Have you told anyone that you were on a diet?

dannytrees1

Did you just start your diet by yourself?
I did… and after losing 16 lbs I noticed friends looking at me differently.
What’s your story ?

ImmortalHC

In the past when I've told people, I've felt guilty if I don't stick to it and it puts more pressure on! So for me, I prefer to work at it quietly, like you, and wait for the results to do the talking! I know others who swear by shouting it from the rooftops though, as they say it helps to hold them accountable! I guess it's horses for courses and whatever works for you on your own personal journey.
About ten years ago I lost a few stone quite quickly and loved seeing the look on people's faces if they hadn't seen me for a while - it made me feel so proud of my achievement. On that journey again now, though working more slowly this time round due to age and having had a baby. Getting there though and cannot wait to feel proud of myself in my wedding dress next year

jenbroussard71

My immediate family knows. At work I've not said that I'm on a diet, but they can tell, I have been politely refusing the cookies and safety meeting donuts or boudin. A couple of coworkers noticed the changes and asked. I did mention to my supervisor that I was going to work with a trainer 2x a week during my lunch and would be out of the office for a longer period. For the most part everyone is supportive. I am going to a wedding on the 7th, and I cannot wait to see some of my extended family to see if they notice.

SweetPeasMom55

This time I am keeping it to myself. I feel like I struggle to loose weight and now that my co-workers are doing ozempic. It's hard to see their quick results as I am struggling. So I am keeping my journey to myself.

AnnPT77

Mostly, I didn't tell people. There were a very, very small number of friends (like 2 or 3) who were on a similar wavelength, but other than chatting with them about it sometimes, I didn't bring it up.

Reason: Almost always, talking about it led to - apologies for my frankness - tolerating other people's ideas that I thought were pretty silly, in an effort to be nice. Ugh.

The classic case was when I was talking to a friend in a group setting. We'd both been losing weight successfully through calorie counting. Another woman in the group overheard and said that there wasn't any way to lose weight at our age, unless we went low carb. She was quite insistent about it. She said she'd "read all the books over the Winter, and they all said we had to go low carb". She hadn't gone low carb (or low calorie), hadn't lost weight. What had I done over the Winter? I hadn't gone low carb either, but had calorie counted and clearly, visibly lost tens of pounds (like 30-40 at that point). She wasn't buying it.

Another friend announced at a group restaurant meal that I wasn't eating bread anymore (and she wasn't willing to do that). WTHeck? I ordered the veggie burger at that place without a bun repeatedly, because their buns totally weren't worth the calories, just boring buns. I was still eating good bread.

I don't need pointless conflicts like that in my life, frankly. So I mostly didn't talk about it, just did what I needed to do. In retrospect, I think it was a good plan.

Once I was down a noticeable bit, I got some nice comments from other people. If they asked what I'd done, I'd mostly just say "eat less", unless they wanted details. Even some of them argued with me, insisted it was because of exercise I did (that I'd done for a dozen years while staying fat!).

Mostly, talking about it is annoying, unhelpful to me or others, totally profitless.

Thankfully, now that I've been in maintenance for around 8 years, everyone is used to me at this size, and it's not a topic of conversation.

Adventurista

Nope, mostly for similar reasons other people mentioned ==> and that is why i enjoy a place like this; where we can talk about related issues.

KarinSanden

I don't tell others that I'm on a diet because I want my diet to have room for a normal life for the rest of my life. So I try to form my diet so that I can handle all situations in normal life.

I guess that by definition is not a diet then? Just keeping track of what I choose to eat and try to do healthy options?

sapap

I haven't mentioned it to anybody mostly because I don't need to lose a little over 10lbs. People are not very supportive when it's a smaller amount like that. I'm menopausal now so I'm trying to be proactive. I usually just say I'm trying to get my cholesterol down. Which is totally true. lol

dannytrees1

Thanks for your interesting stories.
I’m in a position, that I don’t see my friends for sometimes weeks
They know that I have theses fancy smoothies… that part I tell
But I don’t say I’m on a diet.
I’m not super overweight but I have or did have a big belly…. Not so much anymore… lost 2”” on my belly and 2 notches on my belt
In 2 months… I want to have a flat belly lol… getting there

Overheadfan

I've not mentioned I'm on a " diet". I've been a healthy eater for the last few decades so people are used to seeing me eat salad, fish, etc. I obviously ate waaaay too much of it though. I've definitely benefitted from implementing portion control. I've lost 6 kgs ( I need to lose another 15). No one has commented on my weightloss, I'd be surprised if anyone noticed because it hasn't been much. ( Yet. I'm still working
towards my goal) And I tend to wear flowy clothes because of the warm to hot climate .
And I'm 61 , so I'm VERY focused on good health and wellbeing for my senior years.

KarinSanden

Another think I can recommend is to say something like "I can't see that beneficial" or "I don't like it" if you remove things like mayonnaise or sauce or whipped cream from a normal food to get the kcal down.

AmunahSki

My work colleague made a similar decision about the same time as I did (November 2023): she is using a personal trainer, who has her on a lifting program and bulk/cut cycles; I calorie counted to a deficit and took up running (in addition to my normal activities). I reached my goal weight back in May, she’s on her last cut now; she’s in her early 30’s, I’m 52.

We’re treating it like a science project, not a competition - both looking forward to comparing our results over the long term.