Who have you told about your weight loss mission?

I don't love polls, and I'm not losing weight anymore. (I'm in maintenance.) Therefore, I didn't vote.

I didn't much talk with anybody about it, when I was losing weight, unless I had good evidence that the person was on a similar course. For most people, I just ate what I ate, didn't talk about it, used pleasantries to explain if people asked random questions. ("Yeah, eating a light dinner tonight, still full from lunch", which was sometimes a bit of a white lie - that kind of thing.) Most of what other people have to say isn't helpful, IME. I kept the conversations short - even when my loss became obvious, I cut off the topic with a minimal response to any comment, then brought up some other topic I thought the person might like to talk about.

I live alone, so I might've said more to people I lived with if I lived with some, but more probably just letting them in on the idea that I was trying to make changes in a positive direction, asking for their support (including asking them to not talk about it lots, avoid deliberately tempting me with treats, etc.).

There are so many stupid diet myths in popular culture, and I don't blame people for buying into them, but I don't need people repeating them to me as gospel, especially people who haven't run that particular course themselves. It's just not helpful or productive, IME.

Except for my wife who was losing along with me, I never talked to anyone about it especially at work. No one has ever really commented on there either and I have lost around 25-30kg. I was always doing it for me anyway.

I tend to be a private person who hates unsolicited advice.

I have one friend who I text my daily weight to and will talk fitness with
My 17 year old daughter knows as she sees me eat and hikes with me

And that's it. It's no one else's business

I didn't talk about it to anyone other than the very few who said something like, "You've lost weight! How did you do it?"

Almost without fail, when I replied, "Diet and exercise," they would give me some disappointed face or say something to the effect of, "Well that doesn't sound easy."

I told my family that I live with, and my family members who I'll be visiting soon, just so they understand that I'm trying to eat in a healthier way and can support me by not trying to ply me with sweets. I also told a couple of friends who I knew would be supportive and encouraging. It's nice to be able to discuss topics like nutrition, cooking, lifting, etc. with them if I want.

I'm lucky that people close to me never make unsolicited comments about what I eat, my exercise type/amount, or what size I am. By now (my third major weight loss), they know what to expect and it's not especially exciting to them.

cmriverside wrote: »

I didn't talk about it to anyone other than the very few who said something like, "You've lost weight! How did you do it?"

Almost without fail, when I replied, "Diet and exercise," they would give me some disappointed face or say something to the effect of, "Well that doesn't sound easy."

HAHAHA

This is so true. I lost weight very slowly, but people often didn't see me every day, so when they would see me, it would look like I had suddenly lost a bunch of weight.

In reality, I had only lost 2lbs/mo, but that adds up to noticeable weight loss pretty quickly.

They would always ask me with bright eyes "OMG, how did you lose the weight?" and then they would look horribly disappointed when I said "eating mostly vegetables."

Like, did they actually *want* to hear that I did some insanely restrictive diet where I can't eat foods of a certain colour during certain phases of the lunar cycle?

Most commercial "diets" to me sound miserable and difficult, which is why I've never ever done one.

So it was always kind of shocking to me when people were so disappointed to hear that I DIDN'T do some crazy hard diet to lose weight.

It's also crazy how resistant people are to just eating highly nutritious food in moderate portions. Like that's somehow a fate worse than death.

My spouse started telling people I only ate broccoli stems and liver for a year, and people would actually be interested in hearing more!!!

I mean I haven't announced it over loud speaker to my close friends but has just come up in conversation when they open a conversation about their own weight or struggles with food. My husband is the only one I talk to about it really but it's mostly just "on in the background " rather than an active conversation. He isn't trying to lose weight but needs to get his cholesterol down a bit so we do discuss nutrition somewhat.

I've been on a weight loss journey for the last six months and until this last week the only people who knew were the people who saw me eat so my closest family/friends and my workmates.

I was doing a bit of research into long term weight loss as I'm determined to get to goal and maintain for the long term and one suggestion was to put a public commitment into the world so I posted a bit of a mission statement on Facebook. The response was very heartwarming. Everyone was incredibly supportive.

Ultimately the only person that matters is you but it's always nice to have external support especially with long term weight loss.

More people as I went along, mainly because I've lost a noticeable amount of weight.