How did losing weight impact your social life?

Yeah...losing weight has had its pros and cons. I am still trying to sort through it all. I have lost 104lbs in the last 3 years...I am now at 146lbs, 5'7.

I feel way more confident when I do go out. Before I started losing weight (and a primary reason as to why I wanted to lose weight) I had some serious social anxiety...which I knew boiled down to my insecurities with my weight and appearance. I often did not go out anywhere out of fear of seeing someone I knew...I just never felt comfortable. In summers, I would often be wearing winter clothing to attempt to cover up.

However...since losing weight, I still do not go out often. Mainly - bars/parties/dances. I basically do not drink alcohol at all now. I feel like it impacts my weight loss with the calories, and then the hang over is not worth it. I just have fallen out of the party scene. This is a conscious decision though...not because I feel uncomfortable in public.

Generally, I feel I talk more, I walk taller, I am more social with strangers. I look straight a head instead of at the ground. So over all - it was worth it.

I lost just over 60kg, as for changes to my social life? well I have much better clothes, more confident but still shy in social situations. For me weight loss had zero change to my social life, but that's just my experience not to say others might have different outcomes.

mrsfitzyv8 wrote: »

A (now ex) friend has been selling those stupid "it works" wraps for years. She now has the sh!ts with me because I won't let her use my before and after pictures to sell her stupid wraps.
But aside from that my real friends have all been pretty cool about the whole thing

I have had the same issue. I have several friends selling crap on face book. Ranging from wraps to diet pills. Advocare, Herbal Life ...blah, blah blah. I even had one friend block me and then use my image without my consent. I lost 130 total lbs, myself. With a little help from MFP.

I probably still go out about as much as before even though it makes weight loss a bit harder, because I don't like the idea of avoiding plans just to eat healthily. I try to limit my drinking in that every single happy hour or night out doesn't need to involve drinking my weight in beer. In theory.

I have ranged from 122-165lbs since the age of 20. I find when I am around 145-150 I am a lot more accepted by women and I often get heavier women saying stuff like, "Well I want to be thinner, but not too thin...Like Serena's size." When I was a lower weight I was often told to eat, had negative comments about my size, and when I would only eat half portions out for meals or drink less or low calorie drinks I would be asked, "Why do you drink diet you're skinny enough already!" I find when I am around the weight I am now 5'8.75" 138lbs I get mixed reviews, at my ultimate goal 128lbs I have a lot of negativity when I choose less calories, or do not eat as much as others. Ironically at a higher weight when I drink diet drinks, or eat less no one makes comments.

Aside from the mixture of attitudes towards my choices everything else is the same. I do not have more or less compliments from the opposite sex, just different types of people or perhaps more noticing at certain weights. I have been with the same person for 10 years and we're getting married so my life has pretty much been the same...But the comments definitely are dictated by weight.

My fiancé and I used to eat out a lot more. We also used to have way more "Netflix and junk food" nights.

Now we try to do more active things like walks and things like that.

No social life before, no social life after.

I don't hide in corners as much, and I definitely dance more.

People treat me very differently than when I was overweight. I get a lot of attention from both sexes. Mostly positive, but some guys see me as a threat. Some women are intimidated. I have people come up to me all the time asking for workout suggestions. Of course I often get the question on whether I'm "enhanced". Total strangers reach out to touch me without asking. Women seem to have no trouble touching both my chest and my butt. If I did that to them I'd get slapped. Because I'm on special diets all the time and very seldom drink, my significant other doesn't always support my lifestyle as she is a very social person and likes to party. I can do things that others find dangerous or too physically taxing with ease. People think I'm in my mid 30s when actually I turn 50 in a few months. Everything in my life is different because I decided to transform...Everything.

Weightloss has definitely impacted my social life. Weekends that used to be spent hanging out with large groups of friends drinking tons of beer and dancing at the bar has changed to weekends hiking and biking and having a glass or two of wine at an outdoor bar when the weather is perfect. Do I tend to go out less? Yes. Have some of my friendships with people who enjoy that partying lifestyle faded? Yes. Have I built new friendships with people who lead a more healthy/fitness based lifestyle? Also yes. Though I sometimes miss those fun partying nights the way my body and mind feels now is well worth the change and I wouldn't go back to my old social life if someone paid me.

I'm an introvert. Meh. But I do different things now. I've done Karaoke for the first time in my life. I go on fun runs. I trek around my neighbourhood and take walks with my hubby to the local Tim Horton's. There are some great people who cheer me on and a few odd ducks who do their best to suck in their resentment. My old pastor asked me if I was "fasting". I think that was an attempt at a joke. I told him I'm running which just confused the heck out of him.

I'm at 99 pounds down. It really hasn't impacted my social life at all. It could be due to my age and the fact that my social life really revolves around my son and his activities. I don't typically go to bars/clubs/parties any more and haven't in many years and I really didn't enjoy that all that much when I did go. It has made a positive difference in my confidence though and I enjoy going to social engagements more.

A random man in a store flirted with me -- for the first time in years and years. Maybe it was the weight loss or maybe the increased self confidence as a result of the weight loss but it felt great!

Absolutely! I've lost 22# over about 2 months and my social life has gone through the roof! I'm not nearly as embarrassed to go out, talk someone up, or make conversation with a stranger. My self confidence is through the roof after losing just 20#. Weight loss can be life changing!

Work has become harder for me. I work primarily with females and after I lost the first 30 pounds they immediately began commenting on my clearer skin, how thin I looked, and how much energy I had. They were all excited at first but now that I'm trying to work off this last 20 pounds (which will put me at roughly 115ish on my 5'2" frame) they are VERY hostile. The company I work for has quite a few employee lunches and every time someone has a birthday they are expected to bring treats of some sort. If someone catches me partaking in the goodies I immediately get: "Can you even eat? How many calories are in that? Aren't you going to have to run for, like, three hours just to burn that off?" It offended me at first but now I just shrug, smile sweetly, and say, "I don't know how many calories are in this but *takes a huge bite and continues with a full mouth* it's freakin' delicious!" More often than not this shuts them up. Lol.

My roommate also has become increasingly hostile because my weight loss journey coincided with her doctor telling her she was pre-diabetic and needed to lose weight. Now that I've lost weight she constantly talks about it in a negative tone and relentlessly grills me on how many calories are in each item she sees me eat. When I plateaued she saw me eat breakfast and pack my lunch and dinner for work (the sum of which was below 1100 calories) and quickly remarked "WOW. You sure do eat a lot, huh?" I did try to get her on the MFP site, spent hours setting up her profile, and politely explaining everything to her but she gave up the next morning because "that site is too hard to use."

The good out of all of this is that I am more apt to play with my son now (which he loves) and my husband takes great pleasure in picking me up. People can hate all they want but making my boys happy is all that matters to me.