worried about potential compliments/attention

You need to gain confidence. You are you; it doesn't matter if you are fat or skinny. And quite frankly, those comments are meant to be hurtful. It's difficult to handle a situation like that, so I would say something along the lines of, "I appreciate your intentional compliment. But it still hurts my feelings when you say something derogatory, whether it has to be with me in the past or me now." I'm sure your "friends" will stumble over their own words. But their comments won't stop unless you say something about it.

I think it's very healthy to explore your feelings about this now. By doing so, you are giving yourself a chance to analyze your feelings about yourself first, without external influences rushing your emotions.

This is going to sound bizarre, but I learned it in therapy (abusive relationship, blah blah blah). Look at yourself in a full length mirror and state outloud 10 things that you like about yourself. For me, it was my eyes, my hair, and the fact that even at 60 pounds overweight I still had an hourglass figure. I also had to list internal things....ambitious, funny, etc. Do this when you are prepared to state 10 things you like about yourself. Stand in front of the mirror and state each item, one at a time, while looking at that item (or a symbol of it....like for humor, I watched myself smile and thought about a joke I told).

Once you have your list, do the mirror activity once or twice a day, even if you are feeling negative--even if you don't believe it (and that will happen). Repeat your list outloud and look at yourself. It becomes easier, and chances are you will start to think of more things to add on to the list (10 is a starting point, not an end ....).

After a week of this exercise, add (keep doing the mirror exercise!) this: Make a list on paper of what you are afraid of hearing from other people (in my case, it was things my ex had said or done that I was afraid of happening again). Fold your paper in half and put these negative "fear items" on the left-hand side. Then put the paper away. Look at it no more than once a day, and at that time you may add items if you need to. Once a day only, though. Leave it at work or in the car if you need to.

Now you've spent a week doing the mirror exercise, followed by a week of the mirror + your fear items. Now comes what I feel was the hardest part: On the right-hand side of your folded sheet of paper, write a positive thought that you will associate with the fear item. In my case, my positive thought to "he will hurt me" was "I am strong enough to leave." An example for you might be a fear item of someone saying you look like you've lost a lot of weight; the positive thought could be "I'm working towards my goals." This is just an example....your fears and thoughts are your own, of course.

Once your positive thoughts are filled out, look at them every day. Practice thinking these thoughts. Role-play in the mirror, watching yourself as you state your fear item, then react to that fear item with your positive thought. I can't say how long this step will take, but as they say, practice makes perfect. You will know when you don't need to practice anymore, because it will become your nature....your attitude. Your brain will teach your heart what it already knows: That you are an amazing human with unique experiences and a unique perspective on life. You have value, and your true friends and future friends will know it.

This seems (and may well be) a bunch of long-winded psycho-babble, but your post struck a chord that I've recognized for over 10 years now. I wish you the best in reaching your goals. Please know that your worth is not tied to your weight, your looks, your fashion sense, or your shoe size. These are all incidental details to the fact that you are the only person who is YOU, and you are wonderful.

I completely understand! but people say it while looking at my skinny photos to my face... it really is like they are just hitting me right in my gut.. they say things like.. "wow you were so skinny, you need to go for a walk" or "what happened..." I know they are joking... but there is truth behind it.....like my grandma is the worst.. like one day my whole family went out to a country buffet for dinner since my uncle came home from deployment. and she whispered in my ear... "since you can't fit into even your mothers fat jeans.. You need to turn around and leave... oh wait its a country buffet you can blend right in with your fellow fat *kitten* country cousins.." It hurt... cause grandmas are suppose to be sweet.. she will bake a chocolate cake and sit it right in my face and tell me not to eat it... true story i can't make this up! it really does hurt.. and its making me feel like complete **** about my self deff because my mom and husband do the same thing.. they just butter it up saying at least your have a pretty face and can read... my self image is so low its pretty much pathetic..

You're still so young, when I was young what people thought of me was important as well. Now that I'm older I really don't give a crap what anyone thinks. You're a valuable person and you shouldn't let anyone devalue you. And BTW a good comeback would be "you used to be stupid as f***, oh wait, you still are"