I started at 234 lbs. and it took losing 30 lbs. before anyone but ME really noticed.

I have wonderful, wonderful dreams where that happens. The people are usually high school friends/acquaintences. I really hope it happens to me in real life. Especially if it was one of those choice high school peoples. :)

I think you are quite right about it being the time. I'm not upset that people aren't noticing. I just wondered about the rest of you.

I think people notice a rapid weight loss because it is so fast. They also notice when that weight packs back on because it was lost too fast. (I'm not talking about people who lose over 100 lbs. I'm talking about someone who needs to lose less than 50).

What kind of cancer did you survive, if I may ask?

I don't care that others don't notice, because I notice and DH notices and that is all that matters :)

mare - i was diagnosed with leukemia last year and luckily am in remission due to medication only. extremely lucky i don't need a bone marrow transplant at the moment. but the medication controls and doesn't cure, so i'm always fighting it. there's always the chance i can come out of remission, so a healthier lifestyle all the way around is what i'm looking for. i started trying to lose the weight before i was diagnosed, and being diagnosed was just a big push for me to keep going in the right, or "downward" haha, direction!

Oh, Lori, bless your heart. My uncle was diagnosed with it last year. He's 80 and wants to maintain as best he can. He works 3 half days a week. He has never been able to sit still. They are trying some sort of experimental treatment on him. He's willing to be a guinea pig because of his age. He feels that if it helps someone his age, them maybe young people may have a better chance if it is successful.

A little prayer just went up for you.

Thanks for sharing.

i think the people who see you everyday are the ones that take longer to notice whereas somone who doesn't see you everyday will notice immediatley -at about 10 to 15 lbs weight loss -

Janny O ~ Wow! you lost 43 lbs in 5 months! It took me 14 months to lose 50 lbs. Your co workers are obviously blind! Just keep looking in the mirror and remind yourself how much you've lost in such a short time.

A few years ago, one of my good friends put herself on a diet and started exercising. She never mentioned it, but she slowly lost about 50 pounds. *None* of us noticed until she went away for a couple of weeks. When she came back it finally dawned on us all that she was looking very trim, and compliments abounded. I feel a bit bad about not having noticed sooner! When I put myself on my first diet a few months later, she (and others) noticed after my first 5 pounds (ie, after I'd been dieting one week and had lost some water weight). Some people are more observant than others, I guess, and I would suppose that someone who has struggled with their weight and weight loss would be more tuned in to these things.

At any rate, no one should take it as a sign of not having made any progress if others fail to notice. Most of us are too self-absorbed :)

Heck, there's a thread here about how someone is offended that a salesgirl asked her height and then offered where the petites department was. (Petites fit smaller than misses, not just shorter.)

It took about 20 lbs for ME to notice that my clothes fit better. (Now, having lost more than 35 lbs+, I actually need a belt for some of my old pants.)

However, it took much longer for other people to notice my weightloss. The few people who have commented did not say anything until after I hit the 30 lb mark. And most of the people I see every day still have not noticed. So, I think it's a matter of how much you've lost and how frequently you see someone. Gradual changes associated with weightloss are often hard to detect.

Congratulations on your progress so far, though

Indeed, some people are definitely more observant than others.
I must admit that I was a bit sad when no one noticed my weight loss before. Now that I am almost 20 pounds lighter, people started to take notice. It's good to receive compliments from people but there is also a downside, that is, I receive more unwanted attention than before.

I'm losing really slowly, but finally my son's girlfriend asked me a couple of weeks ago it I was losing weight, and my DH says he can really notice. Today I was in the elevator going up to my office and a women (about my age) who works on the same floor got in with me. Now she has been working in the same building about the same amount of time as me (6 Years) and she has REALLY lost some weight. I told her that she looked like she had lost a lot of weight. I was a little nervous saying this to her because you never know if someone has been sick or something. She said that in the last few weeks she had lost about 6 lbs. due to her husband being in the hospital but, she said that before that she had lost 50 lbs. She was very proud of herself (and she should be) :cp: . Then she asked me if I had lost some weight and I told her I had. She said that she thought I had and that I looked good.

It sure makes you feel great, doesn't it ;) although my co-workers haven't said a thing.

I've lost 29 pounds and only my mother has noticed. I dont see her that often so she always remembers me from the last time I saw her. It feels good that she noticed though. Also, I thought kids that I went to high school would notice but then I realized that I weighed this much in high school so in the three years they hadn't seen me, they had no idea i even gained a bunch of weight and then lost it. They just remember me how i was, which is the size i am now.

I think that when people you interact with on a daily basis dont notice, its for the simple fact that they see you ever freakin day. I mean, when you see a child at age 4 and not again till age 8....it's a huge difference. But if you are witht that kid everday for that four years, you dont notice that they are growing.

I started getting concerned about why people arent noticing, because it made me feel like maybe i didnt look any different. But then i realized that I dont comment on peoples weight loss either, so maybe no one else does. I dont know....but if YOU can see and you feel better about yourself...thats all that really matters.

Jana, we have fairly similar stats. Several people noticed when I had lost 15, but I think that was mainly because I lost in my face early on. Most of the last few pounds I gained were in my face as well.

Hello Cbmare

re: how long before people notice . .

Just what I needed to hear tonite! We think because the people we are with all the time don't say anything than nothing is happening. I needed to be reminded. I am stuck. Only 2/lb loss. . . . reading your sharing makes it real that I will feel it when I loose 8/more and have a total of 10/lb loss. Thanks for sharing!