Be Honest.
I write at thiiirdly for two reasons. 1) I want to pursue health and 2) help others pursue health.
I don’t know others motives—but those are mine. To me it’s foolproof. Even if no one else reads, I still get healthier.
But I’ve noticed something about some other writers—especially some pretty popular ones.
They stopped being accountable.
I’ve sort of hinted at this because I have trouble being this bold—but I have a bone to pick with health writers who have built a readership promising to lead them to better health—but stay hidden behind product reviews, recipes, guest posts, recycled posts, fads, and forced perspective camera shots.
They don’t post progress (weigh-in, measurements, vitals, race times or otherwise)
They talk about how much weight they dropped a few years ago.
They’re making money of ads and sponsorships pretending to be something they aren’t. They get the mental payoff writing about health, and the assurance that they’re popular—but they’re not backing it up.
I respect Shawn @344 Pounds for owning up to this. He has a book out, some sponsorship, what is likely a sizeable readership, and he’s been an example for me. But he stopped weighing in a couple months ago and put on 30lbs.
He could have kept hiding, but he didn’t. It could have cost him readers, but for me, I just became a bigger fan. It takes a lot of genitalia to admit that—and his readers should know firsthand how difficult this journey is—and how it is never finished.
I wish more people would do that. You can either lose readers now by being honest or lose them in the end when they realized that you’re not who you’re leading everyone to believe.
So if we lead a readership–let’s be responsible in doing so. It’s time to come clean. Ask for help—and help those asking for it.
If we lie to readers we are just marketers, airbrushing the reality to get hits + comments. Reject that—it doesn’t help you or them.
Instead of calling out the liars, go read this:
Mae @ ReducedFatGirl wrote this and her honesty is Irish-Spring- refreshing.
Hi Chris! Well, I’ve been blogging quite a long time now, and I can tell you that there is a lot of blogging burnout. I currently have over 340 posts on my blog. Each of those was an investment of thought. Some of those posts took several hours. I’m certain that about half of them have hardly been read.
I’ve written about much of what I think is important. I’m probably on the last 20 percent of everything that I think needs to get said.
When a person ends their cycle of feeling energized about blogging, I think the end is stale. It’s not because these top bloggers weren’t great bloggers, it’s because they moved on to other more energizing things for *themselves.* They personally need to be energized, and comments on blogs is often/usually not enough. If blogging actually made a living, I could imagine that bloggers would try harder to stay fresh at all times. So I don’t discredit them for being a bunch of recycled posts. I actually understand it.
My beef isn’t so much for those who recycle content or burn out— you might have noticed that I’ll often link back to previous work of mine— my beef is with those who, explicitly or not, give the appearance of “practicing what they preach” when they aren’t.
Again, it’s not all top bloggers—just a few.
And like Rae Rae said, if you’re in maintenance mode and, thus, not posting about progress—say so.
my two cents
How sweet of you! I found myself heading down that path; not updating weight log, posting progress pictures, posting bullshit. My blog is what keeps me accountable since I mostly do this on my own, and I’m glad I caught myself before I got too far off base.
You’re one of my favorites. I’m an all around fan. And I appreciate that you use your influence responsibly and transparently.
And your okcupid stuff is classic.
Ha, I’m not sure that was me being bold or just tired of reading crap peddled to people and their responses reading “Oh! How inspiring you are!” No, they really aren’t. They keep their blog going to generate revenue. Or for attention. And I totally agree with your evaluation of Shawn.
The people I follow who are even in maintenance post their maintaining weights, too.
I’m glad I got that out of my system. I get upset when I see people with influence doing a puppet show—-they should end every post with “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain”
I blogged and lost over 70 lbs. in 2009-2010. I gained 60 of it back. I not only changed the name of my blog, but I gave up my domain and went back to my original blogger site with the new name, but blocking all old ‘labels’ and starting FRESH with weight and exercise trackers. I virtually take no credit for the 70 lbs. lost then, or even the 10 I managed to keep off. I consider myself a fresh new blogger in 2013, although occasionally, I will recycle an old post because it’s good, relevant, and even helpful to myself, let alone potentially helpful to others.
I never even thought about the fact that anyone would be claiming to still be fit and not. I guess I’m naive. But I’ve seen plenty of the burnout Marion talks about.
I did something similar after I lost a lot of weight in 2010.
I like fresh too!
Thanks for this post. And linking to me…I think that is a first for me. I struggle sometimes with how and what and how much to share…but I know I need to be accountable. It helps. Battle vs. war and all that. Be honest. So true.
It’s brave A. Strong of you to reach out when you need it. I like the honesty.
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