Dreading People's Reaction to Weight Loss

[Guest guest]

As far back as I can remember I was my own worst enemy when it came to

weight loss. I would go on a diet, start losing weight and as soon as

people started to notice I would put the breaks on so to speak and stop

dieting and gain back all the weight. I was terribly uncomfortable with

all the attention. When I finally decided to have the weight loss

surgery I used to give myself pep talks before hand and told myself that

with this surgery I will lose the weight whether I want to or not and

have to learn to deal with people's reactions as I went along. In the

beginning it was very hard for me to accept compliments and the " oh my

God " reactions, but after awhile, I just started saying a very polite

and gracious thank you and changed the subject. Soon after that my

standard reply was " thank you, I'm having a ball " and left it at that.

Just buckle up for the ride and don't agonize over it, enjoy it. Pretty

soon people are going to be so used to seeing the new you, the attention

will wane and things will be back to normal. There are so many other

things to agonize over besides compliments. I've been that route, it's

really not worth it. I'm a little over three years post-op and every

now and then I'll bump into somebody who is shocked, but now what I

mostly get is, " I remember when you were so big " blah, blah, blah. I'm

actually more uncomfortable with that than the compliments these days.

I've settled into my new body and life and though don't ever want to

forget where I came from and what I've been through, don't need the

constant reminders of friends telling total strangers about how " huge " I

was. : )

Good luck to you. I hope you find your way.

Regina