I generally responded with something like "Quite a bit!" and then turned the subject to something else.

My problem with it, aside from the general rudeness of asking somebody a personal question, is that once you've lost a great deal of weight and you tell somebody the number, you can see the look on their face as they do the math and try to figure out what you weighed to start. You don't have to answer the question many times to figure out that the slightly vacant look on their faces means their internal conversation is "Well, she's lost X, and she's still kind of chunky, so she must have weighed at least X."

My answer is different if the question comes from somebody clearing looking for help with their own weight problem, and it becomes very easy to tell if it's this or simply curiosity.

I'm so tickled at having lost his much weight that I'll brag about it every chance I get. So, when someone asks how much weight I've lost, I answer honestly and happily.

This is exactly how I feel!


I think generally people have NO idea what X amount of weight looks like. I think people actually tend to think 10 or 20 pounds looks like WAYYYYYY more than it actually does.

For me the honesty of it I think helps bring the shame OUT of it. Anyone who saw me knew I was overweight, a lot overweight! For me, trying to pretend like it isn't a big deal that I've lost this much weight would be a lie. It IS a big deal, I'm proud of it, and I can only hope that sharing with people who are interested may somehow help someone sometime.

I haven't really lost enough for people to ask, I get a lot of 'you look great!' and stuff but no comment on the weight loss yet unless I bring it up, which of course if fine. I have talked about my intent to lose weight with some friends tho, and when they've asked how much I want to lose they've been dumbfounded at the answer (100+lbs). My own husband, even, was pretty shocked when I told him what I weighed. A couple people have even given me lectures about losing too much and how I don't want to be all skinny and sick looking. I'm pretty tall, so I think part of it is jut that people have an idea of what almost 300 lbs look like - on a 5 ft nothing woman. They just don't think about what 290 looks like on a 5' 11'' frame, and a wide one at that. My shoulders are about 2" wider than my hubby's, shoulder bone to shoulder bone. I've had people tell me I look proportionate at this weight (!), my husband would've guessed I had 40-50 lbs to lose, and people's jaws have literally dropped when they found out that i was more than 100 lbs overweight. I think the other part of it is that people lie about their weight all the time, so even if they did think about it, people wouldn't know what weight looked like on different sized people. Thats why I like http://www.mybodygallery.com/ - it gives me a realistic idea of what I look like now, and what I"m going to look like when I lose xxx weight.

I was talking with a coworker yesterday and weight loss came up, and I told her I've lost 75lbs within the past year. We then got into things like clothing sizes, and she had the nerve to look me up and down and then say, "yeah, I think for someone your age, a 6 would be ideal." I don't think she meant any harm by the comment, but who is she to tell me what size I should be? Most people just say, "Wow! Good for you!" It kinda threw me off guard.

However, I'm still not ashamed of my weight loss and don't mind sharing at all. It's an accomplishment that I'm very proud of; why should I be ashamed?

wait..what?! I would have had to pick my jaw up off the floor.

Someone did say something to me today! it was "your pants and sweater don't fit." just simply informing me.

Blows my mind the mind of people out there, sorry you have a coworker like that

I loved saying the number out loud during the process and now in maintenance as well. After carrying around that extra 100 lbs for 20 years and now keeping it off for more than 2, I want to shout it to the world that it is possible to lose large amount of weight and keep it off even if you've failed before.

I tell the exact number. I get this a lot at work. People ask because they know how hard I've been working to get the weight off. It's funny, I was very ashamed of my weight before I started losing, but now that I have lost a ton, I have no problem admitting what I USED to be and even telling my weight now.

Congratulations ! You are a great example that it can be done.

That is so me! I talk about my weight loss journey constantly, so I have coworkers asking me on a daily basis about my weight.

When I get to goal, I may have my principal say something on the morning announcement... Or maybe have a staff meeting after work one day... I'm that excited! But I guess I should be as when I get to my pre-surgery goal, I will have lost 170 pounds, and when we return to work in August, I will (hopefully) have lost 190 pounds and be at final goal and in full time maintenance!

I have not yet been asked that, but I'm not sure what I would say! I don't think people are trying to be rude, but my response would probably depend on the questioner and setting.

As I don't weigh myself, I can honestly say something like "I actually don't know but I had to buy new clothes." For quite a few people, the fact that I didn't measure/monitor my weight loss, they thought I must have lost the weight "accidentally" like an illness. I had to reassure them that I don't have any terminal illness and that I feel fine. To me, it illustrates how significant the number on the scale determines one's evaluation of their health.

I fall into the honesty crowd. I think I am in disbelief of my journey or sometimes downplay my loss. When others react positively, it boosts me right up!

For a while I was denying trying to lose weight. I still deny it since I started this because of heartburn. But now that it's noticible, I have said, "20 ish pounds."