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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To have told dp that I don't want a fast boyfriend?

65 replies

ConfusedPixie · 06/08/2013 13:07

I feel incredibly shallow right now but it got to a point of desperation. Dp is a bit chunky, always has been and will be and I love it. But the past two years the weight has been creeping on, we've both had a rough time of it and it's been forgotten about. He went to America at the beginning of July and piled on the weight whilst away and has continued to do so since he got back. He's also been a bit down and i know running would make him feel better and help keep his weight down as he was an obsessive runner before we moved and loved to run.

After months of him bringing it up and me saying just run then and him putting it off I told him last night, quite honestly, that there is a part of me that just doesn't want a fat boyfriend.

He seems to have listened and went for a run when I left for work and wants to come climbing with me tonight (he had been putting off a course in it for a year though insists he wants to climb) but I now feel really mean to have been so blunt as I usually an but was avoiding it with his weight as I am more concerned about his health, which is suffering from his lack of exercise, not his level of chunkiness!

Was I being unreasonable?

OP posts:
Shrugged · 06/08/2013 14:00

But Sybil, the OP didn't say, 'Look, X, I love you, but if you put on more weight I will really struggle with continuing to find you attractive.' Which many people might find problematic in itself, even if it's honest. but at least it acknowledges him as an individual human being. Whereas 'I don't want A fat boyfriend' is cruel, impersonal, all about her, and makes it sound like she's choosing something from a catalogue.

squoosh · 06/08/2013 14:02

I agree that 'I don't want a fat boyfriend' is pretty cruel.

PrettyKitty1986 · 06/08/2013 14:03

YABU.
It was too blunt.

I can understand that type of feeling in a new relationship. I had a boyfriend once who made a major change to his appearance (grew a beard lol) and refused to consider getting rid. So I dumped him - because I just didn't find him attractive anymore. We'd been an item for two months and I personally feel a degree of shallowness is 'allowed' in new relationships where you don't yet have any 'real' emotional attachment.

But for a partner of years? I can see you being concerned about his health and encouraging him to lose weight. I can see you being irritated if he's constantly moaning about his weight and does nothing about it (I have a sister like this - it got to the point where I shouted at her 'So put the biscuit down and go for a run! Don't keep whining at me about it!')

But to make a statement like that, seemingly based purely on shallow, appearance-based reasons in a long-term relationship - I would find that extremely hurtful and difficult to get over if a partner said that to me.

Branleuse · 06/08/2013 14:05

I think it would be hurtful to hear it either way, but if its the truth, then its better that he knows, rather than later on down the line when you just really dont find him physically attractive anymore.

When people dont make an effort with their appearance anymore because theyre in a relationship, its a form of taking for granted, and tbh, its a bit disrespectful. Its not even about weight, its just not being bothered about attracting your partner.

I think its only right to be honest about it, and it doesnt sound like you were nasty about it. It sounds like beating around the bush wasnt working, and it was something he wanted to do anyway, but has the extra motivation now.

foreverondiet · 06/08/2013 14:13

Its a hard one, I wouldn't want a fat boyfriend or husband either.

But its his choice if he wants to stay fat. Can't force him to go on a diet.

I would say start a healthy eating and exercise regime for you and ask him to join. If he won't maybe its the end?

wordfactory · 06/08/2013 14:25

I think you need to be very careful laying down certain physical characterisitics that you will not enteratin in a partner.

Bodies change.

I know a beautiful woman who had real hormone trouble in her forties and was plagued by acne. Really plagued. Perhpas her husband 'didn't find it attractive'. Should he have divorced her?

Ditto, I know lots of handsome guys who went bald! Perhpas their wives didn't find it a turn on...

squoosh · 06/08/2013 14:28

Acne and baldness are beyond people's control. Most people can control their weight if they make up their mind to do so.

Redlocks30 · 06/08/2013 14:30

Blunt, yes-but it's what you feel.

Either you fancy someone or you don't. If they go from slim and fit to morbidly obese, your feelings may well change; I don't think that is unreasonable. I wouldn't have looked twice at someone if they were morbidly obese when dating-I don't find very fat people very attractive. They might have lovely attractive personalities but folds of fat and a stomach apron that squashes me in bed makes my stomach turn. I know this is an extreme version of what the OP is saying but I think if your weight changes drastically-you have to accept your partner may feel differently about you.

SybilRamkin · 06/08/2013 14:35

Agree that OP might have phrased her point differently, but perhaps she's already tried the gentle persuasion route? Sounds like it's been an issue for a while - sometimes being blunt is the only way to get your point across. But still, phrasing it like Shrugged suggests would have been better.

wordfactory · 06/08/2013 14:37

squoosh I think it is very dubious to place restrictions on what physical 'flaws' one will accept and what flaws one will not! Especially dubious to decide which ones are the person's 'fault' and which are not...

Considering the acne point. How much responsibility did the woman in question have to seek treatment? Or cover it? Or change her diet?

Would her husband have been morally right to leave her if she hadn't taken the steps he deemed sufficent?

emuloc · 06/08/2013 14:38

Sometimes you have to tell it like it is

TheYoniWayIsUp · 06/08/2013 14:38

My XP always made comments about my weight. I was constantly 'dieting' and exercising to keep him happy.
I was only a size 12. But if ever he saw me with a cake I'd get a lecture on how he didn't want a fat girlfriend.
I can't tell you thee damage he did to my self esteem. Sad

To be honest, I hope he dumps you. Sorry, but I do.

squoosh · 06/08/2013 14:43

I've had a skin condition myself so know how difficult it can be and no I don't think someone should be dumped for being fat, dumped for having spots or dumped for being bald.

But if my partner put on a lot of weight in a short amount of time to the point where I was no longer sexually attracted to him I don't see anything wrong in raising it in as diplomatic way as possible. What is the point in staying silent and avoiding sex with them or just going through the motions?

Surely if you're in a grown up relationship you should be able to have some difficult conversations without being deemed shallow.

Branleuse · 06/08/2013 15:35

id hope my boyfriend would tell me i was getting a bit fat before it got to the stage he didnt fancy me anymore. Likewise if i was getting too skinny.

ConfusedPixie · 06/08/2013 15:36

Sorry, charge woke up from her nap.

I have been worried about his health/well being for a while and have told him so numerous times as he brings it up himself so often (I'm talking over the space of a year or so, though I've been worried since we moved down here 2 years ago). After another evening of him complaining about how unfit he was and the bad food habits we've gotten into (he's lost his passion for cooking too, we share the cooking) we were in bed about to sleep and it popped into my mind and I said it, I have no idea why as I know how I meant it but I know how it came out. I apologised then and there but still feel like a shallow cow.

I don't want a fat boyfriend, in the health sense. As I said, he's already a bit chunky which I do love, but only when he is healthy, and he is not healthy atm. Both of our Mum's are over their ideal weight and suffer for it, he has had no energy for a long time and has recently started snoring. He complains about his weight (and up until last night I've never said anything bad about it) and goes on about wanting to run again, to which I always say "Just do it." and then he "hasn't got time" and puts it off until after X, but when X happens something else will come up.

He does love running and kept saying he wanted to get back into it, and he has been bugging me about taking him climbing for a long while but until recently you couldn't take beginners to the local centre so he's been putting off the two evening course they run since last April so they aren't things he's decided to do spur of the moment.

twinkly as much as I'd love to run, I can't, I have a mass of health issues. I'd like nothing more than to go running or cycling or something else cheap and cheerful with him and if I could then we both would have started doing it a hell of a lot sooner but I can't. He wants me to teach him to kayak but I had to stop that and I'll have to stop climbing soon I think. It would be a lot easier if we could exercise together, I know that.

I do still fancy the pants off of him (well, very slightly less so since he got rid of the beard yesterday Wink) and that's not an issue, as I said, I like him chunky and weight wise I'd probably be slightly less attracted to him if he were slim. We've never been about appearances, we were friends for 6 years before we got together and that's what we love about one another. Looks aren't really a massive factor in it, which is why I feel triply shit for saying it.

I don't want him to go on a diet, neither of us are comfortable with diets, I want him to get fit again, be healthy and be happy again because he is one of those people where there is a significant correlation between being fit/healthy and being happy. I want him to want to eat healthily again and cook with me again. I want him to have the energy to spend quality time with me again, which has been lacking on both sides recently but at least before he'd pull me into doing something whereas he's now doing the same as me.

I have fucked up miserably haven't I? I have no clue why I said it before thinking of the phrasing and if I apologise again or explain it. It'll look like I'm backtracking.

OP posts:
ConfusedPixie · 06/08/2013 15:37

& thanks Yoni, because saying something once in a fuck up is the same as hounding a person about their weight and what they eat.

OP posts:
ageofgrandillusion · 06/08/2013 15:42

You can tell him what you like so YABU. Honest and open communication surely is the best wayin any relationship. The thing is, i don't think you should start trying to change somebody. You've said your bit now and it's up to him if he does anything about it. I he does nothing, and you are genuine in what you say, then you will leave won't you?

TheYoniWayIsUp · 06/08/2013 15:43

Well it's clearly bothered him, hasn't it? I wonder how positive he felt during his run?

idococktailshedoesbeer · 06/08/2013 15:48

I told DP when he was getting a fat stomach that I didn't like it. He promptly shed a stone and a half by training for a half marathon and reducing his beer and wine intake. He looks like an athlete now. Shock

I'm really proud of him but I've put on a couple of stone in the meantime which I'm sure made him feel very smug. He loved giving my wobbly bits a pointed wobble but thankfully they're nearly gone.

So be careful. Grin

ConfusedPixie · 06/08/2013 15:48

Yes it obviously has, just like it has me. Unlike your ex I didn't intend to insult him and don't intend to repeat the comment again nor have I ever commented on the way he eats (which is usually pretty healthy)

OP posts:
Branleuse · 06/08/2013 15:51

you havent fucked up. Honestly. Dont backtrack. As long as he knows that you love him whatever, but you still want to keep the phwooooarrrh aspect alive and kicking. I think its fine, and hes taken it ok and hes actually finally doing what youve been hinting at. If you ask on here, not everyone is going to be unanimous, but i think youre fine

TeamSouthfields · 06/08/2013 15:51

Poor guy......

ConfusedPixie · 06/08/2013 15:52

Well done cocktail's DP, that's an amazing feat. I keep suggesting to DP to try a half marathon as he snurks at me every time I suggest the couch to 5k to get him back into running though he isn't too keen on the idea Hmm

OP posts:
Viviennemary · 06/08/2013 15:55

I don't think your wording was very tactful at all. But YANBU to want him to lose weight as it is better for his health.

Famzilla · 06/08/2013 16:00

YABU. I was a size 6-8 part time model when I met DP. I was a size 20 after DD was born due to SPD and gluttony. I've only got down to a size 14 so far.

DP has never made me feel anything less than beautiful. I would've been gutted if he made any sort of comment when I was at my biggest. IMO he should be working out for himself, not because he is scared of losing you Sad

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