Were you treated differently after losing a lot of weight?

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  • Just curious for those of you who've lost a lot of weight if and how you were treated differently?
  • I noticed that I seemed to be less ignored at 200ish than at 300ish... but that could be attributed changes within myself - self esteem, willingness to put myself out there more etc. - and not necessarily to other people.
  • I really only have noticed minimal difference with strangers. Maybe slightly more eye contact and a few more doors opened for me by strangers. My extended family seems to be giving me a bit more notice or respect.....
  • I have yet to find out.......
  • My younger brother lost 100 pounds when he was 19/20. He noticed a lot more attention from girls. It took him a long time to realize they were hitting on him. I don't remember him naming more differences, but I'll ask him next time we speak.

    I lost 40-50 pounds, so not as dramatic. I've noticed that women, especially early in our acquaintance, ask me for fitness/diet advice. I guess they assume because I'm thin, I know what I'm doing. But I think that's a bad assumption. Plenty of thin people don't eat particularly healthy or exercise at all; they just naturally eat an amount of calories that keeps them thin. From guys, I've noticed more ogling.
  • Not by my friends...
    But strangers are nicer.
  • Way way way differently. I actually just posted about this on my blog.

    An example is the crosswalk in front of my building that people are supposed to stop at to let pedestrians cross. The drivers used to look straight ahead and pretend they didn't see me when I was fat. I would have to almost step out into traffic to get them to stop.

    Now - especially with men - they go out of their way to stop and wave me on, usually with a smile.

    It's reality, but a sad commentary on society IMO.

    Jen
  • When I was 17 I went from 226lbs to 150lbs and I definitely was treated differently. I got a lot of attention, especially from guys. I didn't mind the attention from guys I didn't know, it was the attention from guys that knew me when I was bigger that I didn't like.

    But I did eventually gain that weight back (and more!) and went back to zero attention at all! It definitely has played a huge role in my self-confidence.
  • Yes.

    At my highest weight, I felt completely invisible. Being 6'1" (and slim) I'd always gotten attention from guys. As my weight went up, it stopped, like someone had flipped a switch. I'm married so I don't mind that, but it was startling. When I lost the weight, it happened again. Gained it back, it stopped. So, apparently my social value goes up and down with the scale.
  • I'm still fairly heavy, but I have noticed more attention from men. I get stares ALL THE TIME from men. I try to brush it off as merely typical people to people staring, but it's become unnerving from time to time.

    I've also noticed friendlier sales associates.
  • When I lost weight previously (never reached goal though), I definitely got hit on more often below 250 than I do above. Never really by anyone I was interested in, but it's still a nice confidence boost.
  • people hold doors open for me WAY more now than they used to.....ive noticed stares from men that I never noticed before...and one time a salesman practically CHASED me out the store door trying to put a fur coat on me (that I didn't want and wasn't interested in)...weirdddd
  • Being at a high weight I feel as if I'm invisible to men because it is rare for them to pay me any attention. But in the past when I lost a lot of weight I attracted a lot more attention from men, for a start I'd actually catch them looking at me nearly every time I left the house. These days it does happen but it is so so rare. When I got more attention from men when I lost weight in the past I wasn't happy about it because it felt as if I was only acceptable because I was thinner.
  • i think i get maybe a bit more stares from men but all in all i don't think i notice any different treatment EXCEPT i'm TIRED of getting comments all the time from women telling me i need to stop losing (i have, i'm in maintenance) or that i look sick or or.... i just wish they would not comment at all.
    The one's that have lost weight also have said very nice and complimentary things, though
  • I can't figure out whether I'm getting more lingering stares from men now in reality or I'm just noticing them more because I'm more open to that being a possibility and thus I notice it more. If I am indeed getting more stares, then I'm also not sure whether its due to my lack of excessive weight or that I carry myself differently in my new skin. Though to be honest, given my relatively heavily modified appearance for my city (tattoos piercings weird hair etc), I think I've been treated somewhat differently for so long perhapas my meter is off :P

    I'd say its less other's behaviour that has changed, but rather my interpretation said behaviour.