Do people assume you have always looked the way you do?

fteale
fteale Posts: 5,310 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
It's weird. I was always a UK10 pre-children, was quite fit and average weight. Then I put on weight having the children, and was a UK 12 for 6 years. I am now an 8 (though I think that's mostly vanity sizing, I should really be a 10).

The people I have known since I moved house 4 years ago keep going on about how much weight I have lost, and is there something wrong, which I find odd as being bigger was never "me" it was just something that happened to me as a result of pregnancy and breastfeeding.

The other thing I have noticed is people I meet now say how small I am (debatable), and flatly don't believe I have ever had any issues with my weight. People say "oh, but you are tiny." when I talk about how much weight I put on in pregnancy or how big my babies were and how hard it is to lose pregnancy weight, and when I say I was borderline overweight 8 months ago they just don't believe me. This week (on a singing course) I have had people assuming I am a dancer because of my shape. I find that totally bizarre (I have never danced in my life).

Is people's mental image so fixed they can only see you as they first knew you, and can't imagine you any other way?

Replies

  • katapple
    katapple Posts: 1,108 Member
    All the time! People assume I've always been tiny and in shape and enjoyed working out. Then I show them my before pictures...and they just stare in shock :)

    Editing to add, even my family (parents, in-laws) Have a hard time believing I was ever that big, and they personally saw me at that weight (for YEARS!). Even I don't think that I was ever that big, but I guess we all chose to ignore it!
  • squeak1989
    squeak1989 Posts: 29
    Yes.

    My friends still struggle to get their head round my weight loss. I'd always been either overweight or obese. Then in the summer before my second year of university I decided to lose weight. I did most of my weight loss while at university away from home so when I returned back to my friends it was difficult to get them to accept the "new me". Everytime I see them (even a year and a half on) I get comments on how much weight I've lost even when I've seen them a number of times and have actually put 2 stone on in the last 6 months.

    On the other side of things people I currently meet or those I met in the last year of university actually laugh with disbelief when I tell them I used to be over 16 stone and spent most of my teenage life around 14-15 stone. They can't understand why I'd ever need to be careful with my food.

    Squeak
  • moushtie
    moushtie Posts: 371 Member
    People assume because I am very obese now, that I have never done any exercise in my life, or that I fit their stereotype of a fat person, basically.

    Then I tell them I used to be the fastest sprinter in my class when I was young.. and I used to play rugby as a teenager. They look at me in complete disbelief most of the time.
  • progresseeker2311
    progresseeker2311 Posts: 55
    Absolutely! I had two children 18 months apart and gained 80lbs. My husband claims he cant rememeber what I looked like before I got pregnant. My mom even tried to tell me that Im supposed to be big and probably won't lose weight. It is hilarious because I have never been skinny, like US14, but for my physique, a 14 was relatively "small", and now everyone only can see me the size i am now. 3 years ago (pre children) I was pushing a 12, but no one can remember that (a 12 for me is around 160 lbs, curvy, but small). I just shake my head because I am now 15 lbs down in 2 months, and the last time my family saw me I was just beginning my weight loss journey and was being told that I am not going to get much smaller because of my genetics (haha). all I have to say is, I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL CHRISTMAS! "who's got the bad genetics now, huh?" is what I'll say. People are funny.
  • LuckyLeprechaun
    LuckyLeprechaun Posts: 6,296 Member
    Yes, they do. I recently got a new job, so my coworkers have never seen me "before". We eat lunch together and they do not eat healthy like I do. They eat the fried carby crap from the cafeteria while I have a sandwich and fruit. They always made little comments, until one day I had it and told them all....I have lost 75 lbs and I have no intention of going back! They were very surprised. When someone makes a comment now about "Oh you're skinny" or anything like that, it's very bizarre.
  • dreaasha
    dreaasha Posts: 31
    Yes, they do! I was at the gym and this trainer came up to me and asked me if I had ever worked out before. I kinda laughed at it, but, whatever, I guess.
  • fteale
    fteale Posts: 5,310 Member
    The food thing gets me. People always comment on how little I eat, and assume I am a food obsessive, but it's not that, I just really don't want to go back. I like the way I look, I like that I look like I have always been this size, and that people think I am sporty. I've never been into sport, apart from rowing in my late teens.

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