Unsupportive comments when eating with others...

I just smile deep inside cause I KNOW they are sooooooooooooo jealous! hehe

If that picture is you, you look great. Fortunately I don't know anyone who calls attention to my eating habits- most of my friends and co-workers are similarly inclined or don't care- but my response would be, "eating this way is what got me this body and so I'm going to stick with it." I think it's harder for people who are just starting out and have lost maybe 20 lbs when their goal is 100, but when you get to the point that your success shows, pointing out that it works and letting them know that they aren't going to make you feel bad about it should shut them up.

Does anyone else feel uncomfortable sometimes eating with certain people? I had lunch with my mom yesterday and she kept referring to my "healthy" eating... yes, she used air quotes every time she said it. Plus I'm going to a family gathering with my boyfriend today and they always have yummy food, which I DO eat btw, its not like I completely refuse it! But it seems like people still make comments about me eating healthy... like its a bad thing! I always try to just laugh it off, but it really stresses me out. Just wondering what anyone else does in these situations!

I do not have that problem because I DON'T CARE! MY HEALTH, MY RULES, when it comes to MY HEALTH I see ONLY ME! If you do not have this attitude then your life belongs to any strong wind that blows in, you are not Grounded.

I live in Japan, which is about 6000 miles from my hometown. So I don't get to see my family that often. I started taking an initiative to losing weight sometime in the later part of last year. I was quite pleased with myself because I had lost 3.5kg (~8lbs) and I was thinner than I had been in a while. And I could notice. I could wear a few clothes that I hadn't been able to for a while, clothes I could wear were fitting me looser, my fingers felt smaller and so on. So I was eager to go back and see people looking a little thinner (especially since I had gotten some negative comments the previous year, which is kind of a jerky thing, now that I think of it...)

I was excited to tell people all about how I started exercising, I was eating more vegetables and less junk food and about the results that I was getting. However, when I talked about these things, I got a very feigned kind of "good for you" masking a meh (at best) attitude about my efforts. Like it wasn't a good thing that I'd lost nearly 10 pounds or that I was trying to change to become healthier.

I would have thought that if anyone would have noticed my weight loss, it would have been my family, since they hadn't seen me in so long. People you see every day tend to notice less just because they don't notice the minor changes as you gradually change. Like watching a child grow. Your parents don't notice nearly as much as your aunts and uncles how much you've grown. However, nobody really seemed to notice. In fact, I feel like that attitude I was getting was that of me not having lost -enough- weight. 'So what if you lost 10 pounds? You're still fat.' Granted, nobody actually -said- those things to me, but, well, they didn't have to. It was a really disheartening experience for me.

Guess that's not really about eating with people, is it... Well, nonetheless, still very unsupportive.

My family tells me to "quit being stupid" with everything I do. Whether it's eating healthy, wanting to exercise more, wanting to eat vegetarian. It's always unsupportive because I'm choosing to be different and not eat meat and potatoes for my dinner every night or sitting around all day in front of the tv. You just have to deal with it I guess.

I just smile deep inside cause I KNOW they are sooooooooooooo jealous! hehe

This! Even my hubby used to make comments about how my healthy eating was getting in the way or inconvenient or simply just not why I was looking better (yes he assumed it was magic) but after baby #3 he put on some weight and joined me. Now he's preaching it to the world how health he feels and how fast he's unbloating. People generally wish they had a lot more self control than they do, whether for exercise, eating, confidence etc. If anything take it as a compliment.

Meh - time to brush up on your sarcasm. If its family or friends smile when you use it.

Yes. I live with my grandparents, and my grandfather, being retired law enforcement, is one of those who notices everything everyone does. He's also very critical of everything, and doesn't have a 'filter' for what's appropriate to say sometimes. The kitchen and living room are the same room, and my grandparents have a pretty strict "no food outside of the kitchen" rule, and he gets up earlier than anyone else in the house, so every time I eat, I'm forced to be in the same room as him unless he's not home. He likes to pick up my food and read things off of the packaging like it's a question. He says it's in the interest of "making conversation," but he comes across incredibly critical, and it makes me feel very self conscious every time I sit down because I know he's criticizing my every move.

He got upset when I got smaller dishes for myself, and told me that it was "bs" that people eat less when the dish they serve themselves on is smaller. He got upset when I went shopping and bought only vegetables I like (meaning nothing canned, and no corn, which he says is a vegetable, no matter what I, or reality have to say about it. Also no peas, because I hate peas, so why would I eat them when I get sufficient nutrients from things I can actually stand the taste of, etc) and told my grandparents that because they don't cook anything I can really eat (they cook entirely too much, serve too much, most everything is either cooked in or with meat, and complain when I don't clear my plate, saying I should save the rest for my next meal. What am I going to do with leftover steak, when I haven't eaten meat in seven months, I ask you.) that I'll be cooking for myself and only for myself, since no one else likes the way I cook. They both give me Biblical quotes about why I should eat meat (I'm not a Christian, so what God has to say about the cleanliness of animals is of little consequence to me) and tell me I need the protein and won't hear that I get my protein elsewhere. Explaining any part of why I'm doing what I'm doing becomes an argument, so I'd rather not even discuss it with them, but I still get annoyed when they offer me steak or chicken or something, expecting me to 'crumble' or something as if it's difficult for me not to eat meat, even though I had issue with it even when I did eat it and never liked it to begin with.

My grandmother also refers to my changes as an "eating program," which is her phrase for a diet, and refuses to stop using that phrase. I'm the only one in the house who doesn't eat meat, and I'm the only one who eats certain things. On the other hand, I eat pretty much whatever I want, within reason. I'm by no means on a diet. I've asked her to stop doing this on multiple occasions because it's damaging to my goals, but she, like my grandfather, is set in her way.

Bah, it's jealousy and not wanting to understand why it matters. Plus, it's childish. Either shrug it off or, if these are indeed the people you are closest to, talk to them and explain why it bothers you. Anyway - why does it bother you?

I had lunch with my mom yesterday and she kept referring to my "healthy" eating... yes, she used air quotes every time she said it.

You know, the more I think about this, it might be interesting next time she does it to ask, "Mom, why are you using air quotes every time you refer to healthy eating?" It will probably stop her dead in her tracks since she's likely trying to be sarcastic and she won't want to admit it.

Take it as a compliment. People have noticed your healthy eating! If you want to be proactive, thank your mother for teaching you good habits and self discipline. That will be hard for her to respond negatively to.

I have had success using the line, " I would LOVE to eat what your having, but I can't seem to tolerate digesting that anymore." Even if it is a white lie sometimes, it still gives a legitimate reason for not eating what they think you should be having, unless they want to put with threatened flatulence.

And they still get to feel superior.

I don't know why people have to say stupid things but they will find anything to say stupid things about if they are that type of person. I have the opposite to your post, I feel self conscious eating ice cream even though the other 90% of what I ate today was super healthy. I guess the weigh issue with me is also tied up with self esteem issues/feeling vulnerable about some areas of self. So know you are not the only one who gets these feelings.

People who are unsupportive are just jealous because THEY can't do it.

This!

I find that the people in my life who say those things around me eat worse than I do. My dad once commented on a salad I was eating. It was a big salad with lots of veggies and some tuna on it and he said "are you going to EAT all of THAT?" as he chowed down his meaty chipotle bowl. He makes comments like that all the time. "Are you sure you want to eat that?" I think in my dad's case it wasn't meant the way I took it, but for most people I think they say things like that because they want to put attention on your eating habits to take it away from their own.