Do you tell everyone when you are on a diet?

Heavens no. Not going to open that can of worms. Last time I did it was because one of my coworkers noticed I was eating much healthier all the time. He then took it as an invitation to wave fries and tacos in my face on his lunch break and tell me "you're going to waste away" even though I was clearly overweight still. Unless I know someone is super supportive and won't butt their way into my business, I keep my lip zipped.

I told almost no one, because I didn't want people think it was ok to monitor my eating or give me worthless advice. I figured the results would speak for themselves, and they did.

I never brought it up and no one ever asked except when I just got water at the bar. Why aren't you drinking, they asked? Not a soul ever asked why I was eating salad.

Just keep doing your thing. Eventually people will notice and ask what you're doing. When you respond "counting calories", 90% of the time you'll get a blank stare.

I don't tell people I am trying to lose weight. I eat normal food so I don't particularly look like I am dieting.
I have been able to find foods at most restaurants that fit my calorie goal okay.
I might have a regular sandwich and a side salad with vinaigrette dressing with an iced tea for a lunch.

I'm in maintenance, so there is nothing to tell them. I choose food that fits within my goals. Being able to limit your intake when there is a lot of food available is a necessary skill.

I never use to in the past as I would never make it past 2 months but this time around as I am more motivated and dedicated I told everyone I could so that way It would keep me at it, that way when anyone asked how I was doing I could say well I lost this amount last week/fortnight/month, I have lasted 6 months now and still going.... sometimes it helps telling people but just depends what the people you are telling are like I guess, plus how you feel

IRL I am a very private person and what I am doing with my life is not something I share with people. When people began to notice the weight loss I simply said that it was in an effort to prolong my life.

I didn't say anything, not even to my wife, except that I started eating things like Greek yogurt and asked for tuna from the grocery store. It coincided with her getting the Beachbody all-access, which I have done a lot of, but now am focusing on lifting.

I didn't say anything because I never considered being on a diet.

Since February, I'm down 45 pounds and look a lot different. I've never told anyone that "I'm on a diet." Now I get asked all the time. I avoid the use of the word diet because I intend to eat the way I'm eating in perpetuity. These are the typical exchanges:

"Wow, you've lost weight; what did you do?" "I took control of the amount I eat and worked on getting more fit."

"Did you cut out all sugar?" "No"

"Are you doing low-carb?" "No"

"Are you eating low fat?" "No"

"Is it because you're working out?" "No....well partly, but it's 80% controlling my food intake" [ETA - this is by far the most popular question. Almost everyone mistakenly believes that people lose weight by spending hours in the gym and that doing cardio 6x per week and lifting before or after every cardio workout is the only way.]

"I could never do what you're doing" "Sure you can"

"Did you stop eating breads?" "No"

"Did you stop eating dessert?" "No"

"Did you stop eating all that processed junk?" "No"

"Did you do a 'cleanse'?" "No"

"Are you eating 'clean'?" "What does that mean? and no, probably not whatever definition you use"

"You must be hungry all the time right?" "No....just sometimes"

"A friend of mine says the only thing that works is to cut out all the 'white' stuff. Is that what you do?" "No"

"Do you ever eat whatever you want?" "Yes, but as long it fits my goals"

"Do you ever eat more than you want to in a day?" "Yes"

"Do you make up for it the next day?" "No...not on purpose"

"Do you fast?" "Depends on the definition...I do IF 5-6 days per week"

"Counting calories must be hard right?" "No"

"Don't you feel restricted doing that?" "No, in fact it's the most freeing food attitude ever"


Every single one of these have been asked in the past 4-5 weeks. I'm sure they'll be more to come....

....

tl;dr I never tell anyone. They ask all sorts woo-type questions and don't listen to the simple answers.