Amazed by people's assumptions of how you lose weight

This is a "quick and easy" culture - I usually start with "portion control plus exercise, and better nutrition" and then elaborate when they have questions. I'm just waiting for when I finally come back to work, I'll be surprised if a rumor doesn't start about bariatric surgery, because a lot of folks seem to think that's the only way you can lose more than 100 pounds.

I am amazed by this as well. I told two of my doctors and I got the response, "what did you do?" Really? I just answer "eat less, move more."

100% - tracking calories, exercising and most importantly, being consistent. This is not what people want to hear because it's boring. I remember thinking like that, wanting to just add a magic tea to my meals and watch the fat slip away. Something that requires a complete change of lifestyle over a long period of time is not attractive like these quick fixes

yeah, they never seem to like my answer of 'eat less, move more'

its almost as though they want you to say 'yeah, let me give you this magic pill and you too, can lose 200 pounds....' *kitten*. i wish.

It doesn't surprise me. For some people, that's all they know, for others, that's just human nature. If they seem genuinely interested, I try my best to explain in as simple and as nonjudgmental terms as possible. If they're just making small talk or looking for ways to justify their unwillingness to take that step, I try not to stir things up. For one thing, I don't like getting involved in needless opinion flexing, and for another, I don't think my choices are necessarily better than someone else's.

When we lose weight, we tend to lose sight of how things were before weight loss. I often brushed off any weight loss talk because, at the time, not losing weight was the choice I went with and felt was the better choice. Whether it was just excuses or not is irrelevant, I was satisfied with it (until I wasn't), and any other talk was random noise that had nothing to do with me.

@amusedmonkey Before I lost any weight, I never asked people how they lost weight. I definitely assumed that I would not be able to lose any weight due to my particular issues - chronic illness and all the weight adding meds you can imagine (13+ years on prednisone probably being the biggest offender), and being unable to move in any significant way. So, I do wonder if I could have lost the weight sooner sometimes. But in reality, I had zero control of food or movement. So in a way, it wasn't possible. But if I had learned a little bit more about nutrition, instead of just assuming "losing weight is impossible" - that might have served me better.

But I legit never once believed someone when they said "If I can do it, you can too!" Especially if it was something like "moving more and eating less". Because for me, I have had to revamp my diet entirely. I don't feel I am eating less, but I am eating less calories! I eat for nutrition instead of food pleasure, but since I have such horrible health that is the best thing ever. Totally worth it in the end. As for generally normal health people, I guess they like to converse about weight loss. But I bet many feel a certain powerlessness when it comes to weight loss. I don't think I am alone in that. I hear some on my MFP feed, the ones that pop on for a month or two, then leave for a year. There is a lot of powerlessness, and I think that stems to the amount of change that is necessary. If you are a creature of habit, then losing weight or even gaining weight is so incredibly hard! Anything out of the status quo is going to take some real grit.

I usually say I lost it with the 4 Ds. Diet, Determination, Discipline, and Dedication. And then they want to know if I'm following a specific plan. I answer with there was no pill, potion, or surgery. I log onto MFP every day and track all my food and exercise. Then they quickly lose interest. LOL

I tell people that I use mfp to determine calorie goal and weigh and log my food. They dismiss it because it’s free and not advertised on tv or facebook, doesn’t involve huge suffering, special foods or surgery. It just can’t be that simple or flexible!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKs0oEIVOck