Doing it on your own with no support.

OP, don't worry about what your co-workers think. Just say, "no thank you" and move on. End of conversation. You don't owe them an explanation and nine times out of ten they'd all have something to say about it, but you don't need to be bogged down with that. Just be consistent and they'll adjust.

@BigTandthesquatters, congrats on your loss! I'm sure people have noticed but they probably don't know what to say. It's a touchy topic and everyone takes comments differently. Just keep it up. Your health is the main thing.

I do not talk about it. My friends and co-workers do not understand. I do it in silence and politely pass up on the junk food that is offered on a daily basis. I'll just hear comments like "you don't need to lose weight"..."you're beautiful like you are"...."you're crazy for eating cottage cheese...GROSS!" . One lady even acted like I was suffering from some sort of food disorder and needed psychiatric help for not wanting Lay's potato chips. Telling me to "not go overboard"........I just don't want greasy potato chips..k lady?

people at my work are generally fat, lazy and eat fast food all day. (for breakfast and lunch). No one understands "diets". They def rag me for trying to be healthy...generally just the crap food pusher mentality. No one likes to see someone else do better than them.

I've told my close friends at work, so they understand when I turn down offers of food. I don't broadcast it beyond family and friends. Of course, sometimes I'll take them up on their treat and just try to work it in my calories for the day or move on to the next meal and day. I've found that always denying myself something that I like makes me crave it all the more, and can lead to really blowing things down the road. Better to have a little and satisfy the craving than living a life that sucks because you can't eat what you want.

I've got the same issue insofar as no support...I do what's right for me so that I can get to a place that I want to reach. I'm not beholden to anyone for how I look or what I choose to eat, it's my choice and if I want something healthy then so be it, if I choose something that isn't very healthy, then I have less of it.

Insofar as the people closest to me, my wife and daughter, even they don't necessarily get what I'm trying to do, they both say that they need to lose weight, but never do anything about it. I've chosen to do something about my weight because it's not healthy for me to be as heavy as I am (6'0", 275lbs).

Though I've just restarted my journey, I find that I'm passing on a lot of things that I used to eat, recording what I do have in my diary and holding myself accountable. If I slip up, which has happened, I record it and do better the next day. If I do well for a day, I pat myself on the back and look forward to the next day.

While support and such might be the right answer for some, I find that wanting to do it for myself and relying on myself are the keys to success. No one else has to know what I'm doing or why I'm doing it. I am my most critical judge, and regardless of what others say or do...I ensure that I'm doing right by me and that I'm doing the things that I know will yield results like a good diet and exercise.

I keep my mouth shut; even my husband doesn't know. He's one of the reasons why I'm doing this in the first place. It's amusing, because he's started copying me - he saw me doing a kettlebell workout one day and decided to try it, and he's kept on with it for a couple of weeks. I started making fruit salad for the week about a month ago; he immediately started asking for containers of it to take to work, and now he's opining about what fruits he'd like in it.

However, I haven't said anything to my friends and I'm not saying a word to my classmates when school starts again, because the other reason I'm trying to lose weight is so that I can get an internship and then a job when I graduate. I don't feel like answering questions about how/what I'm doing, getting into endless conversations about which diet is better/what foods are evil because our ancestors with a life expectancy of 28 years didn't eat them/"you should be doing this for you"/blah blah blah. In fact, it makes me feel better to keep this as my secret mission, for some reason.

I've found that the best tactic for questions on any subject you don't want to get into is deflection. Next time you pass up a treat, ask the person offering a question about something you know they love to talk about before they get a chance to ask you why you're not taking a cupcake. E.g. "No thanks. Oh! I meant to ask you, I love those sandals, where did you get them?" Or "No, I didn't watch the debate/interview/speech. By the way, how's that new business going?" Or "Wow, I didn't know that our new alien overlords are about to land on earth and enslave us all. That's so interesting. Have you seen 'Finding Dory' yet?"

The only person I told was my husband ... and mainly because he cooks dinner so since I needed to make changes to dinner if I was going to be successful, he had to be in on it.

There was no way on earth I was going to tell anyone at work or university or anywhere else.

leebirm wrote: »

Is anyone else here suffering in silence with their weight loss journey?

No, because I did not suffer. I found losing weight pretty empowering and enjoyable on the whole.

I haven't told anyone about it, I know that I would get extremely annoyed if I had people pulling me up if I decide to have a little treat, the only thing that makes it difficult is when food is offered and I have to turn it down and people get a little confused (this mainly happens at work) as I am normally the first one with my hand in the cookie jar.

I didn't tell anyone either, since I do better not feeling watched, and I figured why tell anyone, as they'd find out when I was successful, as I tend to think talking about what you are going to do before you do it can be unhelpful.

I just let them wonder if food was offered and I didn't take it (or if they noticed me removing bread from a sandwich or some such). I'd deflect any comments with "not in the mood" or the like.

There are lots of reasons for avoiding "bad" foods. Allergy, health issues, complexion issues etc.. your business is your own, politely brush it off and if you have to say something, you can always say its a health issue I don't want to discuss. Good luck and stay strong, your doing this for the best possible reason- yourself!

Husband and I are doing it together so he is my support. We have both lost 17 lbs and only one person has mentioned it but that does not bother me. It feels great to be able to wear shorts this summer!

I'm doing it alone. I wouldn't call it "suffering in silence". I actually really like it this way. I go about it however the hell I want, lose when I want, maintain when I want, gain when I want... No expectations from others or pressure to perform. I've always declined food when I didn't feel like having it and accepted it when I wanted it, nothing changed there. I still accept/decline food if I want/don't want it.

My family knows I'm dieting, but they don't meddle. They act as if nothing's changed. They don't tiptoe around me in fear of "sabotaging" me, they cook as usual or order in and ask if I would like to join. Sometimes I do sometimes I don't. No reaction either way. They don't judge my choices either. They just leave me to my own ways.

In the beginning I did get a few comments, but I'm stubborn and it takes a whole lot more than that to upset me, so they got bored and stopped, especially after seeing me get thinner doing my own thing.

Nothing beats freedom! I'm loving it!

Got precisely zero support from family, but did get significant resistance in the form of "You're losing weight too fast" at a pound or less a week loss and "you're too skinny" at 30% bodyfat.

Keep your eye on the goal, because in the end you can only lose weight and get fit for yourself.

I've had no support from anyone whatsoever during my weight loss journey, not even my husband was supportive and still isn't to this day (he doesn't really care as he doesn't see it as his problem, lol). It doesn't bother me at all though because I feel like I'm strong enough and have the conviction to do it all on my own instead of having that need of reassurance or confirmation from someone else to tell me "I'm doing a good job".

I have on and off been trying to lose weight for last eight years, I go super strong then something happens out of my control then I go right back to terrible habits for the next six months and gain everything back and then some. I usually don't mention anything to anybody unless I am directly asked. I have a super tight knit group of family and friend not to mention I work for family and am around them daily. People only really tend to notice I am trying again when they see me not drinking soda/booze as much and they notice I am not constantly posting pictures of me baking crazy desserts a few times a week. Not it is pretty much just once a week for my whole family's weekly Sunday dinner. I do honestly have the most crazy supportive group of people in my life that will cheer me on no matter if things are going good or bad so I do count myself extremely lucky. Who knows, maybe this will be the time I make it to my goal.