Other people's negative attitudes towards dieting

i hear you... when i turn down a piece of cake ppl tell me 'oh nothing is going to happen for a piece of cake"; it really bothers me because that attitude is what has got me overweight! Just ignore them, dont let someone else attitude derail you from achieving your goal.

I know. I hear "diets don't work" all the time. Yes they do. What doesn't work is not paying attention to my diet.

Yep.....but ya know what?


Keep on keeping on, girlie!

The phrase often used is "Oh go on. Eat that cake. Live a liittle". I recently heard a good response and have decided to borrow it, "I want to live a lot and in pretty looking clothes".

Your ticker says you want to get down to 99 pounds, so I hope you are shorter than 5 feet. If not, maybe they are legitimately worried about you. That is a low weight.

I think it's important to remind people you are making a LIFESTYLE change. Diets don't work because eventually they end and people often resort to old behaviors. A lifestyle change allows you to integrate the new behaviors as the new you!! I am a believer in losing it in a way you can live it. M-F I am preety on and allow for flexibility on my weekends to go out or splurge w/ friends. Good for you!!

Yes I get this a lot, especially since I work in a restaurant where people make us big dinners, if it's something I really didn't think I should have, I bought my dinner somewhere or brought it and people would judge me cuz im not a vegetarian?

Then I have the people who when I said I was dieting and wanted to eat something, pointed out what was bad in everything I was eating. WELL NO DUH NOT EVERYTHING IS 100% PERFECT FOR YOU! I said I'd get a sub, no mayo, no sauce, no cheese, light meat and veggies and someone had the nerve to say the bread was bad for me, You have got to be kidding me...

I get it both ways, but haters gonna hate and I feel good with my choices and they're obviously working so f*** 'em.

ya, I get this all the time, if im with my friends, they threaten to shove food down my throat if I only eat a small sandwich and a couple chips (i eat just to be polite, id rather eat my own foods) then I dont eat cake and I get, "really, c'mon, its albertsons cake with whipped frosting, you're already so skinny" now im vegetarian, and my mom keeps trying to convince me chicken and fish are vegetarian foods :huh:

Practice these phrases

"No Thankyou, I had cake for breakfast" ...this one works best for sweets or ethnic foods example:"No thanks, I had shwarma for brunch"

"I saw a thing on dateline about _________ and I am cold on it for now" This one works best on nervous conspiracy theorists and the thing on dateline could have been a commercial during dateline...who pays attention? Best followed by "no no I am not sure I believe it and I don't want to put you off your supper."

"No, Thank you." This is my favorite. I try to never mention my diet in public so this is my go to.

"Do you have any honey?" I got this one from my little nieces. When they were younger they would only eat rolls/bread at dinner with honey, preferably fresh honey. They weren't dieting they just knew what they liked and why settle for less. I found most folks did not have honey. If I know they have honey I switch wanting to apple butter.

Speaking as a formerly thin girl a lot of the time when I said c'mon just have some to a friend on a diet I just didn't realize the struggle. It was never meant as a taunt or judgement. More as this is delicious eat it and skip something else.

Love the date line idea. I say no thanks and if they push, just say, no thanks again. If possible walk away or distract them. If all else fails, take a little piece and destroy it ( you know, if I move it around, Mom wont notice the peas are the same amount destroy). No one wants to eat it then. ( Or damn! dropped it on the floor or dropped my fork.

Another is I am saving my cals for dinner - got a hot date with hubs!

People's responses have more to do with them than with you. I think sometimes when we are making healthy choices, opting for better nutrition and improving our quality of life, it somehow holds up a mirror for others to see what they are choosing not to do and maybe feel they should be doing.

Agreed!!

When people think of you as fatter than them they find it very hard if that situation changes, especially when they are overweight. It is part pure jealousy, part that they see it as leaving their club and joining those other people, the ones you were both supposed to hate.
Losing weight exposes some very weird inner feelings. You have mothers sabotaging daughters because they want to be thinner than them, wives sabotaging husbands because they are worried they would leave them, friends turning on people because they always secretly saw themselves as the 'hot friend' of the two.
People are weird. All you can do is focus on yourself.

My first response to being offered food I am not going to accept. "No Thanks"

My reaponse to the next urge to please reconsider my reponse "no, thanks, I have already had my share of ________"

If the giver urges me a third time.... I hope three s the charm... No, thanks, please feel free to stop harrassing me to eat "

yes some people can get ridiculously silly and irrational and defensive when you go on a diet

my advice would be to just not tell them

also, when you refuse food because you're "not hungry" or "don't fancy that right now" they usually don't react negatively or try to force you to eat it. I tend to do that rather than mentioning calories or healthy eating.

I don't think people always mean to be like this, I think in some cases they just want you to enjoy the food and they think of diets as something the doctor ordered or that are forced upon you, so they're trying to "help" you by "letting" you have something you're "not allowed" to have... I don't think everyone who acts like this when you go on a diet has bad motives or is jealous or insecure or whatever. Also, people misunderstand eating disorders too, and so maybe worries that you refusing food you used to eat is a sign of an eating disorder, comes from a combination of genuine concern and ignorance, rather than anything malicious.

I tend to assume "nice" motives of others, unless there's evidence otherwise. Yes there are some who act like this out of insecurity and because they want to sabotage you, but most I think don't have those intentions or motives and are just being nice or have genuine concern, albeit misplaced.

It's rare but when I do get harassed I tell them about how I had diabetes. They usually drop it after that.