What do y'all do if you find that people around you are starting to be competitive with your weight loss? How do you tell people to back off?

I need that competitiveness. It helps me with my weightloss. But if u find that someone is doing that and u don't want them to be, just tell them that this isn't a race. Ur not doing this to compete with others. Maybe them competing with u is actually helping them with their weightloss. This girl at work started doing that with me and its actually helped us both with losing weight.

If you don't like competition, you can choose not to participate, but you can't choose the competitiveness of anyone else. You can only take yourself out of the "race" you can't sideline anyone else.

I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with competition. I realized recently that I do best with competition, so I'm rejoining TOPS (Taking Off Pounds Sensibly, a non-profit weight loss group).

I sat in on free meetings for the groups in my area, and decided against the closest meeting (only a few blocks from our apartment), because the group was too small and they were admittedly very laid back, and didn't do many "contests." (many groups do individual and team weight loss/exercise contests and challenges).

That being said, I'm more comfortable with competition from strangers than from family, but that's really my problem.

My sister recently told me that with mom getting her second knee surgery, I was going to have a hard time "keeping up" with Mom (in terms of weight loss). My mom lost about 80 lbs on WW and has kept at least 65 off. She wants to lose more, and her knees have always been her justification for not losing more. I don't consider my 85 lbs to be equivalent to my mom's 65, because she started with a lot less to lose (about 100 lbs less), so I'm still eating her dust, but because I've lost more weight, sometimes my mom feels that I'm "in the lead."

Just like any competition though, there are some rules for good sportsmanship. Being positive and encouraging to others, no name calling or put down's, no attempts to sabotage or undermine someone else's progress, allowing everyone a degree of "bragging rights" without resorting to "one-upmanship."

If someone is being a poor sport, you can try to draw it to their attention (friendly teasing tends to work better than scolding in my experience), but ultimately their competitiveness doesn't have to be your problem, unless you allow it to be. Roll your eyes, laugh at them in your head, whatever you need to do to keep it in perspective.

I'm so glad you asked this question because it's something I've really been struggling with recently. One of my co-workers started losing weight after she noticed my weight loss. But whereas I try very hard to be healthy about my weight loss with a lot of attention to nutrition, she seems to have lost her weight by starving herself and over-exercising. She now looks way too thin. I wish I could act like Kaplods said and just do what I need to do to keep it in perspective, but for some reason I'm so irritated! Maybe it's my own issues with competitiveness...

Anyway, I would also love to hear how other people cope with this issue. Thanks!!!

You remind yourself that the point of losing weight isn't just to be thin...its also to be healthy. Not to mention you're going to have an easier time maintaining your weight loss because you're making life-style changes, instead of just not eating for while.

People need their motivation wherever they can find it. Being in a "competition" by be the only way your friend can convince herself to lose weight. Take it as a compliment...you're a threat so you must be doing something right!

When you feel irritation remind yourself that if she's actually starving herself and over-exercising at the same time that she's probably *miserable* inside no matter how she might like how she looks on the outside. And, it probably won't last for all that long.

You may take a bit longer to get to your goal but you'll be healthier and happier while you do it AND you'll have no trouble maintaining the good habits you've developed. Her example is nothing to be jealous of at all!