The People Who Notice What You Eat

msmonsi
msmonsi Posts: 13 Member
in Motivation and Support
Does anyone find it annoying when people who are not overweight take notice of what you ate even if it is not intended to be rude? Gets under my skin a little bit and wondering if I just need to brush it off... :smile:
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Replies

  • 4legsRbetterthan2
    4legsRbetterthan2 Posts: 19,590 MFP Moderator
    it goes both ways, the skinny one looks at the not skinny one and thinks "man I cant believe they ate that much" and the not skinny one looks at the skinny one and thinks "man I cant believe thats all they ate, they need a cookie"

    maybe the not skinny one just ran 6 miles
    maybe the skinny one ate a huge breakfast

    really its no bodies business either way unless it is a mentor/mentee type situation, bugger off people
  • kgeyser
    kgeyser Posts: 22,505 Member
    The only time I notice what other people eat is when they have something I want.
  • __freckles__
    __freckles__ Posts: 1,238 Member
    I LOOOOOVE all food. So I'm always asking people what they're having for lunch just because I like to talk about food. I ask skinny people, overweight people, whatever. Never meant to be rude.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I'm pretty much oblivious to the goings on around me...I don't know if anyone is noticing what I'm eating or not and I don't really notice what anyone else is eating unless it smells bad...or really good.
  • SomeNights246
    SomeNights246 Posts: 807 Member
    it goes both ways, the skinny one looks at the not skinny one and thinks "man I cant believe they ate that much" and the not skinny one looks at the skinny one and thinks "man I cant believe thats all they ate, they need a cookie"

    maybe the not skinny one just ran 6 miles
    maybe the skinny one ate a huge breakfast

    really its no bodies business either way unless it is a mentor/mentee type situation, bugger off people

    Exactly.

    Heaven forbid I order a salad. I have actually had waitresses ask me - both when I was overweight and now - if that was 'really' all I wanted. Emphasis on the really in many cases.
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
    The only time I notice what other people eat is when they have something I want.
    +1.

    and have you ever heard of the superstition that if someone drops thier food while eating it, it means someone close by wanted it?

    I thought this was a silly game my grandmother made up until a couple days ago when hubs dropped food and it WAS something I wanted and he goes, "see, b/c you wanted it", and I snortlaughed out some wine I was drinking. He shocked me that day. Just when you think you know someone and you learn a little more. Life never gets old.
  • Veil5577
    Veil5577 Posts: 868 Member
    This is why I hate eating in public...
  • happysherri
    happysherri Posts: 1,360 Member
    When I'm in a long line at the grocery store and get bored, I scout out other peoples groceries. Most the time I'm thinking mmmm... that Captain Crunch cereal looks good, and that ice cream, and those chips, and that pizza, etc.....
    lol
  • Sugarbeat
    Sugarbeat Posts: 824 Member
    Its not so much that they're overweight or that they notice what I'm eating. Its the comments like "ooohh, someone has the munchies" and the eagle-eye when you get ONE lousy stinking piece of chocolate from the office candy bowl. Just let me eat in peace. I'll log it -promise.
  • SconnieCat
    SconnieCat Posts: 770 Member
    Meh. I try not to care too much what other people are doing or if someone is staring at me. I think the minute I get into that mindset I'm going to drive myself crazy.

    Unless I'm going HAM on a stick of butter, if someone wants to eyeball the food I'm eating or judge me for eating, that's all on them..not me.

    The only time I was ever annoyed was when I was in college. I was out to eat with my family and hungover as all get out (nothing like a nice 6:00pm hangover... thanks, college).

    I ordered a plate of spaghetti and a baked potato. The server, whom we knew and was a good family friend, looked at me and said, "But... 2 starches?"

    I think he was just giving me crap, but it was annoying.

    TL:DR - Don't let it get to you. Chances are people watching you eat is in your head and no one actually cares what you're shoving in your face. :)
  • KaelaLee88
    KaelaLee88 Posts: 229 Member
    Oh heck yes!

    Years ago when I was very unwell following a long visit to Hospital, my Husband and I were invited to a Carvery by my Mum for some dinner.

    I had gained a LOT of weight from aggressive steroid treatment and an inability to move for 3 months or stay awake any longer than 6 hours together. To say I was feeling self-conscious would be an understatement!

    I got my dinner and helped myself to a serving of gravy (which was made very watery and loose - making it look like my dinner was swimming in gravy) and this girl would not stop staring at me.

    She watched me struggle to the serving area (my knees, ankles and hips were still quite seized at the time due to the illness), kept talking to her dinner partner quite openly about me, disgust all over her face and then as I walked back to the table, she just open-mouthed stared and looked me up and down in that you-completely-disgust-me look.

    I laughed in her face and said loudly to my family "What in the heck is wrong with this girl? Why does she keep staring at me like that? Hasn't she ever seen an obese woman with a plate of gravy before?!" before laughing loudly and turning round to look at her.

    It made me feel so terrible but she made me so cross and sad, it still makes me feel sad now :(

    Kaela x
  • TheVirgoddess
    TheVirgoddess Posts: 4,535 Member
    I've never noticed someone watching me while I eat. I'm usually too involved in enjoying myself. And if someone did watch me, I'd assume it's because I eat delicious food - not because they are judging me.
  • husseycd
    husseycd Posts: 814 Member
    I'm always shocked when people take notice of my eating habits, or make weird comments about them. Yes, I eat a lot, and frequently. Yes, I cook at work. Yes, I'm lean. No, I do not want a doughnut.

    So, it does go both ways.
  • AsaThorsWoman
    AsaThorsWoman Posts: 2,303 Member
    I've always considered it a regional phenomenon.

    It seems like regionally (the South) only people in my city are health conscious and have ways of eating, the areas surrounding us seem to think we're nuts with our way of eating labels and standards.

    I think they're nuts for other reasons I won't mention for fear of being banned, so we're even.
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  • AsaThorsWoman
    AsaThorsWoman Posts: 2,303 Member
    When I'm in a long line at the grocery store and get bored, I scout out other peoples groceries. Most the time I'm thinking mmmm... that Captain Crunch cereal looks good, and that ice cream, and those chips, and that pizza, etc.....
    lol

    Oh me too!

    And sometimes I ask "Is that good? I've never tried it!"

    Especially if it's a place where I'm not familiar with all the items and has a long line AKA Sam's Club.
  • AsaThorsWoman
    AsaThorsWoman Posts: 2,303 Member
    I also get food envy.

    No matter what I order, I want what the person across from me is eating.

    Can't help it.

    Grass is always greener on the other side.
  • emmaalyssaa
    emmaalyssaa Posts: 35 Member
    One time I was making a BIG *kitten* healthy salad. I had a huge bed of greens. I cut up a 4-6oz grilled turkey burger I made at home in pieces to throw on my salad. I put cucumbers, tomatoes, cabbage, cilantro, salsa, and some avocado. ALL one of my co-workers could mention was how big my salad was. It was annoying. I'm a big person so I need more food obviously and it wasn't even super calorie densed food seeing how it was mostly veggies. It made me feel uncomfortable and kind of bad about myself for a while..

    Just try to ignore it as much as possible.
  • Mischievous_Rascal
    Mischievous_Rascal Posts: 1,791 Member
    I once had a girl at work say to me "Do you really keep all that down?" (I eat massive lunches. :happy: )

    To me, it sounded like she was implying I had an ED. I told her I lifted weights like a boy and if she started to as well she could get rid of her little, tasteless, microwave diet lunches and eat real food, too.
  • APLAWING
    APLAWING Posts: 36
    Yes. And when I order my "cheat meal" which is usually hot wings and pizza or something greasy and then order a diet coke. I'm already being bad enough, why drink more calories right???! Even my husband rolls his eyes at me about this one haha.
  • SingRunTing
    SingRunTing Posts: 2,604 Member
    I always feel like people are judging what I eat. It's something that I'm working on because I know that people don't really care (or at least that's what I'm telling myself).
  • amandzor
    amandzor Posts: 386 Member
    I notice what people are putting on the belt at like....grocery stores.

    It's mostly garbage, and then I feel better about my own selections, which are overwhelmingly fruits and veg.

    One guy had an entire cart full of microwave meals and a few cases of soda. I had a moment of sads for him.

    Though I wonder, sometimes, what the checker is thinking when they see a heavier chick (aka me) with 'good', healthy food.

    I'm sure it's not always a positive thing, but I'm not the type to dwell.

    Though one time I bought a book, a bottle of wine and a pack of batteries, all -UNRELATED- to one another. (The book was mine, the wine was for a wedding shower I was going to, and the batteries for my wireless mouse at work)

    I realized suddenly, that it looked like a date night for one, I met the cashiers eyes, and we both looked away awkwardly.
  • wolverine66
    wolverine66 Posts: 3,779 Member
    I'll go one further. I have a co-worker who was told by a physician that he needs to lose 20 lbs. At least once a week, he will comment on the large amount of food that I eat at lunch. It is my largest meal of the day, admittedly, but he will comment on the "tower" of food I get. Now I have lost almost 50 lbs. I have been at this for years finding a way to modify my lifestyle so it is sustainable for the rest of my life. You would think instead of making fun of what I eat, he might want to ask a little bit since he has been instructed to drop weight.

    THEN he will piss an moan that he's not losing weight when he doesn't do a speck of exercise, and when he tries to "diet" he cuts everything out only to "fall off" his diet and revert back to his old eating habits. THEN he will look at me and shake his head saying "I don't know how you do it" like I am using magic and it's something he cannot do.

    The man just irritates me all over the place.
  • emmaalyssaa
    emmaalyssaa Posts: 35 Member
    I once had a girl at work say to me "Do you really keep all that down?" (I eat massive lunches. :happy: )

    To me, it sounded like she was implying I had an ED. I told her I lifted weights like a boy and if she started to as well she could get rid of her little, tasteless, microwave diet lunches and eat real food, too.

    That's horrible, especially since having an ED is such a big subject. But hey - go you! Congrats on the 100lb loss!
  • mank32
    mank32 Posts: 1,323 Member
    i think my dinnermates last weekend were trying not to look as i demolished an entire order of yu shan beef. before they had gotten through half of theirs.
  • KameHameHaaa
    KameHameHaaa Posts: 244 Member
    Last time I noticed someone staring at me in a restaurant I made sure to lock eye contact with him, then stuck my finger up my nose. Kinda gross but idgaf. He apparently wanted something to look at so I made it more interesting. Whenever I notice someone staring I make eye contact and keep it. Typically they either look away or we both end up laughing. As for comments, if they're being intentionally rude I say mind your business. If its just a conversation piece I respond accordingly.
  • Iwishyouwell
    Iwishyouwell Posts: 1,888 Member
    I typically don't notice what other people eat.

    But when I was obese I was very, very self conscious about any situation where food was available for multiple servings. Like buffets, cookouts, etc. I didn't feel uncomfortable getting the initial plate, but if I wanted seconds (or more) on anything I became super, duper self conscious. I don't know if anyone ever really noticed, but I felt like they did in my mind. It's terrible, to be so mindful of what other people think, or potentially even might think, about what you eat.

    Interestingly enough, the only time I recall anybody making a comment about my eating was after I'd lost weight and wasn't fat anymore.
  • janatarnhem
    janatarnhem Posts: 669 Member
    I

    Though one time I bought a book, a bottle of wine and a pack of batteries, all -UNRELATED- to one another. (The book was mine, the wine was for a wedding shower I was going to, and the batteries for my wireless mouse at work)

    I realized suddenly, that it looked like a date night for one, I met the cashiers eyes, and we both looked away awkwardly.

    LOL! Made me titter! Ta! :laugh:
  • rowlandsw
    rowlandsw Posts: 1,166 Member
    This thread reminds me of something i've noticed over the last 25 years: ever notice that people no longer mind their own business? Used to be you wouldn't get smart comments from folks about what you were eating and such but now they all think it's their business. Actually it's that way about all sorts of personal choices, it's like the want to rule over you.
  • melimomTARDIS
    melimomTARDIS Posts: 1,941 Member
    My best friend and I used to be pig out partners in crime. Cooking up big dinners and wolfing them down, eating out at restaurants and getting a "naughty" meal....

    It kinda sounds dumb now, but it was really fun and bonding. Now when we hang out I eat small portions, and don't order food that I don't feel is worth it calorically.

    So yeah, she notices my food now. But whatever, I am choosing something different for myself now, and since I'm nearly 50 lbs down, and at goal weight, I'm ok with that.

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