Gaging Weight Loss Reactions...

Kaye8395BTS

Hello!

I have lost 70 lbs since January 2010 and I am VERY PROUD :-D
So I am wondering if anyone else has had the same experience I am right now... what are people's reactions to seeing you if you have not seen them since before the weight loss?

This weekend I saw many people I had not seen since December 2009, when I was 70 lbs heavier. Now, I must preface this by saying I DO NOT expect a grand old reaction from people, but acknowledgement is usually nice, right? The reactions I got from people this weekend was a broad range, either A. they wouldn't say anything or just not notice? B. I had more than enough people actually RE-INTRODUCE themselves to me, they had no idea who I was! or C. Rave about how much as changed and what a great job you've done (which is nice ;-)

OK, I am just curious if other people have had this experience or what I have to look forward to since I am not yet done and still have 30-50 lbs to go!

marymooster

I have lost 96 pounds since April this year. Have had same range. Though here in Ireland people are reluctant to commnent on appearance or weight even if it is good in case you think they thought you looked bad before... Trust me crazy.
I think the most important thing to remember about this is that their reaction is their reaction. It is based on their experiences fears and ideas. In all probablility has nothing to do with you yourself. Congratulations

TCASMEY

Interesting. I h.ve had the same reactions and I have not lost nearly the weight that you have. I have heard more compliments second hand...eg from my husband who will tell him that I am looking like I have lost weight. Or other relatives talk and then one says something to me. Sometimes I think people are afraid to compliment you to your face, but I have no idea why.

Be proud of what you have done. It is nice to hear the compliments, but I am doing this for me and my health not to get praise from other people. I think that part of me that wants to get praise and hear compliments helped me become overweight to begin with. I could never live up to other expectations so I might as well not even try. Now I don't care and just want me to be happy and healthy.

Keep up the great work!

00trayn

I've lost almost 60 lbs myself and I'm only about 20 lbs from where I want to end up. The reactions I get are almost always very positive. People are excited when they see me, ask how I've done it, etc. When I tell them it's just eating less and working out every day, they're a little bummed it's not a magic pill and it wasn't easy. But I'm not gonna paint a rosy picture that the weight just magically melted off. The only negative reactions I get are people who are like "don't get too thin", "your goal seems a little low" or "you're not starving yourself, right?" Those bother me a bit, but I just explain that my goal is towards the top of a recommend weigh for my height (I want to end up in the 130s and I'm only 5'3") and I've talked to my doctor who recommended that range for me given my built, past history of being overweight, and my age.

So in short, enjoy the complements, don't let people who are skeptical or negative get you down, and keep it up!

lotusfromthemud

Yep, it runs the gamut. I had my own mother not recognize me at the airport and then I had people just not say anything.

My favorite was always "Oh my god, you look great" (pause) "oh my god, you're not sick, are you?" I would get that alot.

my least favorite was "don't lose anymore!" and (from my mother) "don't turn anorexic!".

MacMadame

Yes, I've definitely had people ask me if I was sick. I find this reaction strange as I look very healthy right now.

I also had some really skinny-minny chick at work say "don't lose too much". I find that to be a strange reaction whereas I can kind of understand the "you aren't sick, are you?" thing.

khk2010

And you should be very proud! Wow, 70 pounds is fantastic!

I have had very mixed reactions from people since my weight loss of 42 pounds to date (still more to go). From not noticing or saying anything to being complimentary.

This Wednesday I will be seeing family for the first time since July. I had lost 20 pounds when I saw them last and no one noticed or say anything. I am wondering if they will notice the weight loss this time. I am prepared for a "no comment" scenario.

In the end I will not let it get to me or take it personally. Everyone has their own filter.

Shash27

I haven't lost as much as you (CONGRATS by the way!!!)

But I've noticed a range in reactions as well :-) I've lost 25-30 lbs since January..10ish of which I've lost in 2 months when I got serious and started MFP.

Some people don't say anything.

But some people say "You look amazing!" or "You look so great!!!". Although it's mostly my friends who I see all the time..they know how hard I've been working but they're all honest folks and swear there's a difference :-)

My boss said to me the other day when I came into her office to ask her a question "Wow! You're getting so skinny!"..but she sees me at the gym regularly ha ha

I haven't see my boyfriend's family since July..and I've lost quite a bit since then. I'm curious to see his parents reactions when we see them later this month.

The last time we saw his sister was in August before she moved to Texas. We'll see them for New Years eve when I hope to have hit my goal weight..so we'll see what she notices too ;-)

It's nice to have hard work acknowledged :-)

6Janelle13

remember these folks aren't from your close circle or friends and they may not know about your attempts to lose weight nor know how you will take a compliment. trust me if some one were to say you look amazing you'd be thrilled but to negative people they may hear that they didn't look great before. because weight issues are so personal people commenting on them may feel like they are over stepping boundries. that's what i tell myself when folks don't notice. also if folks haven't seen you in awhile they may have forgotten your proportions from other times you've visited. just food for thought

weaklink109

I have lost almost 75 lbs., and had not seen any of my out of town relatives, except one aunt, who saw me about 35 lbs. down. Two weeks ago I attended a wedding, and a few days before it took place, I learned this same aunt, despite my request to not publicize my weight loss to other family members, had been telling everyone who wasn't nailed down how much I had lost. She is over 80, so I forgive her bad memory,

As a result of her "publicity campaign." I spent the evening accepting compliments and answering questions about what I had done. Pretty much everyone had something to say, but since they had been made aware of my loss, they were expecting me to look different, so not sure what that proves. Anyway, I was much happier being at the wedding and having people tell me I looked good, than I would have been had I attended weighing what I did in April of last year when I started MFP!!

mapnerd2005

Congrats on your weight loss.

I was in the same situation last week, and I received a lot of compliments on my hair.

The best part about the conference I attended, though: My coworkers finally noticed and complimented me on my weight loss. It's like being in a different location helped them "see" something was different...or maybe the "socializing" (read: alcohol) helped them to express what they had noticed.

This morning I got a fly-by compliment from another coworker, too. It made my morning.

I think a lot of people are afraid of offending you by implying that you didn't look great before, and sometimes people can't pinpoint what's different about you. Like I said, I get a lot of compliments on my hair, and it hasn't changed.

Keep up the good work and congrats again. I know you're working hard.

june_warner

I had the same reaction. Most people didn't notice that I had lost weight until it was very noticable at about 70#'s lost. Now I have people walk right by me (that I have known for years) and I have had to introduce myself to them. You never get use to it. I take it as a compliment. For the people who don't say anything, I wouldn't worry about it. Those people are few and far between. The positive comments far out weigh the bad ones.

sixpackgoal

Hello!

I have lost 70 lbs since January 2010 and I am VERY PROUD :-D
So I am wondering if anyone else has had the same experience I am right now... what are people's reactions to seeing you if you have not seen them since before the weight loss?

This weekend I saw many people I had not seen since December 2009, when I was 70 lbs heavier. Now, I must preface this by saying I DO NOT expect a grand old reaction from people, but acknowledgement is usually nice, right? The reactions I got from people this weekend was a broad range, either A. they wouldn't say anything or just not notice? B. I had more than enough people actually RE-INTRODUCE themselves to me, they had no idea who I was! or C. Rave about how much as changed and what a great job you've done (which is nice ;-)

OK, I am just curious if other people have had this experience or what I have to look forward to since I am not yet done and still have 30-50 lbs to go!

It is fun to get reactions. I went from 268lbs to 175-180lbs by running and dieting.
A lot of people ask what happened to the old fat me. I reply I killed him through hard work. I have completed a half marathon. My favorite summer workout is a very hilly seven mile run around a nearby lake. Currently just started round one of P90X.

rosebarnalice

When I lost 72 lbs a few years ago, my daily contacts were more likely to comment than my more occasional contacts. The daily contacts were positive and encouraging, but I noticed many of my more occasional contacts that hadn't seen me in 30 or 40 or 50 lbs would stare and take doubletakes, but not say anything. And I had several of those folks ask me with sincere concern if I was OK. Weight loss is associated with some pretty scary diseases--including chemo and radiation therapy for cancer. So that suggests to me that people aren't sure whether they're supposed to notice or not.

For the record, I can also report things going the other direction. That is, as I slowly gained back 46 of those lbs over the course of 8 months, NOBODY has said one word. Not my daily contacts, not my occasional contacts. I assume that's because they don't want to hurt my feelings by saying something like "you looked so good--what the hell happened?!".

Sarahbear83

Unless they know for sure you've been trying hard to lose weight, I wouldn't worry about them not commenting. You never know when someone lost weight because of illness, a death in the family, depression, drugs, an eating disorder or something else that isn't a good way to lose it and commenting on it would be painful/rude. Unless they bring it up, I usually just let it be.

ralevin

From previous weight loss successes (which, unfortunately weren't permanent - this time it will be!), I found this:
People who are health conscientious and/or people who are or have once struggeld with their weight are likely to compliment you (assuming they notice).
People who are not in those categories aren't being mean or dismissive, they worry that a compliment of "wow! You look like you've lost a lot of weight! You look great!" is the exact same as saying "You used to be really fat. You've changed."
Just what I've noticed. :-)

life1979_24

im thinking about doing the grand revile at christmas time just wearing bigger and baggier clothing to hide till then because i do not want to here what my real life ppl think. i am doing this for me not them or the attention.

EpiGaiaRepens

I lost about thirty pounds in the first half of last year and kept if off for the second half. I only have about 5 lbs to my goal, 15 to my "supermodel" goal... anywyas... What i find weird is that some people who have seen me in the last 6 months started saying to me in December "Wow, you look great! Have you lost weight?" And I'm usually like "yeah, almost a year ago. You've seen me since then!" So I wonder if the longer I maintain the goal weight, the more things adjust to it...like was my skin loose? Or was I dressing frumpy in my clothes that were too big? I kind don't understand why that started happening in December when I've essentially weighed the same since June. What's worse is folks would say it in front of my new boyfriend...which is just kind embarassing.

Also, people who see me every day don't really notice. My coworkers always say "REALLY?" when I tell them I lost 30 lbs. They see me every day and didn't notice the changes that happened slowly over time. Also, I rocked it at any size so they probably just saw me one and said "she's classy" and that one thing has never changed hehehe!