I read this article and agreed with most of it so I shared it on my Facebook page. Moments went by and Nick shared some of his thoughts about the article. I questioned my reason for posting it and deleted it. Now I have had time to ponder on its content and decided to write my opinion.
First off if you focus only on the 5 tips you have missed the whole other part of the article. Everyone has a different experience with weight loss and how it personally affects them. Weight-loss isn't the only subject that people are sensitive about. In fact there are so many topics that people can get "offended" about so one might take away ,"Why even talk to each other?" or another person might think "Wow, I didn't know. Maybe I should be more careful with my words"
I will tell you, MOST comments about my weight or any topic really, won't bother me. I am an OPEN book and I will answer questions with details.
For those of you who don't know me you can read my story here.
I started my weight loss journey at a whopping 230 pounds. I only purchased new clothes once a year knowing that I wanted to shrink out of them soon. Typically when I bought new clothes that fit was when I received comments because people would notice my efforts.
So my personal experience with these 5 things that you shouldn't say.....
1. "How much more do you have to lose?"
For me personally, I have taken this questions two ways, "I'm so proud of what you are doing, how much more do you have/want to lose?" and "I think you look fine, why are you still wanting to lose weight?"
Anyone can tell by the tone of your voice which way you are asking this question and I will answer it the best way I can. I'm going to lose weight and maintain my weight loss because it makes me happy. I'm glad you think I look fine, but I have set goals for myself and plan to achieve them. You can encourage me or get out of my way as I run laps around you!
2. "You probably don't want to eat that, right?"
SERIOUSLY, If this is said in a negative way then yes I agree with the article, but most of the time I need the extra kick in the butt to not mindlessly eat crap. For example, a few close friends here in Boston know my story, and while we were at a church function there was a lot of bad food. I allowed myself to eat a small portion because I had calculated my calories for it (I even worked out extra at the gym) But then, because of my mindless eating, I kept going back for more. One of my friends took the food right out of my hand and told me to stop. I smiled and said thank you! That's all I needed to stop my hand to mouth motion.
It really bothers me though when I am trying to be good and someone tells me, "Well take a day off" or "one burger doesn't matter" what they don't know is how much work it takes to burn off that burger. I much rather make the burger at home so I can weigh out my meat and know exactly how many calories I'm really eating.
3. "You look so much better than before"
Some people might think that this is a compliment.... BUT IT'S NOT, neither is "Well don't forget (I/People/the husband) loved you when you were fat. Seriously, what does weight have to do with love to begin with. If you couldn't love me when I was fat, what makes you think you can love me thin. On top of that what makes someone even say that? I didn't even think about it that way.... UNTIL it came out of someone's mouth. Maybe the right word is attention? However, my personality always attracts attention, so I'm used to it and it doesn't bother me.
Some of these comments have happened to me but more have happened to my husband, one in particular that I know was meant to be a compliment but it wasn't. "You are so lucky, many wives get fat over time and yours got thin." I just don't even know what to think about that one.
Maybe the author of the article would think saying this is negative too..
"Girl you have always been beautiful, but being thin really shows it off"
I get this more often then anything and to be honest I think it's a great compliment.
4. "You're just going to gain it back anyway."
Really, really... I hope you are think who in their right mind would ever says this.. Let me tell you JEALOUS people
