Peanut Gallery: "You don't need to lose weight"

[Katsaly]

I wonder if other people experience this: Friends and acquaintance telling you that you don't need to lose weight. Personally, I find it a bit frustrating. I get it from two kinds of people: People bigger than me, and younger girls about 30 pounds lighter.

I seem to get it because I carry most of my excess weight in my thighs, so I can hide it under a flowing skirt, but the persistence kind of throws me when I point out to people that I'm actually several pounds overweight. Or that I've gained quite a bit in the last few years. The come back with "but you are only a little overweight." I suppose this is true, in that there are certainly people who have more to worry about than I do, but I can't help but think that if I were 5-10lbs UNDERweight people would be seriously concerned, since that would put me at about 100-105lbs.

Does anyone else get this from people? Or similar lines like "You aren't THAT big" or whatnot?

Personally I find it very irritating because my desire to get comfortably into the normal/healthy weight category is something that is important to me right now, and being even a little overweight can increase the chances of things like heart disease quite a lot.

[Hopeless Dork]

There are always going to be people trying to sabotoge your progress, even well-meaning types that don't realize that is what they are doing. There are SO many reasons for this behavior but all that matters is that you recognize it, and smile and do what you need to do be a healthy you anyway.

[RunLola]

Yes! My weight was concentrated from my butt to my thighs too so I could cover it up, but that's besides the point! And since no one wants to dress with the AIM of looking overweight...
The best advice I have is to just listen to yourself. If you feel overweight, and unless a Doctor or health professional tells you otherwise, keep up your work. As for why people do it, as Hopeless Dork said- there's a bunch of reasons. Who knows, maybe you can find a way to use those frustrating comments as motivation to help you =)

[belindakan]

huh, i just joined this board and posted a thread similar to this. yes, it's irritating, and yes it sucks, and my theory is that it's always about the other person and never about you. they say those things because 1) the bigger people are uncomfortable with their own ability to get to a weight they're comfortable with, and 2) the younger, smaller people just have no clue yet about how hard it is to lose and maintain weight as we age.

i think it's totally fine to want to lose a few pounds as long as you do it in a healthy way and you stay in the healthy BMI range. what woman doesn't want to lose 5-10lbs? i just wish people would talk about it more openly and normally instead of either complaining about it or brushing it off.