless to say that being seperated from the pack like that made my social life pure hell at school.  I was picked on and bullied.

I learned to not trust people.  I would make people prove that they would not hurt me over and over again before I would trust them and let them get close to me.  Even when I did that I put a one year expiration date on every friendship I had.  

That patter followed me all the way through college and into my professional life.  In a lot of ways it has hurt me, I dont "network"; I don't keep track of people.  I also get the "stand-offish" thing - especially from other males.  Its something that in the past year I realize has even led to my food issues.  Its something that I am working on with my therapist.  She helps me develop tools to recognize my behaviors and deal with them.

I share this for a couple of reasons.  You are not alone.  The other reason, is let the clinicians guide you.  I display all of the same traits you mention, plus a love of patterns and routines.  I am sure I would score quite high on the aspergers test.  But sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and a persoanlity trait is just a personality trait - not a personality disorder.  

You can work on whatever you need to to get to the place you need to be.  The time you spend with the therapist getting the right diagnosis and the right tools will be incredibly worth it.

 

BTW - I love what you said about your family life - thats really beautiful.

179.8
81.7
18.3
Morning all, haven't been checking in as often but am still weighing daily. Nothing new here, just work and school. did get new little sporty car that I am loving. I figure I was married through my 20s so I call a redo! Hope you are all well!

Good morning:

Up two.  Must be the salty foods from yesterday.

I know better but STILL.......

As for Aspergers, I know a number of younger people who have had that label put upon them.  

Their families could probably address the issue better than I but let us say that it cannot be easy HAVING that diagnosis nor can it be easy living with someone with that diagnosis.

I would expect that there are degrees of  the syndrome.

  I would think that each and everyone of us have some kind of disorder if the ' experts ' put their mind to it.

Have a good day everyone.

166.6 - another new low.  This makes a 2 lb loss in one week, not used to that and it freaked me out for about 10 seconds.

Today's workout is yoga/pilates. Looking forward to a slower paced workout and stretching.  No run last night just a shor walk with the dog, so we will be doing 5k run this evening (just as well since it is cooler outside today).

 133.  All good.  

I've been thinking about bumping up the work out to try and lose the butt.  This will be an experiment because my butt is it's smallest ever, but still larger in perportion then the rest of the body.  Not sure what it will take to lose it.  Anyone out there been successful in losing the butt?  

Can I go below 1800 calories with an increased work out and not feel deprived?  Not sure.  

Any advice is welcome.    

I have no butt. What I had just fell right off and left an ironing board behind. My thing is my calves. Like your butt, much smaller but large in proportion to my body. To put that in perspective, I was in size 8 boot cut jeans before I finally got out of wide-calf boots.

I honestly think our body type is going to be our body type. If we have a part of our body that tends to be large, it's probably going to be relatively large no matter what our weight.

I figured out about myself about 2/3 of the way down that I was judging my success or failure but the size of my calves. I'd actually compare my calves to other people's. I could be thinner than someone but I'd look at their normal size calves and feel fatter. Coming to accept that I just have large calves has helped a lot.