Weight Loss Support Give and get support here!

Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old 01-08-2007, 11:09 PM   #16  
Moderating Mama
Thread Starter
 
mandalinn82's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Woodland, CA
Posts: 11,712

S/C/G: 295/200/175

Height: 5' 8"

Default

Quote:
I think a lot of my problem is that I've tried to be as invisible as possible over the years
Exactly!

And I know that the fact that I have this hangup is no one's issue but my own. I just wish it wasn't such an issue.

Thanks everyone for the companionship on this one, and for the advice. I'll stick to my scripted responses for now, and hope that I adjust.
mandalinn82 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-09-2007, 12:07 AM   #17  
3 + years maintaining
 
rockinrobin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 12,070

S/C/G: 287/120's

Height: 5 foot nuthin'

Default

Yes, everyone has really given some great answers, just to add my half cent, it's definitely a mixed bag kind of a thing. I've gotten the "Have you had surgery?" one 2x in the past several days. I like the ones that say, "Wow, you look great" and leave it at that. When they press for an answer as to how I did it, that kind of bothers me, because I mean come on it's not rocket science. I'm obviously eating less and moving more. Why push it? I think perhaps they'd like to hear about some kind of magic potion or something.

The ones that ask for a number, now that's where I've got to come up with something to answer. I've got sooooo much more to still lose, I'm absolutely not ready to fess up to the large numbers already lost. Not sure if I ever will be ready to give up those numbers. Someone asked me the other day and I actually said around 50 or so. And it's over 78, you'd think I'd want credit for every pound lost, but I'm just not comfortable saying so and I'm just as uncomfortable fudging the numbers. I need to figure this one out.
rockinrobin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-09-2007, 10:00 AM   #18  
Senior Member
 
Mami's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: New York City
Posts: 671

S/C/G: 167/140/128

Height: 5'2"

Default

I think it would be important for you to figure out why (or deal with it as you probably already know) you prefer being invisible. Though I will say that I could not stand all the attention I got when I was pregnant and maybe its something like that? It was just a constant stream of the same comments and questions: "are you pregnant with triplets?", "that must be a big baby", "when are you due?" (thinking I'm about to pop when I had several months to go..LOL). I couldn't stand it anymore! On the other hand, I've been invisible lately and hated it! Now I'm catching men looking again (a good looking one yesterday!) and it makes me feel good.
Mami is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-09-2007, 10:36 AM   #19  
Kelly M
 
boaterswife's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: midwest
Posts: 1,629

S/C/G: 246/147/150 WW Goal

Height: 5'5"

Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by rockinrobin View Post
I like the ones that say, "Wow, you look great" and leave it at that. When they press for an answer as to how I did it, that kind of bothers me, because I mean come on it's not rocket science. I'm obviously eating less and moving more. Why push it? I think perhaps they'd like to hear about some kind of magic potion or something.
RockinRobin, this comment totally hit home with me! Give me a compliment if that is your intention, then let it drop! We all know the only real way to lose weight is eat less, move more. ANYONE can do, it's just whether or not they CHOOSE to do it. I don't want my life disected so they can find out what my secret trick is and that that's the only reason I lost weight. Yes, I do have a trick. It's called exercise and counting points.

I'm doing better with comments, except from my mom. She has always been very blunt, and I really feel she has no clue how harsh she can be, not just to me, but everyone. I'm glad that she's proud of me, but I did this for me, not for her. She's made it a habit of asking me every Saturday morning if I lost weight, and how much, like she's judging me. Bugs the crap out of me!
boaterswife is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-09-2007, 10:52 AM   #20  
Senior Member
 
LisaMarie71's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 2,860

S/C/G: 285.2/285.2/185

Height: 5'9"

Default

mandalinn, I'm with you (and many of the rest of you too). It IS uncomfortable, and it's hard to say that because you don't want people to think you're ungrateful for compliments. And when they first start coming, they really keep you motivated to continue. After a while, though, I've become kind of uncomfortable, but only with some of the comments. I guess if it's a quick "wow, you look great," like rockinrobin said, then it feels wonderful and I go on with my day. It's just when they press and keep talking about how big the change is, which makes me think about how awful I must have looked BEFORE. I don't want to think about that. That's one of the reasons I don't like saying the number of pounds I've lost, and that's what people keep pressing me for. Then the same people ask again and again, almost as if they're monitoring how fast I'm losing weight, which annoys me. I know they're just being nice and trying to be encouraging, but it feels weird. Also, when they see what a huge number of pounds I've lost (60) and see that I STILL have plenty of fat on me, I really don't want them doing the math and figuring out how much I let myself weigh before I changed my habits. I don't care, really, but sometimes I just want to do this without having to think about how other people view it. Most days, it's fine...but some days I honestly hope everyone will just focus on other things!

mandalinn, that is a great new picture -- love the collarbones!!!
LisaMarie71 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-09-2007, 12:23 PM   #21  
Moderating Mama
Thread Starter
 
mandalinn82's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Woodland, CA
Posts: 11,712

S/C/G: 295/200/175

Height: 5' 8"

Default

Quote:
I think it would be important for you to figure out why (or deal with it as you probably already know) you prefer being invisible.
Yep - already know and working on it. Its not even so much the weight thing for me (because I AM proud of that) or that people press for details (yes, they do, but that in itself isn't what makes me uncomfortable). Basically when I was little and got attention for anything, my family wasn't happy about it and it evolved into this whole "amanda does everything for attention" complex that got really deeply set in me, so that now I avoid it like the plague. Its a little more complicated than that, but basically, I'm afraid of getting attention because when I was younger and got attention from people, I'd get in trouble. I know, I'm weird, and its totally my issue and no one elses. But I think lots of people who have lost a lot of weight are so used to making themselves invisible that this might be an issue (as shown by the many responses on this thread).

But its nice to know that there are other people who don't like the probing questions, too - an off-handed compliment doesn't get me so much, but when I become the center of attention (as at Christmas eve, where I was surrounded by a group of 5 relatives, commenting on how great I looked, asking how much I'd lost and refusing to accept an answer-dodge, asking if I'd had surgery, etc) it was WAY too much.

Thank you everyone for the pic compliments...that was one of my Onederland pics.
mandalinn82 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-09-2007, 12:45 PM   #22  
Senior Member
 
Mami's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: New York City
Posts: 671

S/C/G: 167/140/128

Height: 5'2"

Default

Well that is a really sad story of little Amanda. All children deserve lots of attention and that was mean of your family to cast you in this role and not let you be you. Let's hope we can do better with our own children! Goes to show how much our childhoods effect us years later. You ARE worthy of attention and you are NOT an attention hog! Please remember that!

Rudeness like asking if you had surgery or trying to figure out how much you weighed is really quite outrageous! Wanting to know how you did it (even if just for inspiration for those who already know cal in v. out) and wanting to hear how a person changes their life and being excited for that person to the point that you want to hear all the details, maybe you can make an allowance for people on this front. In other words, maybe you can make allowances for the positive attention you receive from truly positive caring people (not negative types trying to pin down your original weight, etc) or for those who need some motivation to get OP, and leave 2 word answers for the negative people who are just looking for a way to make someone feel bad.

But you can only do this by coming to terms with the fact that your family was WRONG about your label. Even if you were trying to get attention as a kid, so what? There's nothing wrong with that either. Kids should be able to be themselves, so long as they're not hurting others or being outrageously obnoxious (like cussing).
Mami is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-09-2007, 12:48 PM   #23  
Searching for balance
 
Irishowl's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Northern California
Posts: 95

S/C/G: 247/241.2/150

Height: 5'6 - Female

Default

I've had the same issues. I am proud of myself for my weightloss, and proud that people can tell. But, I'm not used to being complemented for my physical appearance. I'm used to being noticed for my humor or my baking skills, not how thin my neck is.

When people ask how much more I want to lose I tell them truthfully. Most people never believed I weighed as much as I did. Alot of my friends don't believe I'm over 200 unless they see the scale. I carry it well I guess and I should be thankful for that. But that is also what allowed me to be in such denial that I was as heavy as 272.

The compliments that mean the most to me are the ones from my partner. She fell in love with me when I was at my highest weight. She loved me then and she loves me now. For her to tell me how proud she is of me........that's the best thing in the world.

Shannon
Irishowl is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-09-2007, 01:18 PM   #24  
Constant Vigilance
 
BlueToBlue's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Fremont, CA
Posts: 2,818

S/C/G: 150/132/<130

Height: just under 5'4"

Default

What about just coming right out and telling people you don't want to talk about it? You could say something like "I'm sorry, I know you don't mean any harm, but this is a really personal issue for me and I'm just not comfortable talking about it." Then redirect the conversation by asking them a question about themselves. Granted there are some jerks who this won't work with, but I've found that most people are pretty respectful of these kinds of requests.

I agree that talking about diet and weight loss can be very uncomfortable. It was definitely something I wasn't prepared for. I do a lot of public speaking. I've been speaking at the same conferences attended by the same people for about ten years. There was one conference last year in particular where it seemed like my weightloss was a sub-topic of the conference. I couldn't go to a single conference event without being asking about it multiple times. And it was definitely uncomfortable having people I know only professionally (and often times not that well) ask me intimate questions about diet and exercise. Despite the public speaking, I'm very introverted and extremely protective of my personal life, so it was definitely a struggle to talk about my weight loss.

Luckily I've found that most people don't really want to know the details. They are hoping I know some secret trick and when they find out it was just diet and exercise, we move on to another topic pretty quickly.
BlueToBlue is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-09-2007, 01:24 PM   #25  
Member
 
LittleElectron's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Cambridge
Posts: 85

S/C/G: 173/166/135

Height: 5'7"

Default

Irishowl, you are so lucky to have a partner like that Your post made me smile.

Mandalin and all the other folks, I totally agree that it is hard to accept being the center of attention. I'm a little different in that I think of this whole process as intensely, intensely personal. In fact, it took a huge amount of courage for me to be able to come to this board and talk about these issues in an upfront and honest manner. I can't help but feel that this is my body, my business, and people who comment on it (for good or for ill) are in some way violating my personal space.

Regardless, i am really impressed that you are working on a method that will hopefully make the whole conversation easier to deal with. *that's* impressive.
LittleElectron is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-09-2007, 01:36 PM   #26  
Just Yr Everyday Chick
 
JayEll's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Florida
Posts: 10,852

S/C/G: Lost 50 lbs, regained some

Height: 5'3"

Default

I am an amateur actress when I have the time--I've been in three plays at our community theater. These were three-week runs with paying audiences, so it's the real deal. I am overweight, yes, and in the last play I had to wear a waist cincher to get into the costume. And yet I don't think of my weight when I'm acting. Inside, I still think I am the normal-sized person I was when I was younger. Perhaps that makes a difference.

Anyway, as you can see, I don't mind attention if it's praise! I guess I just grew up differently. I did lots of things to get attention, and no one ever put me down for it.

I'm to the point where people are beginning to comment on my weight--those who haven't seen me in awhile--and it's OK with me. No one has asked me "how I've done it" yet, probably because I'm a ways from that point, where they would want to know. But I just would say the truth--I increased my exercise and I cut down on how much I ate. If they want more details, I could tell them my schedule and calories, but honestly, how boring is that after awhile? LOL! So I doubt it's a topic that would linger, unless someone was interested in doing it themselves.

Don't worry! Be happy! Keep with your program!

Jay
JayEll is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-09-2007, 04:02 PM   #27  
back in the game
 
futuresurferchick's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 928

S/C/G: 311/180/170

Height: around 5'10"

Default

I have been getting compliments everywhere I turn this week. I dunno what happened but somehow people's images of me have caught up with them and suddenly when they see me, they're surprised. It's weird.. I got my haircut and I think that has something to do with it. It makes me look thinner.

Anyway for the most part it's been nice, but it can be embarassing when people go on too long. I'm outgoing but also very introverted about personal details. I just try to be gracious and accept compliments with a smile and then I often find myself changing the subject out of mild embarassment.
futuresurferchick is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-09-2007, 06:48 PM   #28  
Ilene the Bean
 
Ilene's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Posts: 11,538

Default

Does anyone else sabotage their diet when compliments are coming, I do this a lot and sometimes this is what keeps me from losing my last 15# ... Makes me mad, I'm trying to change this bad habit... It's like I tell myself "ok, now I can eat because I'm looking good." "keep it up and you'll look better" is really what I should tell myself ...
Ilene is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-09-2007, 06:55 PM   #29  
Moderating Mama
Thread Starter
 
mandalinn82's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Woodland, CA
Posts: 11,712

S/C/G: 295/200/175

Height: 5' 8"

Default

Ilene - I do that. Generally, to try to make the attention stop...I've been working really hard at not letting myself self-sabotage.
mandalinn82 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-09-2007, 06:58 PM   #30  
Searching for balance
 
Irishowl's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Northern California
Posts: 95

S/C/G: 247/241.2/150

Height: 5'6 - Female

Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ilene View Post
Does anyone else sabotage their diet when compliments are coming, I do this a lot and sometimes this is what keeps me from losing my last 15# ... Makes me mad, I'm trying to change this bad habit... It's like I tell myself "ok, now I can eat because I'm looking good." "keep it up and you'll look better" is really what I should tell myself ...


I have done this before. My weight is the wall I built around myself, made of pizza boxes and ice cream cartons. It's hard to let that wall down and really put yourself out there for the world to see. The weight does feel like my armor. I'm working on that though, but it's hard.

Shannon
Irishowl is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off



All times are GMT -4. The time now is 01:35 AM.


We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.