How to talk to those who think I have lost enough and am getting too thin

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  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    edited November 2016
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    jemhh wrote: »
    Aaron_K123 wrote: »
    The OP is asking for advice on what to tell people when they say she is too thin. That's not asking for validation. It's asking how to shut down people who are misspeaking, both in that they are wrong and in that they are sticking their noses where they do not belong.

    Except that ISNT always the wrong thing to do as @tomteboda gave as a personal example and you are ASSUMING that the OPs friends are misspeaking based only what the OP told us with no other context or experience.

    OP is asking for us to side with them over their friends. If her friends were making the post instead they'd be asking us to side with them. I'm trying to be impartial, I don't want to "side" with anyone. Agreeing with the OP that their friends and family are wrong isn't "being positive" its choosing a side. I don't know the OP, I don't know the OPs friends...I'm not going to choose a side. I'm going to stay agnostic and just give advice that really is good advice for either side. OP won't be hurt by having a physical now and again. OPs friends/family might get some piece of mind if OP has a doctor confirm they aren't in any sort of health risk. Its win-win isn't it?

    If OP's friends were posting I would tell them that a woman with a BMI of 27 is not too thin. It is mind boggling to me that you think that it is impartiality to suggest that the OP should take time and money to go see a doctor to confirm that being 16 lbs above the healthy weight range for her height is not too thin and that she then should repeat that to her friends. To me that goes beyond impartiality to illogical and completely spineless, especially considering how prevalent "you're too thin" comments are, as evidenced by multiple comments in this thread. Your advice to all of the people who have posted that they were told that they are getting too thin is that they should go get physicals and report the results to their friends?

    So you think her friends would say in their post that her BMI is 27? If they knew that for sure then why would they think she was too thin? Clearly they don't believe that is the case which means that either OP hasn't told them or they don't believe the OP for some reason that hasn't been disclosed. I'm not going to jump in as a total stranger who knows none of them and decide who is correct.

    I offered what I thought was an unbiased approach. Of course the OP doesn't have to do what I say so not sure what the big deal is. Its like people are getting upset that I, a random stranger, is not willing to take a side here. Why do people care if I don't take a side. I'm not saying one side is right and one is wrong at all so what is the problem exactly? Is it somehow offensive that I am not disagreeing with the OPs friends who I don't kow and who aren't here to defend themselves or say why they did it in the first place?

    Spinelessness? Why does not deciding who is right and who is wrong amongst complete strangers I don't know equate to spinelessness? I thought that was more like not interjecting an opinion when I lacked complete information so rather just suggesting something that is neutral and generally a good idea to do anyways.

    Just not sure what you want me to say. Nothing I suggested is actually bad and OP doesn't have to pay attention to it anyways if they choose not to. Its like you want me to say that her friends that I don't know are completely wrong even though I have no way of actually knowing that other than the typed opinion of a total stranger on a website. Uh...no, I'm not doing that. I also won't assume the OP is incorrect and that the friends are correct, I won't assume that either...I'm remaining neutral. Apparently not leaping to conclucsions due to incomplete information and only hearing from one side is now "spinelessness".

    I said what I thought I'm quite happy to stop talking now, at this point all I'm doing is responding to people asking me to explain myself for some reason.
  • JDixon852019
    JDixon852019 Posts: 312 Member
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    Aaron_K123 wrote: »
    jemhh wrote: »
    Aaron_K123 wrote: »
    The OP is asking for advice on what to tell people when they say she is too thin. That's not asking for validation. It's asking how to shut down people who are misspeaking, both in that they are wrong and in that they are sticking their noses where they do not belong.

    Except that ISNT always the wrong thing to do as @tomteboda gave as a personal example and you are ASSUMING that the OPs friends are misspeaking based only what the OP told us with no other context or experience.

    OP is asking for us to side with them over their friends. If her friends were making the post instead they'd be asking us to side with them. I'm trying to be impartial, I don't want to "side" with anyone. Agreeing with the OP that their friends and family are wrong isn't "being positive" its choosing a side. I don't know the OP, I don't know the OPs friends...I'm not going to choose a side. I'm going to stay agnostic and just give advice that really is good advice for either side. OP won't be hurt by having a physical now and again. OPs friends/family might get some piece of mind if OP has a doctor confirm they aren't in any sort of health risk. Its win-win isn't it?

    If OP's friends were posting I would tell them that a woman with a BMI of 27 is not too thin. It is mind boggling to me that you think that it is impartiality to suggest that the OP should take time and money to go see a doctor to confirm that being 16 lbs above the healthy weight range for her height is not too thin and that she then should repeat that to her friends. To me that goes beyond impartiality to illogical and completely spineless, especially considering how prevalent "you're too thin" comments are, as evidenced by multiple comments in this thread. Your advice to all of the people who have posted that they were told that they are getting too thin is that they should go get physicals and report the results to their friends?

    So you think her friends would say in their post that her BMI is 27? If they knew that for sure then why would they think she was too thin? Clearly they don't believe that is the case which means that either OP hasn't told them or they don't believe the OP for some reason that hasn't been disclosed. I'm not going to jump in as a total stranger who knows none of them and decide who is correct.

    I offered what I thought was an unbiased approach. Of course the OP doesn't have to do what I say so not sure what the big deal is. Its like people are getting upset that I, a random stranger, is not willing to take a side here. Why do people care if I don't take a side. I'm not saying one side is right and one is wrong at all so what is the problem exactly? Is it somehow offensive that I am not disagreeing with the OPs friends who I don't kow and who aren't here to defend themselves or say why they did it in the first place?

    Spinelessness? Why does not deciding who is right and who is wrong amongst complete strangers I don't know equate to spinelessness? I thought that was more like not interjecting an opinion when I lacked complete information so rather just suggesting something that is neutral and generally a good idea to do anyways.

    Just not sure what you want me to say. Nothing I suggested is actually bad and OP doesn't have to pay attention to it anyways if they choose not to. Its like you want me to say that her friends that I don't know are completely wrong even though I have no way of actually knowing that other than the typed opinion of a total stranger on a website. Uh...no, I'm not doing that. I also won't assume the OP is incorrect and that the friends are correct, I won't assume that either...I'm remaining neutral. Apparently not leaping to conclucsions due to incomplete information and only hearing from one side is now "spinelessness".

    I said what I thought I'm quite happy to stop talking now, at this point all I'm doing is responding to people asking me to explain myself for some reason.

    Women are catty, especially to their own friends and family. It sucks that they are taking their frustrations out on you, but I assure you, the situation the OP is dealing with is common.
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
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    jrulo16 wrote: »
    Aaron_K123 wrote: »
    jemhh wrote: »
    Aaron_K123 wrote: »
    The OP is asking for advice on what to tell people when they say she is too thin. That's not asking for validation. It's asking how to shut down people who are misspeaking, both in that they are wrong and in that they are sticking their noses where they do not belong.

    Except that ISNT always the wrong thing to do as @tomteboda gave as a personal example and you are ASSUMING that the OPs friends are misspeaking based only what the OP told us with no other context or experience.

    OP is asking for us to side with them over their friends. If her friends were making the post instead they'd be asking us to side with them. I'm trying to be impartial, I don't want to "side" with anyone. Agreeing with the OP that their friends and family are wrong isn't "being positive" its choosing a side. I don't know the OP, I don't know the OPs friends...I'm not going to choose a side. I'm going to stay agnostic and just give advice that really is good advice for either side. OP won't be hurt by having a physical now and again. OPs friends/family might get some piece of mind if OP has a doctor confirm they aren't in any sort of health risk. Its win-win isn't it?

    If OP's friends were posting I would tell them that a woman with a BMI of 27 is not too thin. It is mind boggling to me that you think that it is impartiality to suggest that the OP should take time and money to go see a doctor to confirm that being 16 lbs above the healthy weight range for her height is not too thin and that she then should repeat that to her friends. To me that goes beyond impartiality to illogical and completely spineless, especially considering how prevalent "you're too thin" comments are, as evidenced by multiple comments in this thread. Your advice to all of the people who have posted that they were told that they are getting too thin is that they should go get physicals and report the results to their friends?

    So you think her friends would say in their post that her BMI is 27? If they knew that for sure then why would they think she was too thin? Clearly they don't believe that is the case which means that either OP hasn't told them or they don't believe the OP for some reason that hasn't been disclosed. I'm not going to jump in as a total stranger who knows none of them and decide who is correct.

    I offered what I thought was an unbiased approach. Of course the OP doesn't have to do what I say so not sure what the big deal is. Its like people are getting upset that I, a random stranger, is not willing to take a side here. Why do people care if I don't take a side. I'm not saying one side is right and one is wrong at all so what is the problem exactly? Is it somehow offensive that I am not disagreeing with the OPs friends who I don't kow and who aren't here to defend themselves or say why they did it in the first place?

    Spinelessness? Why does not deciding who is right and who is wrong amongst complete strangers I don't know equate to spinelessness? I thought that was more like not interjecting an opinion when I lacked complete information so rather just suggesting something that is neutral and generally a good idea to do anyways.

    Just not sure what you want me to say. Nothing I suggested is actually bad and OP doesn't have to pay attention to it anyways if they choose not to. Its like you want me to say that her friends that I don't know are completely wrong even though I have no way of actually knowing that other than the typed opinion of a total stranger on a website. Uh...no, I'm not doing that. I also won't assume the OP is incorrect and that the friends are correct, I won't assume that either...I'm remaining neutral. Apparently not leaping to conclucsions due to incomplete information and only hearing from one side is now "spinelessness".

    I said what I thought I'm quite happy to stop talking now, at this point all I'm doing is responding to people asking me to explain myself for some reason.

    Women are catty, especially to their own friends and family. It sucks that they are taking their frustrations out on you, but I assure you, the situation the OP is dealing with is common.

    Fair enough jrulo16. I honestly do think 99 times out of 100 it is the people making comments about others weight that are being inappropriate, just didn't want to go there. Perhaps the better thing would have been to just not say anything.
  • tomteboda
    tomteboda Posts: 2,171 Member
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    Hey folks, could we quit making this another "Let's beat up on Aaron because he speaks differently" thread? The OP got a lot of input. Now its in her hands.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    edited November 2016
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    tomteboda wrote: »
    Hey folks, could we quit making this another "Let's beat up on Aaron because he speaks differently" thread? The OP got a lot of input. Now its in her hands.

    I'm not trying to beat anybody up. I'm trying to understand the thought process. I have no idea what you are talking about as far as "another" thread. I don't remember ever directly interacting with him before today.
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    edited November 2016
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    jemhh wrote: »
    Aaron_K123 wrote: »
    jemhh wrote: »
    Aaron_K123 wrote: »
    The OP is asking for advice on what to tell people when they say she is too thin. That's not asking for validation. It's asking how to shut down people who are misspeaking, both in that they are wrong and in that they are sticking their noses where they do not belong.

    Except that ISNT always the wrong thing to do as @tomteboda gave as a personal example and you are ASSUMING that the OPs friends are misspeaking based only what the OP told us with no other context or experience.

    OP is asking for us to side with them over their friends. If her friends were making the post instead they'd be asking us to side with them. I'm trying to be impartial, I don't want to "side" with anyone. Agreeing with the OP that their friends and family are wrong isn't "being positive" its choosing a side. I don't know the OP, I don't know the OPs friends...I'm not going to choose a side. I'm going to stay agnostic and just give advice that really is good advice for either side. OP won't be hurt by having a physical now and again. OPs friends/family might get some piece of mind if OP has a doctor confirm they aren't in any sort of health risk. Its win-win isn't it?

    If OP's friends were posting I would tell them that a woman with a BMI of 27 is not too thin. It is mind boggling to me that you think that it is impartiality to suggest that the OP should take time and money to go see a doctor to confirm that being 16 lbs above the healthy weight range for her height is not too thin and that she then should repeat that to her friends. To me that goes beyond impartiality to illogical and completely spineless, especially considering how prevalent "you're too thin" comments are, as evidenced by multiple comments in this thread. Your advice to all of the people who have posted that they were told that they are getting too thin is that they should go get physicals and report the results to their friends?

    So you think her friends would say in their post that her BMI is 27? If they knew that for sure then why would they think she was too thin? Clearly they don't believe that is the case which means that either OP hasn't told them or they don't believe the OP for some reason that hasn't been disclosed. I'm not going to jump in as a total stranger who knows none of them and decide who is correct.

    I offered what I thought was an unbiased approach. Of course the OP doesn't have to do what I say so not sure what the big deal is. Its like people are getting upset that I, a random stranger, is not willing to take a side here. Why do people care if I don't take a side. I'm not saying one side is right and one is wrong at all so what is the problem exactly? Is it somehow offensive that I am not disagreeing with the OPs friends who I don't kow and who aren't here to defend themselves or say why they did it in the first place?

    Spinelessness? Why does not deciding who is right and who is wrong amongst complete strangers I don't know equate to spinelessness? I thought that was more like not interjecting an opinion when I lacked complete information so rather just suggesting something that is neutral and generally a good idea to do anyways.

    Just not sure what you want me to say. Nothing I suggested is actually bad and OP doesn't have to pay attention to it anyways if they choose not to. Its like you want me to say that her friends that I don't know are completely wrong even though I have no way of actually knowing that other than the typed opinion of a total stranger on a website. Uh...no, I'm not doing that. I also won't assume the OP is incorrect and that the friends are correct, I won't assume that either...I'm remaining neutral. Apparently not leaping to conclucsions due to incomplete information and only hearing from one side is now "spinelessness". If that aggrevates you feel free to ignore me.

    I said what I thought I'm quite happy to stop talking now, at this point all I'm doing is responding to people asking me to explain myself for some reason.

    This is the problem that I am having with your answer: If you are going to say that we can't tell, from OP's telling of it, if she is too thin, you are indirectly stating that she has misstated her height and weight. If you believed that 5'6" and 170 lbs were her true stats, there would be no way that you could say that she is too thin. From my recollection, you are somewhere between 5'10 and 6' and around 164 lbs. Or at least close enough to those stats to know that a woman of a similar weight who is 5-6"
    shorter is not too thin. But you will not come out and say that you think she is lying and I don't understand why. Maybe I haven't read enough of your posts and you always question whether the OPs are being truthful?

    I'm a scientist. I'm not saying that to be an authority or anything I'm saying that as a point of explanation for why I think like I think. People are biased and their testimony is unreliable, especially when it is about themselves or something that caused them emotional distress. Understand I'm not picking out this OP for that, I view that as true of everyone including myself. Yes, I don't take the word of strangers relating interactions they had with other people as objective fact. I don't take my own views or beliefs about myself or what I say as objective fact either, thats why we measure and test. Pointing that out does tend to make some people uncomfortable, I do encounter that on occassion. But I do this in an unbiased way, I'm not being judgemental. Understand there is a HUGE difference between saying that you believe someone is lying and saying you have no way of determining if someone is accurately representing the situation because you are hearing things from one side only. So no I don't believe the OP is lying, I believe the OP is giving a biased account of something that occured between her and other people from her perspective...because she is a human.

    I come at this sort of thing like a judge would. I try to be unbiased and disinterested. If there is some he-said she-said situation I'm not going to assume the person telling the story from their perspective is somehow the objective truth of the matter. Interactions between people are pretty darn subjective and I'm guessing that the other party in this interaction might describe what happened VERY differently and we just don't know because they aren't here to defend themselves. I feel very uncomfortable judging others when they can't give their side of the story so I tend to not do that. All I did was offer a possible course of action which would be a decent thing to do regardless of which of the parties had a point. What you refered to as "being spineless".

    That doesn't mean I declare the person who is telling the story a liar, I'm just saying unless I can hear all sides from all parties I'm not going to just assume the one person who happens to tell their side that I just happen to hear is the objective version....mainly because there is no such thing as the objective version when it comes to interactions between people.

    And yeah, I treat anyone and everyone in that way. If you come to me and tell me about how rude your mother was to you and your mother isn't around to explain herself then I'd feel pretty uncomfortable passing judgement there. I'll give sympathy for feeling frustrated or angry with another person but I'm not going to declare one person "right" and one person "wrong" on the basis of testimony completely from one side. If that alone infuriates you well...all I can say is I don't do it out of some sort of spite or belief that you are wrong or "lying" its just that people are inheriently biased.

    So if this is enough to appease you on this matter I will say that I have sympathy for anyone who is made to feel uncomfortable by others who bring up their weight as being concerning for any reason. That said I don't agree that no matter what the situation is that person who brought up the weight must inheriently have been wrong to do so, they might have a very good reason that we just haven't heard about because they aren't here to say what it is.
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    edited November 2016
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    jemhh wrote: »
    tomteboda wrote: »
    Hey folks, could we quit making this another "Let's beat up on Aaron because he speaks differently" thread? The OP got a lot of input. Now its in her hands.

    I have no idea what you are talking about as far as "another" thread.

    Its because I'm a bit blunt and have an uncommon perspective that some find it aggrevating :) Not everyone but some do seem to take me not automatically trusting their version of things as a personal insult.

    Just because its hard to read feelings in text just so you know you aren't actually irritating me or making me mad or anything. That said I do feel like we are sort of diverting the point of the thread to have a side-argument over how my brain works for some reason.

    OP read what I said, didn't like it...moved on. I'm not going to insist or harp on it so I'm ready to move on too.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    Aaron_K123 wrote: »
    jemhh wrote: »
    tomteboda wrote: »
    Hey folks, could we quit making this another "Let's beat up on Aaron because he speaks differently" thread? The OP got a lot of input. Now its in her hands.

    I have no idea what you are talking about as far as "another" thread.

    Its because I'm a bit blunt and have an uncommon perspective that some find it aggrevating :) Not everyone but some do seem to take me not automatically trusting their version of things as a personal insult.

    Just because its hard to read feelings in text just so you know you aren't actually irritating me or making me mad or anything. That said I do feel like we are sort of diverting the point of the thread to have a side-argument over how my brain works for some reason.

    OP read what I said, didn't like it...moved on. I'm not going to insist or harp on it so I'm ready to move on too.

    I didn't get the impression that you were irritated. Thank you for your explanation. I do understand where you are coming from. I just think very differently. If I believe that somebody is being untruthful, I will either say so or close the thread without comment. Otherwise, I answer based on the info they provide. My thought is if they are lying and I don't realize it, they deserve bad advice for wasting people's time.

    Anyway, moving on :)
  • smantha32
    smantha32 Posts: 6,990 Member
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    everher wrote: »
    It doesn't bother me honestly. It comes from a place of concern. I've remarked to my sister before about how thin she was getting.

    I think it's the before and after difference that gets to people. If they met you at your CW they'd never think you were "getting too thin" but the before and after difference usually shocks people.

    With a sister it's one thing. You can be nosy with family and they with you. When coworkers you don't even hang out with and strangers start throwing their two cents in, they need to shut it.
  • Makeitso39
    Makeitso39 Posts: 51 Member
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    Could it be that these people have a distorted view of you? They are so used to you as a heavier person, that now you are lighter, you somehow look 'wrong' (for want of a better word).

    From personal experience, a colleague of mine lost tons of weight, it took ages for me to get used to the new version of them. That said, that was my problem and aside from congratulating them on their hard work, I kept my comments to myself.


    When I've get the too thin remark (5'6 and 140 so normal), I just say thanks!
  • ladyreva78
    ladyreva78 Posts: 4,080 Member
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    I've been getting a lot of those lately (which is ridiculous considering I'm barely out of the obese category...). Now that the weight loss is showing (radically showing even as I lose nearly all excess fat in my face first) more and more people feel that they have the right to comment on my weight loss and tell me how to proceed from here on. There seems to be something about me that just invites comments, and I haven't been able to figure out what it is yet. Some people have learned to keep their opinion to themselves, others have yet to learn.

    My usual answer depends on who is talking and how generous I'm feeling:

    In a good mood:
    "I've talked it over with my doctor and she approves of my plan. She'll keep an eye on things during our yearly check up."

    Annoyed but willing to talk:
    "I'm the one who has to live with my body and the consequences of having been morbidly obese. We'll talk again once you've been in that situation and you're having to deal with the creeping health problems."

    Beyond annoyed, I might scratch off your face if you say anything again:
    "What business of yours is my weight?"

    Said to an aunt:
    "Why is it okay for cousin X to have lost 100kg after a stomach bypass but it's not okay for me to want to lose 50kg by carefully watching my intake and output?"
  • misskarne
    misskarne Posts: 1,767 Member
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    I think the next time this happens to me I'm going to thank them for their concern, chat about it for a bit, and then say something like, "So, any plans to do anything about your weight?"

    I would only reply with this if I wanted to get punched in the nose.
  • dragon_girl26
    dragon_girl26 Posts: 2,187 Member
    edited February 2017
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    I think the next time this happens to me I'm going to thank them for their concern, chat about it for a bit, and then say something like, "So, any plans to do anything about your weight?"

    But you have a valid point. Why is it okay for them to comment about your weight, but you can't comment on theirs? I mean, they can say you're getting too thin, but you can't turn around and tell them they're getting too fat.
    Ugh..
  • Timshel_
    Timshel_ Posts: 22,841 Member
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    Berkgal33 wrote: »
    Any advice on how to deal and what to say to people would be welcome.

    People don't know what a healthy weight looks like. Take the opportunity to educated them and let them know the additional physical and mental benefits of a healthy BMI. Don't talk down, but try to encourage.