Afraid to loose weight

umm no. Positive attention is a good thing as long as you dont act on it.

Honestly, it can be pretty annoying, but you get used to it. And think of it this way - if you lose some weight and regret it, you can always gain it back again.

I think using that as an excuse is absurd (no offense). People will talk about overweight people just as much if not more than thinner people. They just don't say it to your face. It's essential to be HEALTHY.

it's not an absurd excuse. I know most people would find it baffling, however, if you've ever been the victim of a sexual assault, you build up walls around yourself, and that can include gaining weight as a "barrier" if you will (be it subconsciously or not)- anything to make an assault not happen again - so you may even find a way to make yourself "unattractive." Now, I'm not saying that this person has done this, or been a survivor of an assault, but just saying people often have fears and sometimes unwanted attention is VERY scary to people. My husband has a social anxiety disorder, and is scared to death of people noticing him, so it just depends on the individual's perception of how the attention is given/received, and also their reaction to it. Just offering another view on this- as someone with friends/family members that are survivors of sexual assault.

You will learn to ignore the remarks. There are idiots everywhere but you shouldn't let them rule your life or ruin your health.

Honestly, it can be pretty annoying, but you get used to it. And think of it this way - if you lose some weight and regret it, you can always gain it back again.

:laugh: Yeah, that last part is pretty easy.

I know what you mean -- I had such a weird, vague feeling of unease with the idea of shedding the weight that I never really knew what I was afraid of. The "unwanted attention" is one fairly easy reason, but there are others deep inside. I had tried to lose weight many times, and it is only this last time (since December) when I decided to "take no prisoners". I made a hard and fast rule to exercise every day and to track through MFP every day, but I added journal exercises, some discussions with a psychologist (I only went a few times, but it sure helped) and continuing questioning as I have lost the weight to see where the fear is, what is going on, and how I feel. There has been no unwanted attention. There has been a slowly growing happiness about how good it feels to move, and a growing enjoyment of wearing nice (not frumpy, but certainly not outrageous!) clothes that fit well. Nothing bad has happened. There are still some fears, but I think they are not really about weight or body or how I look.

If you don't think counselling is for you, there are some good web resources like Linda Spangle (weightlossjoy.com) that can help work on the background to why we use weight and what good stuff we get from it. It's hard to lose something we feel like we need -- that stopped me for a long time.

You'll get there if you keep exploring the why -- good luck!

You are NOT alone!!! I will write again soon as on my cell phone. I was googling "my subconscious afraid to lose weight" and your comment feed came up. I love that you said, "I'm not sure why". You are candid and vulnerable and willing to be curios and dig deeper. For me with this life long issue it's not about forcing my body into submission but more about peeling away layers that only I can peel...hardest thing I've ever done. And that's just my path. No one need judge...it is what it is. Besides, there are people with under 30% body fat, fit as a fiddle, perhaps the envy of many but it doesn't guarantee health on all levels (a lot of thin people have health problems too) or happiness. The important thing is you are questioning...that you're brave enough to risk looking foolish (which you don't by the way so please keep in mind when others say that you're feelings are crazy or an excuse) and you are initiating change. Cheers to you, and thank you.