Everyone I know knows I'm a big girl. They can see it. Yet for whatever reason, I'm guessing my height in comparison to theirs, they all thought I was between 180-210lbs. I didn't tell them different cause I didn't see a reason to tell anyone my actual weight. So lately I have started to be asked by a lot of people how much more I have to lose since I've lost 37lbs this time around (from being 288 the second time around, 335 in round one) and I say 116 and they freak out saying I can't lose that much since I'm 180lbs! and then I tell them im 251. Some people are just like wow ok and encourage me to go for it or say im lucky to be tall so I don't look it ( im not actually tall, ppl here are just short, im 5'8). But my mother freaked out. She demanded I lose the weight NOW. Like its something I could get rid of in a week if I really wanted too. I tried to explain to her I'm working on it and its going just fine. about 2lbs a week. she bases all weight loss on her friend thats lost the same 20lbs and regained it over the last 20 years. her friend is in weight watchers and loses 7lbs a week and gains it all back in a month. but mom thinks I can lose 7lbs every week and be skinny in no time. What gets me besides that is that she only freaked out when she knew the number. She sees me every week she knew how big I was, so why did her perception suddenly change from 'oh youre a lil chubby' to omg youre so hugeee. My appearance hasn't changed from when she saw me the week before. all thats changed is she now knows im 251 and not 180.
has anyone else experienced similar things. especially girls above 5'4
Last edited by CherryQuinn; 03-10-2012 at 07:39 PM.
Wow she must not have ever had to lose alot of weight before. Wouldn't it be amazing if we could just snap our fingers and lose it right now. You should tell her that youre losing slowly and in a healthy way so you'll be less likely to gain it all back later
People can be strange, try not to give it too much thought. A guy once guessed that I weighed 120 when I was actually 140 and when I tell my parents that I want to lose 30 more pounds, they act shocked. But I'm 160, 30 pounds puts me firmly in my healthy weight range. =/
Numbers confuse people, even those of us attempting to lose weight.
im from newfoundland. its about 5'3-5'4 here. i'm not 6 ft tho lol my bro is 6'5. but i am a girl i guess but next to ppl 6'5 all the time i feel short lol i think ppl think in terms of their own body instead of my dimensions
I am 5'9''. I know what you mean about people being surprised about how much you weigh. I started at 286 but didn't tell people my weight for awhile. I am down 100 lbs and people are surprised at how much I started at. They are also surprised that I am 186 now. I don't think anyone has a realistic view of how much a weight looks like or a size.
I have some people tell me it looks like I grew taller or they did not realize how tall I was until I lost weight.
Yes. I've experienced that. I'm 5'8" also. The few people that have known my weight are surprised too... and led to me to just keep it under wraps because they sometimes are a pain about it. Saves a lot of this type of grief -- like with your mom who is now "cranked up" over it where before she knew, she was fine. My parents went that way to and it drove me NUTS with their advice. Finally I said it just wasn't up for discussion. Neither of them ever lost major weight before or deal in prediabetes so they couldn't see how "drink green tea!" was kinda silly. Yes, I drink tea. I like how it tastes. But acting like chugging gallons of it would "cure" me? That's silly.
So I don't bother to tell people in real life my weight or how much I am trying to lose.
The last time I went to the doctors, and was 200 pounds, the women taking my weight was convinced the scale was off balance or something and took it on another xD...At 230 pounds my mom was shocked at how much I weighed and thought I was more like 180...And at 184-185 she thinks I look "Skinny"....Our perceptions of a "Normal" weight are actually overweight because so much of the population has a unhealthy bmi. Haha if people guess how much I weigh now, I'll just let them think it's their tiny number xD
I am almost six feet tall, nobody realizes how much i weigh. When i tell them how much i want to weigh they think its a lot and i have to remind them that i am a good half a foot taller than them, or more.
I'm 5'8" and weigh 180 and carry it well (a lot of it is in my chest). 135 is what I weighed at my skinniest, probably college? It's not like you'll be giant and unhealthy until you weigh 135 and then over night you'll change. You'll get healthier and look better as you lose. You may find that 180 or 160 or 150 suits you.
Personally, I think people can't really gauge correctly how much you weigh unless they are used to guessing that weight (whether it's because that person is focused on weight loss and KNOWS about weight or for whatever other reason).
People think all the time I weigh less than what I do, and for a long time I thought I carried my weight well.
Now, I think that we just have weird perceptions of our own bodies in relation to others -- I have a friend who is an inch or two taller and she is a size or two smaller than me and we look close to the same... but not enough. She has a similar body to mine and she looks slight smaller and she is 10 lbs less than I am. So, chances are, I will look like her when I weight 10 lbs less. It makes sense.
I have another friend who's body shape is entirely different -- she's tall and no curves (except her chest) -- and guessing her weight was difficult. Turns out she weighs the same as the friend above! I would have never guessed correctly because she's another couple inches taller than Friend #1 and she has no curves. It's not a body shape that I know.
Two other friends weigh 120 lbs each (soaking wet) and I wouldn't have guessed it either -- they are both 2 or 3 inches shorter than me and don't have the same body type either.
I'm 5'8" and weigh 180 and carry it well (a lot of it is in my chest). 135 is what I weighed at my skinniest, probably college? It's not like you'll be giant and unhealthy until you weigh 135 and then over night you'll change. You'll get healthier and look better as you lose. You may find that 180 or 160 or 150 suits you.
Perhaps stop telling people what you weigh?
I only tell them because they freak out when i mention how much I have left to lose. they assume im aiming to be 65 lbs instead of 135lbs. Some think 135 lbs is too little but its perfectly average weight for my height. Some ppl in this thread have mentioned societies view of weight being unhealthy because of us being so used to unhealthy weights. I believe this is true as well. I had a friend who was 5 feet tall. She has a bad heart. She weighs 215lbs. Her doctors told her to get down to 100-115lbs for her height and she went off on me about how terribly skinny that is. But for her height thats perfectly normal. Shes actually putting her health at risk because she doesnt want to be 'one of those skeleton girls' at 110lbs. Problem is those 'skeleton girls' of 110lbs are my height, not 8 inches shorter.
I only tell them because they freak out when i mention how much I have left to lose. they assume im aiming to be 65 lbs instead of 135lbs. Some think 135 lbs is too little but its perfectly average weight for my height. Some ppl in this thread have mentioned societies view of weight being unhealthy because of us being so used to unhealthy weights. I believe this is true as well. I had a friend who was 5 feet tall. She has a bad heart. She weighs 215lbs. Her doctors told her to get down to 100-115lbs for her height and she went off on me about how terribly skinny that is. But for her height thats perfectly normal. Shes actually putting her health at risk because she doesnt want to be 'one of those skeleton girls' at 110lbs. Problem is those 'skeleton girls' of 110lbs are my height, not 8 inches shorter.
I guess what I meant is stop discussing actual numbers at all. Just say "oh, I'm not sure, I'll see when I get there. So, how is your sex life?" Or "I'm not sure, my doctor's keeping track of it so I'm safe. So, when are you going to get married?" Swing the inappropriate questions back to them and change the subject.
At 5'6, I apperently pull my weight off really well but I never saw it that way. When I told people I wanted to lose 30 pounds, they thought I would end up being like 110 or something. Then when I told them that I was 160 it was "Omg, you weigh THAT much, I can't tell!". Through my eyes tho, I felt like a hippo so I thought everyone else saw me as a hippo as well.
Anyways, I started out with the goal of 137. I was that weight a few years ago and was happy with how my body was. However, now that I am close to it, my body is completely different then before. I have had to lower my weight goal since I know at 137, but body will not look the same as it did a few years ago. It's funny how our bodies can look complete different at the exact same weight. My bff weighs the same as me but her body is completely different. She is even the same height as me.
As for your mother, try to just let it roll off your shoulders and keep on going. Numbers can scare people since everyone has it set in their mind what 130 pounds looks like. People online were guessing Nina Dobrev (vampire diaries) weighs 110 pounds. She is my height. If that girl weighed 110 pounds, she would be dead. I'm pretty positive she weighs like 135, but in Hollywood, that number would make you sound obese!
I think any weight over 200 starts to freak people out a bit. You could be 4'11 and almost 100 pounds overweight, and still be under 200, so your weight wouldn't make someone's eyes bulge out of their head.
But especially if you're taller like me, and a woman... it's pretty easy to scare people with how much you weigh. For some reason people think all women should be about 120 pounds optimally. So I don't bother with saying my weight - people never ask and i don't volunteer. Let them think what they want! (And they often do underestimate... all the better!).
People knowing what I actually weigh O_O
