Making a committment to weight loss & Keeping your friends

Sounds to me like you're just much more mature than your friends. You're making well-reasoned choices and don't "owe" them getting drunk for their benefit. At the same time, you're not depriving yourself either. From the perspective of twice as far down the road, agewise, I say well done, stick to your guns, and don't apologize or feel bad. Your dedication will serve you well in all areas of your life.

Hey there, I had a circle of friends that would be out nightly and even hit it harder on the weekends...to the point of embarassment. Embarrassing funny not total black outs This is in my younger days and I really liked them all I just didn't feel the need to get that juiced. So I asked my step mom for advice because I felt pressure on the drinking side of things. She is a non drinker/social occasional but 1-2 drinks. She said, "I'm high on life babe", I don't need alcohol to have fun. I think she really meant it, old hippy she is. It is not going to make you the group snob if you want to eat an Ahi roll instead of pizza or a Salad with a glass of wine instead of several shots or beers. If you feel pressured, I would hold true to your gut feeling. Try to keep eating the way you feel is right for you. If they actually say something to you...it is nice to be mentally prepared before hand. You already see it as an obstacle. You can still have those friends and my bet is you will attract more by holding your ground on how you feel about things. Hope I am helping and not sounding like a know it all!

There is a great site called Get Drunk Not Fat, http://getdrunknotfat.com/ that will help with the drinking thing. As for worrying about asking about eating too much and avoiding temptation, that is tough. Maybe only go out with them once week.

This is actually a really big problem that people in the bariatric community have noticed (Personal note: I was thinking about bariatric surgery, but never went through with it, but still go to the support groups for it with my wife). A lot of people who change their lifestyles to be more healthy will notice that it tends to alienate some of their friends, or in some cases they even lose their spouse over it. This makes sense if you consider it in an alcohol/drug addiction perspective, typically if you're an addict your friends are also addicts, so if you kick the drugs and alcohol you're not doing the same "fun" things they are, and thus you alienate from the group which wants to perpetuate that behavior. Some also take it as a threat to their ego, oh well you're trying to be better than me, so therefore you're attacking me and I have to get you to stop to make myself feel better. This is especially common in spouses, some of whom get jealous and then wonder if the person who is losing weight is going to leave them.

You're only losing 5-10 pounds though, and I assume you'll revert back to your old diet in some form afterwards. The key is simply to find a way to communicate that, and then when they say you look great at your current size, thank them for the compliment but tell them you're still going to stick with it until you hit your goal lest a 10 pound gain turns into a 20 pound gain, then a 50 pound gain, then a 100 pound gain...

When it's time for everyone to hit the pool in their bikinis....they might be rethinking all those comments they made!! You do what you want ! Have fun, enjoy yourself....you're young. These friends might be creating habits that could lead to problems with their health and weight. Hate to say it....but....that's what happened to me. Tons of beer and bar food...and cigarettes. I've definitely had to limit that since I've been losing, and I rarely miss it. When I do miss it, I get drunk! Just can't do it every weekend

You might just find yourself finding some new friends....people who are like minded in their behavior. That's ok too. Good luck!

Just be firm and strong.

You don't NEED to justify anything to them - I personally quit 'drinking' (getting drunk, as one or two is nbd once in a while) and my friends were very curious. It got to the point where they would pressure me about it.

The biggest thing that worked for me, I found, was sitting down with a few of them and explaining that I couldn't any longer. Once a few sympathized, then if the others bugged me they would defend me (not always, but "leave her alone" was common). And now, two years later, nobody even asks anymore.

A huge part of this is your age group. No judgement we have all been there.

Start finding and suggesting restaurants that have a broader menu, always check ahead. Make it about the new hot Thai place or Swedish/Equadorian fusian and not that they have more than one thing on the menu that isn't stuffed with cheese and deep fried.

Look for activities that are more active, even dancing. There are even 5k's with a drinking component. We have several beach volleyball places (and I live nowhere near an ocean).