No support from friends?

As great as it would be to have support from friends, I've found (mostly through listening to others' experiences) that, unless the friends are also trying to lose weight/diet/change exercise habits, they generally are not very supportive.

It may have to do with their own insecurities. Perhaps they feel they might benefit from exercising more as well, or making better diet choices, but are not currently trying to do so and therefore feel self-conscious when one of their friends has begun to make positive changes. When I made the decision to cut back substantially on alcohol, I noticed that my friends' responses ranged from "uh oh, you don't feel you need to lose weight, do you?!" to a marked decline in invitations to social events. Ugh. As if I was nuts (or a kill-joy) for wanting to limit my own alcohol intake.

Or perhaps they're the worrying kind who, whenever a friend mentions an interest in losing weight, immediately assumes that a poor body image may be the culprit.

Somehow, whatever the reason for lack of support among friends, it seems people who have decided to change their own diet/exercise/lifestyle habits are more successful in finding support from strangers (i.e. other members of sites like this) who have set similar goals and are making similar changes. I guess we can be thankful we have a large group of people with similar goals to whom we can relate!!

Long story short: best of luck to you, and try not to dwell on your friends' supportiveness -- or lack thereof -- in this context. If they are wonderful friends in every other facet of your life, be thankful for them there, and turn to other sources of support and motivation for your journey toward increased health and wellness.

thats why i dont say anything. i only have ONE friend who has said anything like 'oh your getting so thin!' 'you need to stop losing weight!' but i choose to take that as a compliment, i DO have 20 lbs to go before im at a 'healthy' weight.

As great as it would be to have support from friends, I've found (mostly through listening to others' experiences) that, unless the friends are also trying to lose weight/diet/change exercise habits, they generally are not very supportive.

It may have to do with their own insecurities. Perhaps they feel they might benefit from exercising more as well, or making better diet choices, but are not currently trying to do so and therefore feel self-conscious when one of their friends has begun to make positive changes. When I made the decision to cut back substantially on alcohol, I noticed that my friends' responses ranged from "uh oh, you don't feel you need to lose weight, do you?!" to a marked decline in invitations to social events. Ugh. As if I was nuts (or a kill-joy) for wanting to limit my own alcohol intake.

Or perhaps they're the worrying kind who, whenever a friend mentions an interest in losing weight, immediately assumes that a poor body image may be the culprit.

Somehow, whatever the reason for lack of support among friends, it seems people who have decided to change their own diet/exercise/lifestyle habits are more successful in finding support from strangers (i.e. other members of sites like this) who have set similar goals and are making similar changes. I guess we can be thankful we have a large group of people with similar goals to whom we can relate!!

Long story short: best of luck to you, and try not to dwell on your friends' supportiveness -- or lack thereof -- in this context. If they are wonderful friends in every other facet of your life, be thankful for them there, and turn to other sources of support and motivation for your journey toward increased health and wellness.

This is exactly what I would have said.

I get that from people all the time "you dont need to lose weight" or my absolute favourite is "you will never be a size 10 because you are big boned" grrrr i'm well on my way to prove to every1 that my chubbiness was a result of unhealthy eating and lifestyle and not being big boned ! Im a size 12 now so nearly there ! xxx

I get that from people all the time "you dont need to lose weight" or my absolute favourite is "you will never be a size 10 because you are big boned" grrrr i'm well on my way to prove to every1 that my chubbiness was a result of unhealthy eating and lifestyle and not being big boned ! Im a size 12 now so nearly there ! xxx

This!!!

Friends for whatever reason are not very supportive. Some of their views change when they see how great you look when you lost weight though.

thats why i dont say anything. i only have ONE friend who has said anything like 'oh your getting so thin!' 'you need to stop losing weight!' but i choose to take that as a compliment, i DO have 20 lbs to go before im at a 'healthy' weight.

I'm in the same boat lately. I use the comments to keep me going. I have a healthy BMI, but my body fat % is still higher than I'd like it to be. If they want to tell me I'm too skinny or try to get me to eat food way over my calories, that's not my problem. I'm way better at saying no and/or only eating what I can factor into my day. Everyone who knows me knows what I'm doing and how important it is to me (especially since I'm so close to my goal). So even if they don't help, I'm glad I've learned to self-motivate.