Back on track, and surprised...

I'm back on track after a couple of weeks of not eating carefully.  This morning I'm down a half pound, which means I'm back on a losing track, yay!

The surprising thing is--I've lost 55 pounds and have yet to have a single person (who didn't know about the surgery) notice or comment.  I went into Starbucks for the first time in quite awhile.  They know me by name and they know my drink of choice, asked how I've been, chatted, nothing.  It's the same thing in other similar situations.  My only explanation is that I'm now where I stayed for several years before I gained weight in 2007-2008.  Which means--I'm still near the top of "overweight" and so to the casual observer, still "fat."

I'm not unhappy or hurt or anything, but it's making me very curious.  At what point will I have finally changed enough that people notice and comment?

In September I will return to teaching an adult education class at a local community college.  It's another situation where my weight loss may or may not be noticed.  My students will all be new so there's no noticing there.  My coordinator and I don't see each other often, anyway.  So maybe somebody there will notice and say something, or maybe not.

Fortunately I have a DIL who is constantly noticing how "great" I look, and others, as well.  Besides, I do have a mirror, and I know what size I'm fitting into now!  I'm happy. 

 I found that some people are just not comfortable mentioning weight, especially to women.  I guess they are afraid that the person will take it as a backhanded compliment - instead of hearing "You've lost so much, you look amazing" they hear "Wow you were so fat and disgusting, but now you look normal".

You may be getting some of that - people who know you casually may not understand that you would really welcome it and see it as positive reinforcement.

Even as a guy, I have some people who rave about my weight loss and a change and some other people who don't even acknowledge it.  Luckily, most of the people I know fall into that first category!

You have the right attitude though, You know what an amazing job you have done and how far you have come.  Look at those small numbers in your labels - thats all the proof you need!

I am not a very observant person myself.  I know there have been many times when my mom or a friend lost or gained and I didn't notice.  I knew them as "overweight" and wasn't noticing beyond that.  My husband would comment that he was concerned about my mom's weight and I'd look and then notice that yes, she really had gained a lot of weight.  But I didn't notice it on my own.

A friend of mine lost twenty or thirty pounds and I didn't notice, again, same reason.

So I'm the one who doesn't have a leg to stand on when it comes to this issue!

I was just pondering this scenario myself. I've lost almost 50lbs and very few comments. Only people that comment are "family" that know.

But I didn't do this for the "comments" or compliments> I did this to become a healthier me and be able to do more w/ my daughter. So I'm happy w/ changes and anxious for more whether others comment or not! :-)

Exactly.  I'm no longer on blood pressure meds.  I'm looking forward to ditching my CPAP machine (but haven't yet).  And I'm looking forward to having the hot summer gone so I can be more active again!

So glad to see you posting again...it's going to be interesting when I go back to school to see if people comment.  I've been up and down a lot so it doesn't matter one way or another.  I know.  I'm just ready to feel the energy everyone keeps talking about:)  That will make me happy!
You're doing great!

I'd say for the past ten years I've been up and down, though the past three years I stayed up at my highest without budging.  So for me to drop back down to where I am now is huge.  For others, though, I may not look all that different from what I've looked--especially people who don't see me regularly.

I had energy at first, a lot of it.  Now, not so much.  Maybe it's the heat of the summer.  Maybe it's something else.  I'm still taking my antidepressants and wouldn't even consider coming off of them yet.  If I'd maintainted the energy I had initially, that might be a different.

Ditto here.Ive lost 80 pounds and the only people that's commented is my family.

I am down 4 dress sizes....I do look different but I suppose Im still just fat to thin people.Its actually a good thing,made me realize that everyone is so busy wirh their own " thing",mostly they dont notice or just dont care!

All those years of worrying about what people might think....at least I can teach my kids to not worry about that.

xxo

Desertmom
Down 80pounds 52 to go!

Yes!  That's so true!  We all are so certain our big issues are noticable to everybody, but this isn't the first time I discovered that something that seemed big and horrible to me wasn't remembered by others.  The weight is just another aspect of that.

 I am certain that people are noticing and I agree that some people just don't comment in case it is taken the wrong way.

I am a little over 3 months out and have lost about 63lb.  I have been an open book about my surgery and so those people who I've told are all very supportive and compliment me when they see me.  People that I am not close with tend to not say anything either way.  It is funny though as my mother-in-law, who is a very direct person, will say to me each time we visit "You've lost a lot of weight, so how much now?"  It cracks me up and I always answer "that was the plan."  Then I give her my number of lbs lost.