I've been pretty private about my weight loss journey the only people that know are my mother and one of my closest friends but more people are starting to notice that I've lost weight which opens up the discussion on what I've been doing.

I haven't told anyone. Then again, I haven't even lost 5 pounds yet! :D

When (if?) people start noticing I'm losing weight, I'll probably start being more public about it.

I think both options can be tough. Because if you don't share then people will notice and say something and it might be awkward or they won't say something and that might be weird too lol But they could also end up being food police like others have said.

And it also feels like if you say something then you are admitting you are a fatty and shining this huge spotlight on it and every move you make.

I also love to talk about my changes and all the positive stuff & accomplishments. But if you stumble and fall it is really embarrassing too.

My husband ofcourse knows. My mom & sisters know and I blog about it and they have the link and read it. I like to share but at the same time I have become a little more restrictive over what I share. You get alot of advice lol

No one else in my life I have told. Maybe when I have lost a significant amount. I have actually been thinking alot about it recently. Because I am very active on facebook and use it to stay in tough with my family that all lives far away from me but everyone and their brother wants to be your friend lol So like all of my husbands family and friends are on there too lol.

I am super close to having lost 20lbs total and thought of announcing it on facebook when I did like yay me 20 lbs gone. But I changed my mind. I would just feel too much in the spotlight and embarrassed :( But I think when I lose a bit more i might!

At the beginning, I NEVER talked about dieting or even that I was trying to lose weight, but now I'm pretty open about it. I have gotten some food police comments but I just laugh it off or whatever. I don't really care what people think. At this point I've lost so much weight that it's very noticeable and people ALWAYS comment and ask what I've been doing, and it's a really important thing to me to be able to talk about my weight without being ashamed, so I never shy away from the subject. And actually at this point I'm so interested in food, nutrition and exercise that once you get me started, good luck shutting me up! I'm sure my family and close friends get sick of hearing about it, but this is a big thing to me and I need to talk about it from time to time, so they are just going to have to deal with it, haha.

I don't advertise, but I also don't keep it a secret because that can result in a lot of wasted effort, and if you do lose much weight, it becomes obvious anyway. I told my husband, of course, and I told my mom because I still tell her almost everything. I also told my best friend because she also has a weight issue, and we've always understood each other, and she's a huge source of support.

Beyond that, I didn't announce it, but when someone asks (one friend asked after 15 lbs., but she's the only one so far who has said anything), I don't hide things, either. I imagine others have noticed as well, but lots of people just don't say anything because it's so taboo. It seems silly to feel so ashamed of going on a diet-- after all, if you're obese, people would surely think better of you if you're trying to do something about it. I do understand the shame-- I've felt it in the past and hid my diet as well, but as I've grown older (27, so not all that old, really), I care less what others think anyway, and it makes life so much easier to not have to expend so much energy hiding a secret.

Not having to keep it a secret can be so freeing-- first, if you know others know, there's a bit of social pressure to stick with it so you don't publicly fail. That can bother some people, but for others it motivates, so you just have to decide which type of person you are. Second, you don't have to feel weird about turning down food offers or bringing your own food to something, etc. because you're trying to keep your diet a secret. I've also been more successful when I feel like I can be assertive about my food choices-- I can't do that without raising questions if I'm trying to hide it. Most real friends will be supportive. I've found that the annoying ones are the coworkers or people who aren't that close to you and don't care as much about you or your feelings. People also sometimes have trouble with extended family or parents, but in most cases I think it's people older than you who have always seen you as a child, even if you're now 60 years old.

The only annoying food police type person I have ever dealt with in my family is my grandma-- but she makes up for at least three other food policemen! I can't ever do anything right, she always knows hte best way to lose weight, and she's weighed around 100 lbs. her whole life and never dieted a day (she's just under 5'). So, I try to avoid talking to her about it, but she eventually always found out when my efforts started to show results. Now, she's beginning to suffer from dementia, which is sad of course, but she doesn't seem to notice my WL at all now. I had lost 70 lbs. before getting pregnant, and she swore I looked "just as fat as ever" when my grandpa commented on how good I was looking.

I've been pretty open about my dieting, which isn't typical for me. Usually I don't self disclose, for fear of others seeing me fail. When I strapped on a Bodybugg, I couldn't avoid the questions, so that sort of forced the issue. I probably wouldn't have said much if not for that.

It's kind of that thing people know about me, but we don't really have conversations about it. Kind of like hair or eye color. We know it's there but we don't have to talk about it. I haven't lost massive amounts of weight, though. That's the sort of thing that induces diet conversations.

Besides my husband, my family doesn't know. I'll tell them next time I see them or if the subject comes up.

It's kind of like that topic that is there, and I'm open for discussion, but I'm not going to go out of my way to bring it up.

The only people that I actually told, before losing a pound, were my husband and kids, and my co-worker who started losing weight about a month before me. I didn't think that anyone else needed to know! If I had failed, as I always had, I didn't need others to make me feel worse than I would have. Now that I'm succeeding at losing weight, others at work have started complimenting me and asking how I'm doing it. It's fun to share my excitement, and it helps to have their support. Luckily, the couple people who might not approve of my method (Optifast and SERIOUS exercise) don't ask. Once my clothes started sagging off me, it became pretty obvious.

I was surprised at how many of the gals that I work with really seem to care about what I'm doing! I've worked with most of them for years and not really been very close friends, but in hindsight it was probably my shyness and discomfort with myself more than anything that they did. I'm far from my goal, but my increased self-confidence and all-out joy at how good I'm feeling seems to draw people in. I get more smiles and even regular conversation than ever before, but I also think that I am walking wih my head up and a smile on my face more often than not, so that makes a huge difference.

My husband has tried a couple times to question my food choices, but I shut him down real quick. When I weigh in every week and lose weight, it just reinforces to him that I know what I'm doing, and I'm not going to go crazy over food and give up again.

I agree with you, we really can't be private about weight loss and it does seem silly to try. People are going to notice that you're smaller just like they would notice if you cut your hair, dyed it, etc. It's an obvious change and folks will take notice. Funny if you think about it though, we often get angry if nobody notices if we change our hairstyle :)

I think most of the "hiding" comes from fear of failure. If we tell everyone we're losing weight and then fail at it we're afraid we'll look like a failure to everyone. However, I think many fail to realize that by telling people (i.e. those close to you) of your intentions you may end up with a tight-knit support group which leads to success. Hiding due to fear of failure may just lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy, unfortunately.

I didn't tell anyone because I wasn't setting out to lose weight when I started and when I began losing weight I too was afraid of failing. I'm lucky that hiding it didn't cause me to stop or regain, but I'm sure for others that's not always the case.

We need to realize that this isn't a private journey and people are going to notice :) There are so many people who haven't seen me since I was 200 pounds and the first thing they say upon seeing me (even before "hi!") is "WOW YOU LOST WEIGHT."

Of course, sarcastic me likes to say (depending on my relationship said person of course) "I thought my clothes were big on me!"

I don't like telling people. However, I'm at the point now that it's not something that I can really hide anymore (just see my thread about why I don't like talking about my weight loss in public!).

However, I think some people really do need that accountable and make their dieting/weight loss plans very public. From the beginning my DH knew and that's it. As I've lost I did tell my best friend and eventually my family but beyond that I might mention to other friends about habits that I've changed but only if it can up in coversheet and it was relevant to what we were talking about.

There's just so much nonsense out there when it comes to dieting and weightloss and everybody and their mom has some sort of vital opinion that they MUST share so I have to admit it's not one of my favorite conversations (beyond on 3FC where I love to talk about it ;) ).

My husband and best friends know, but that's about it. I don't consider it a diet, but a lifestyle change. People notice in FB photos and compliment me, but I just say "thank you" and move on. :)

I agree with what most have said. I'm not ashamed of it, nor do I try to hide it, but if the topic comes up I'll gladly mentioned my "new lifestyle". I find it's easier just to say I'm trying to eat healthy and get some exercise. No one can really argue with that lol. However, it's not something I generally bring up on my own....only if someone mentions dieting or something.

I'm open about it, especially with my co-workers and supervisors. Many of them are either really fit or trying to lose weight. So I love getting their opinions and many of them are inspired to start their weight loss because of me.

I ain't scurred. :p

I decided not to tell many people because everyone has their own darn opinion. I am DEFINITELY not telling my mother-in-law -- she is a pain right in the patoot with this kind of stuff. She's also kind of a hypocrite -- she may eat blueberries and fermented milk every day, but that doesn't erase the five or six glasses of wine or four or five vodka drinks (followed by cappuccino with a shot of liquor) she has every time we go out to eat with them. She doesn't see that, though.

I do not tell people I'm trying to lose weight. I do tell people I'm on a special diet due to food allergies, which is true. All I'm allergic to is dairy, but by keeping it simple and just saying "food allergies" it keeps people from trying to feed me.