Does it discourage anyone else...

Have you bought new clothes? Wearing the same big clothes can cover up your wonderful achievement.

^^ this

I have lost almost 40 lbs, 16% of my body weight, down 4 pants sizes. But, nobody seems to notice. I know... I am doing this for me, not anyone else, but, a little positive reinforcement sure wouldn't hurt anything. I WILL keep going and reach ALL of my goals for ME! Sorry, just felt the need to vent to others that might understand.

My nutritionist told me that it takes 40 pounds of loss for close family to notice, 80 lbs of loss before friends notice and 80+ for acquaintances to notice...

when she told me that I thought she was crazy, but it seemed to hold true...my family started to notice at 40 pounds, my friends at 60-80 and my "rarely see them" co workers at plus 80 pounds...

four jean sizes seems like a lot but sometimes I think people just that wrapped up in what is happening in their lives.

I have lost weight thus far, not a significant amount, but enough to notice a difference in the way my clothing fits as well as how my body looks. The only person supplying feedback about noticing was my boyfriend and frankly, I feel he is obligated to say that for fear of *dagger eyes*. None of my friends or co-workers metnioned it and I felt the same; in a slump thinking "I must be kidding myself, I must still look exactly the same despite all my efforts! ".

Alas! This was not the case! I recently got together with two separate people at two separate times completely unrelated to my friends/co-workers that have/had no idea that I have been on My Fitness Pal or working out and BOTH commented "Wow! What have you been doing!? You look like you've lost weight!" - FINALLY! SUCCESS!! Then I thought about it; the people I see everyday wouldn't really notice it, even if they did, they know I'm trying to lose weight and probably assume that I KNOW that I've lost weight. Now the people who have no idea have a better vantage point! I say, don't be discouraged! Just know that YOU have done the work, lost the weight, and trust me, the compliments will come when you LEAST expect it! CONGRATULATIONS!

YES! When I was losing I dropped 2 sizes and not one word from co-workers. I mentioned it to my husband, who works for the same company, one day and he said "Really, people mention it to me all the time." Now that I've kept it off a few have mentioned it to me, but I still don't know why they mentioned it to him and not me.

It didn't slow me down because I really was doing it for me, but I gotta admit a "You look great" or "How much have you lost?" would have been nice.

I think sometimes people are afraid to say something, in case they're wrong. I had a meeting with one of my coworkers yesterday who I haven't seen in a while, and I thought she looked a bit slimmer, but I was afraid to ask, "Have you lost weight because you look really good?" for fear that if she'd infer that she must have looked bad before, which would be doubly hurtful if she hadn't lost any weight and it was just her clothing. Plus, most of the time when someone notices or mentions weight loss, it's because the person was carrying a few extra pounds to begin with. How many times have you looked at a slender person and said, "Gosh, have you lost weight? You look great!" Probably very few because you're less likely to notice it. A natural assumption tends to be that someone who is heavier is sensitive about their weight or appearance, so you should avoid bringing it up. Unless someone has announced that they are making lifestyle changes, I avoid talking about their weight or appearance. Kind of like pregnancy: if someone hasn't announced they're pregnant, I'm not going to congratulate them on it--what if they're not pregnant! And, there's unintentional, health related weight loss. What if you asked what someone was doing to lose weight and they said, "I've got cancer." "Oh, well you look fabulous, keep it up!" :laugh: But seriously, I just keep my mouth shut unless someone has made it clear what's going on. If they don't want to tell me, I would assume they don't want me to know or hear my opinion about it.

based on your ticker, you are half way there give or take right? people might be uncomfortable saying anything because they may think you look better but know you still have a couple pounds to lose in which case, if they said something, and you havent lost weight then they basically just called you fat because it happens to be the dress today or the lighting that makes you look thinner, does that make sense? especially for co-workers who in most offices, probably never REALLY look at you because they are more focused on the job, the project the task that they are talking about with you instead of being focused on you. that may not be the case in your office but i think it is in many offices where people arent un-friendly but they arent exactly buddies with their co-workers.

i lost 20 lbs in about 9-10 months and no comments, maintained that weight then two or more years later i lost 10 lbs in 3 or 4 months and i started getting comments about my weight loss all of a sudden and honestly, i didnt like it and was embarrassed by it, felt like they thought i was a fat *kitten* before, perhaps this is the type of thought that is going through co-workers minds.

regardless, congrats on your GREAT progress, and just wait until christmas time or some big family function when everyone will be like "damn! what happened to you!?!"

Just don't get discouraged I lost 30lbs 2 years ago and I was at about 28lbs when I was standing and talking to a co worker one day and I could tell she was looking me up and down and she said "have you lost weight?" FINALLY! Someone noticed, lol I said "Yes, 28 pounds" She said wow and said all of a sudden she noticed every part of my body looked smaller.

Not to sound like an idiot or anything..... But I'm to the point that I hate it when people say that they notice I've lost weight. Because it's normally my friends that are girls that are saying "Holy cow, you're too skinny..." in a "you're not too skinny, but you're skinnier than me, so I'm going to make it sound like a bad thing" kind of way. The worst one is my boyfriend's mother (who is pretty unhealthy, if I had to say so). She always gets an attitude when we visit when I won't eat what she makes for dinner (which is hot dogs, french fries, lasagna, lots of desserts normally). I'm never rude about it, I simply say I ate before I came and have a small plate of salad and whatever side dish there is, assuming it's not french fries, or the normal strawberry pie. She knows that I eat healthy, but she continues to take it personal, and like everyone else, give me side-handed comments on how much weight I've lost.

I'm extremely proud of what I've been able to accomplish, but it just makes me uncomfortable/pis*ed off when they say crap like that. It's even to the point that some of my friends won't even hang out with me anymore- and on the rare occasion that we do hang out, I can see it on their face when I come walking into where ever they are. I hate it when people can't just be happy for you. If they're truly your friends, they should be happy that you're trying to make yourself healthy.

So perhaps that's part of your problem- many people are jealous when they see someone improving themselves for the better and they aren't.

Just a theory- from experience.

I think it can be hard for people who see you every day to notice that you have lost weight since it's a gradual process. Those that see you less frequently will notice faster. Congrats on losing 40 pounds - that's amazing! Keep up the good work.