Does anybody else notice that their friends have changed their eating habits around you?

I visited a friend a few weeks ago. The last time she saw me, I was ten pounds heavier. Now, I am close to a normal weight and I fit into nicer clothes. When she and I went out to eat, she would watch what I ate and then eat less than me.

Another friend did something similar. She saw that I lost weight and then all of a sudden, she was eating salads instead of regular cooked entrees.

Both of these friends have had success with weight loss. They look perfectly fine. I wonder if my weight loss has triggered something in them psychologically. Their actions don't make me mad or anything, but I feel weird, kind of like I'm on display. I don't feel bad enough to want to stop them, but I just wanted to see if anyone else has had the same experience and felt strange about it.

My guess is that they don't want to look bad in front of you. I bet they are feeling guilty for eating less healthy foods. I always feel like a pig if I am eating pizza and the person next to me just gets salad! I went to visit a friend of mine a week or so ago, and when we went out to dinner I felt better about myself when I ate less than her. That's not to say that I didn't eat enough to fill me up, but I have always felt huge around this friend because most of our lives I have been eating twice as much as her at every meal we had together. I guess it was something of a portion control victory for me to eat less than her!

Anyway, I bet they feel like THEY are on display, because now they have to compare their diets to your healthy eating!

I notice my family does that too. But I think it is more of a courtesy to me. They know I am working VERY hard to lose weight and be healthy and they don't wan't to take any chance of derailing me or frustrating me by eating large portions or sinful foods in front of me. Despite being thin themselves, they don't want to sabotage my efforts in any way.

Those are good perspectives. I never thought about it from my friends' point of view -- that they might be self-conscious about their weight loss and don't want to eat more than me. And it's nice to have support from friends. People who understand that we don't want to go to restaurants all the time anymore.

My neighbor has lost almost 60 pounds. She looks so good it has motivated me to try to lose my excess weight! It's not that I'm jealous of her and I am very happy for her actually! It just motivates me that she is doing so well, and I want to do the same for myself.

Maybe you should take it as a compliment!

Lesley


Congratulations on your weight loss!

I definately think it is a compliment!! You are doing great and I think they also want to encourage you!!
I went out with a friend of mine and I thought it was nice because she asked me..."where and what can you eat?"...that was nice since a few weeks ago another one of my friends said "I'm going to taco bell, we'll get you something to eat later..."
Later came and you'll never guess where she wanted to go?! Yep...Taco bell again...sheesh!

Stay healthy all keep going toward your goal and remember the old saying:
The difference between FAT and FIT is I.