To want people to stop mentioning my weightloss?

[cinnamongreyhound]

I lost 5 1/2 st from November to July last year and have maintained since then. I have been overweight all my life so I can see it was a shock to a lot of people I know but everyone is still mentioning it all the time!

I love that I can wear mostly what I want but I lost weight to be healthier not thinner iyswim but its like no one else can think of anything else to say to me. I get comments like you're wasting away, have you lost EVEN more weight etc all the time but someone said the other day if we stopped eating cake we'd all look like you and it really got to me. I still eat cake and other stuff I'm just more careful and I am still the same person. Thought after 6 months it wouldn't be such a big deal as I'm very happy blending into the background!

Thing is if you do want to compliment someone, you can do it without making it about the weight. You can just you are looking great today or, is that a new outfit? you look great.

Well you can if you have that sort of relationship with the person. Just randomly telling people they look great is also not really on...

i 'know' you from the MFP thread, and i understand where you are coming from. I guess it's alot to take in for someone who hasn't seen you for a while? Yet i have found that the comments like 'don't go losing any more' are a bit ?? I am truly not small, size 14 bottom, size 12 top. I wonder if it shows in my face so much that any more would make me look gaunt?

Hi cinnamon! When I read the thread title, I thought you were BU and grumpy, but those comments aren't even really complimentary!

I lost 4 stone a few years ago, and I got some really lovely compliments about how well I looked, which I enjoyed, but no fecking way would I have liked the ones you've said!

You need some witty comebacks!

I suppose they might be trying to compliment you but I agree it is rather wearing. I might just smile and change the subject. Any compliments that sound suspiciously back handed, like the cake incident, you could say " did you mean to be so rude"?

Or how about, you're not so bad yourself, been at the gym? You kind of have to change what people think when they see you, ie not the weight loss ( well done) but your interests and hobbies iykwim.

If people normally start their small talk with you about weight, you have to train them not to- get in first with " great to see you, I had an ace time at choir practise last night" or whatever you do:) Then next time they might ask about that first, if they want to chat.

YANBU. I'm sure it's meant well but compliments based on weight are not a healthy source of self esteem. It's a private matter (albeit publicly visible) and I think we might all be a bit healthier mentally and physically if people didn't feel so free to comment.

I went through a horrible divorce a few years back, when my ex left me for another woman, and the stress of it caused me to lose a lot of weight. A woman at work (who had gone on a mad diet and was weight obsessed) told me I was so thin it disgusted her.
In my mental state at the time, it made me feel even worse about myself. It wouldn't be as acceptable to tell someone they were so fat it was disgusting. Some people are so obsessed with weight that they assume you are too, and that everything you do is to spite them in some weird competition.
It really divides people, and especially women.

commenting on weight is rude, full stop.

'you've lost a lot of weight' = 'you were fat before' OK, the OP was but no need to point it out!
'you're too thin/too fat' = just plain rude.

'you look nice' or say nothing.

Spicypear is so right. It is not just jealousy or spite though. It can be pure ignorance of the issues. I was a 10-12 (and 5'6") and had never dieted or lost or gained much weight until the beginining of last year. Then I lost more than 10kg as a result of taking meds for a serious illness and it was open season. It has taken nearly a year for people to stop telling me how thin I am every time they see me.

It was painful because everytime it came up it reminded me of how ill I was and I just did not want to be reminded all the fucking time. If I gave the true explanation loads of people would ask how to get some of my medication (easy first have a serious head injury...). If I pretended it was intentional weight loss people started telling me I didn't need to lose weight or I'd get the eating disorder fret or the 'are you stressed?' fret (yes by you - go away). Male friends felt they needed to reassure me that men like women with a bit of meat on theitr bones (this may or may not be true but my husband likes me alive and happy as well - he ain't that kinky).

But if I'm honest before this happened to me I can remember saying to people 'You are looking good' meaning 'You have lost weight' or 'You haven't put on weight in pregnancy' as if that was somehow better than putting on weight or indeed any of my business.

I don't think I was motivated by spite or jealousy I was just stupid and a lot more prejudiced than I realised.

Yanbu at all. It must feel very intrusive.

As an ex anorexic I can confirm that people do comment, a LOT. Other people don't but look at you with pity/interest, it's hard for them to hide their curiosity and so on.

I hate any sort of comment about my appearance from anyone - especially my mother for some reason. It sends me right back to square one.

I think folk are hoping to encourage, too, they mean well.

I sympathise because I hate being centre of attention.
It will fade, eventually.

I lost a similar amount of weight once so can sympathize with the constant comments, nice at first but a bit wearing after a while.
The jealous ones will soon start telling you not to lose any more or you'll get too thin! Or your face looks drawn, probably the same people who thought you could do with losing a bit of weight in the first place!
Some people are just sad obsessed with looks/other peoples weight.
It does wane eventually.

Well done on maintaining the weight loss OP: that's the hardest part.

You've got the right attitude with healthier, not thinner. Health is what matters the most. I am very slender but with horrific joint problems that leave me in pain every day: I can't begin to describe how many snide comments I've heard over the years from people that think being slender is so great and that I'm so lucky, "alright for some" blah blah blah. I'd rather be size 14 and not in pain...but you can't really say that to people. They think they're allowed to say what they want because you're slim.

I totally understand you; I lost a lot of weight and got really fed up with the comments - I wanted them to see me as a person not fat/thin/whatever. I know people were trying to be complimentary etc but it is just such a personal, emotive subject that I wish they would just keep quiet.

My mother was, I know, proud but even she made the most ridiculous comments like 'not having enough to eat' when she stayed with me .

Fortunately no one said anything when I put it all back on .

I know exactly how you feel! I've lost 125lbs over the past 23 months. I expect people who haven't seen me in ages to comment, that's only natural but it's gets a bit much after a while.

I also get the 'oooh, you don't want to lose anymore' & 'well, your face is looking very thin' comments which is total bollocks tbh! I need to lose at least another 20lbs to put me out of the 'obese' category and into the top end of the 'overweight' category so I'm hardly done an I. I'm currently 14st 1 and would like to get to 11st 7 which would be good for me at 5ft 5 but I daren't say that to anyone. That's another 35lbs

I think it's just seems such alot of weight to them all but if I asked them to be my weight they'd think it was awful! I also think if I'd started at say 15st and wanted to be 11st 7 they'd think that was ok

I went from 13 and a half stone to 9 stone in 2011. Absolutely every single person ( even people i didnt know i knew) mentioned it for about 8 months but now only one lady does. I had a friend who lost about 4 stone the year before me and it was amazing to watch her shrink so I don't blame people for commenting. What used to get on my nerves was people asking how I did it, like I had a magic answer or had taken a magic pill. I just said I ate a lot less.

People don't like the self discipline. They thought they could rely on you as the fat one but you changed your life and made them uncomfortable. They will accept it eventually but will probably always view as as the fat one who got thin. A friend of mine who was a heavy drinker cut down massively and got some really rude comments - some were very antagonistic. They still view him several years on as kind of the guy who drinks really heavily but just isn't tonight.

Also some will try to encourage him to drink more and pile the pressure on. You'll probably have people try to give you food.

It genuinely was for health reasons and it took me a while to get used to my new body, I expected to keep the same shape but get smaller. I've gone from a 36G to a 32DD and I now have no waist so different clothes suit me. I think part of it is that my husband preferred me before although he's getting used to it too and pays me a lot of compliments as he knows how I've felt. This along with constant reminders from everyone I see regularly has made it feel negative I suppose. It's really not easy but I've made a decision and have found the strength to stick with it. I'm just not able to be that blunt to people but I find myself rolling my eyes a bit now and I don't want people to stop talking to me! I really appreciate your thoughts, thank you :)

I lost five stone recently and I love the compliments, however, it amazes me how many people think it is acceptable to tell me that I am too skinny, how my legs are like sticks and how I looked better when I had more weight on me.

I am in the middle of my healthy range and size 8-10 but I am small built and my legs and arms have always been puny compared to my stomach! I am not anorexic looking in the slightest but some people have tried to pin that on me.

When my sister told me I look better with more weight on me I really really wanted to tell her how much better I think she would look if she lost weight, just to prove a point that it isn't nice for anyone to comment on your body in a negative way.

And then there was my MIL who would happily talk about my weight gain but not once even mentioned my 5 stone weight loss, even when I told her my total loss she never once said well done.

on the other hand OP, how would you feel about someone complimenting you about your loss? quite a few people i know have lost a serious amount of weight and whenever i have seen them i can't help but say how happy i am for them. just the once, mind, not every time.