I live with my grandmother, and I REALLY love her. I just want to put that out there.
That said: I'm about to smash her with a hammer.
She used to be big. She's about 5'1 and at her heaviest she weighed 280. She got gastric bypass and lost a whole bunch of weight and has kept it off for like five years.
She's ALWAYS made comments about my weight and how I need to lose it. But it's gotten really bad this year. Passive aggressive stuff, outright stuff, all the time, and it makes me get b***y, and she can't seem to understand why.
She thinks she's a nutritionist and gets on my case about eating too much pasta and frigging HARPS on me about not eating enough protien, you gotta have protein, protien, protien, protien (I'm a semi-vegetarian, and apparently beans and tofu aren't protien according to Dr. Her.)
Anyhow, I thought starting to lose weight would get her off my back. But NOW all she does is RAVE about how proud of me she is, and how disgusted she used to be by my eating habits.
I'm like HOW is that supposed to be encouraging? I don't want to hear about how disgusted you used to be by me. I've only lost five pounds. Stop counting your MFing CHICKENS!
*deep cleansing breaths*
Then today I made the mistake of letting her overhear a conversation I was having with my best friend who is also overweight. She heard me say that my goal is 133 pounds.
She SCOFFED. "BRENDA-SUE you CAN'T get to a hundred and thirty three pounds!" Like I'm an idiot! Like she's talking to a four year old. I tried to argue and she cuts me off again, "You CAN'T, I've TRIED. I got down to 150 and I didn't feel good. My stomach didn't feel good. No way, I'll give you 150 cause you're taller, but that's ENOUGH."
... I tried to be the bigger person, but I failed. I said, "Well considering I'm not cutting up my digestive system, I don't think it's logical to say my stomach is going to feel the same way as yours does, don't you think?"
She continued to argue and I said: "Meme, I'm younger, taller, and more muscular than you. I'm losing the weight slower, and unlike you, I plan to exercise. I don't think it's fair for you to think you should know what my goals are, and I'm not asking you to sign off on them."
Needless to say we haven't spoken since.
WHAT is her ISSUE? WHY does she feel the need to tear me down for not trying, and then STILL tear me down when I am?!
I'm going insane.



I can't handle people who give unsolicited advice. I think subtlety isn't going to work with certain people. I would set some clear boundaries regarding what you will or won't tolerate. Start by congratulating her on how far she has come. Gastric bypass is not an easy route to take. However, let her know that you don't want any comments about your weight, your eating habits past, present and future and anything related to weight loss because even though she's trying to be helpful, her comments are not helpful. They are hurtful. Tell her you love her and you want to have a good relationship with her but that you're not interested in discussing this subject with her anymore. If it's too hard to say, or you think you'll get even more upset/emotional if you speak to her, perhaps a letter would do best, with an emphasis on how much you love her and enjoy her company.
I got the same reaction from my mom when she asked early on how much I wanted to lose. I'd lost 30 and said I wanted to lose 100. She argued with me (more like AT me because I did not participate). I think people really don't have a good concept of what pounds translate to in reality.
It's like they don't have anything else to think about or talk about. They love to focus on other people's flaws rather than look at their own. (BTW, Brenda (daughter of Venus), thanks for making me LOL!
I love the way you write!)
and that someone has to be strong enough to say something. Sometimes you have to be aggressive to get people to shut up.