April's CR Diary

I haven't lost weight for 7 years, so I don't get that one. But at 125 or 130 (at 5' 2 1/2"), people did say "You've lost enough, don't lose more."

The most interesting thing I get from people is "You've lost more weight, you shouldn't lose more" - which is totally not true. I have not lost any weight. People also assume I weigh 10 or even 20 pounds less than I do. Why is that? I think they assume that you need to weigh that little to look slim - an unattainable number. This helps them justify their own extra pounds.

In junior high and high school, I was very skinny. Ate tons, and rather unhealthily, but danced a lot and had genetics on my side. I dreaded having to go to the school nurse, because she'd always put me on the scale, and then sit me down for a talk about eating disorders and basically accuse me of being anorexic!!! My parents always found that funny, as I was eating them out of house and home, but it really bothered me.

Now I'm 29, the funniest comments come from the people at work. They'll see all my lunch veggies and proclaim, "But you don't need to eat like that. You're so skinny." I have to bite my tongue to prevent myself from replying, "Do you think maybe I'm so skinny BECAUSE I eat like this?" How do people not connect how people eat with what they weigh?

When I first went from 140 to 125 (I'm 5'8) I got a lot of those types of comments, especially from my family. But now that I've been at this weight for almost 2 years, I think everyone is used to it and I don't have to hear it anymore :) I think it was just an adjustment period, people were just used to me having a little extra padding.

I only got the speech from friends and family who were used to seeing me quite a bit heavier. People who hadn't seen me before I lost the weight seemed entirely unsurprised by how I looked.

I agree with Sara L - people just needed time to adjust to the new me.

I got the "stop losing weight" speech from my sister-in-law when I had lost about 35 lbs. At that point, I weighed 140 and at 5'4", looked pretty good. That's actually not too bad a weight for woman at that height, at age 60: you look good, clothes look nice, etc. But that's still a BMI of 24, which is barely below the "overweight" cut-off! In addition, my scale showed I still was lugging around too much body fat to be healthy. I'm now down to 128 and she really can't understand why I'd want to lose any more. The fact that I feel so much better, can walk for miles, all my blood tests, etc show a marked improvement and I have a much better chance of being really healthy when I'm old, doesn't seem to register. Oh, well! :-)

I'm 5'8" and got a lot of "Oh, you shouldn't lose any more weight" comments when I went from 135 to 118 last spring. It was not my goal to go lower than 120, but I stayed at 118 for about six months because I was so amazed that I could. (Most of my adult life I was at 140, but as a teenager weighed almost 160 pounds.)

I'm settled now at 120 pounds, and everyone's had 14 months to get used to the slender me, so I don't get as many comments. But I often get great reactions from people who haven't seen me in a year or two, like: "Oh, my god, you've utterly changed." And those who didn't know the chubby me (like the people in my yoga class) will say things like: "Oh, you're naturally thin, but I struggle with my weight."

Huh? Everyone in my family is overweight and one brother is obese! Naturally thin, nope, just consistent CR. My husband is naturally thin, and since I've been on CR, he's lost 10 pounds too because I've changed how and what I cook, and now serve fruit and nuts instead of baked desserts.

-The Other Yvonne

Marti Mango---How's that?

I'm just starting CR, how do you tell when you've lost too much weight? I'm 5'10" and currently weigh 146.8 pounds. I think I'd like to weight 135, but don't know how my body will respond if I drop below that. I was 120 when I started high school, but then my weight climbed steadily (I ate crap), so I was 135-140 when I finished HS and reached 168 in college. When you all first started, did you just focus on CRON and let the weight take care of itself? Did you ever feel like you got too thin? How could you tell?

Avril Asperge sounds rather good.

Katerina, I just have to say that your post about eating vegetables at work and getting accusatory: You don't have to eat that! You're already skinny! Have a donut! Really resonated with me.

I got the 'you're vanishing!' comment when I reached 94 pounds, (down from 108) and someone actually took me aside and whispered 'are you allright?'. People just assume that if someone has lost weight it means they are ill. I've been 90 pounds for the last 8 months and I think people are used to it now. Last week someone enviously referred to my clotheshorse figure. (That's UK speak for someone so slender they look good in anything) It's taken me 60 years but I've done it!

HFGirl - Yes, I would suggest focusing on ON first. You'll go through carb/sugar withdrawal, but after that feel so much better. And you will start losing weight. As most vegetables are very low calorie, it's hard not to lose weight if they're the majority of your diet. And don't worry about losing too much weight. If you're getting all your nutrients, your body will feel powerful and energized by CRON.

It's so interesting to me that people feel justified telling someone to stop losing weight -but (normally) don't say "Please - stop gaining weight!" As if one is less offensive than the other - both comments seem intrusive and inappropriate in my opinion.

Hi April
I get the speech whenever I get to around 127lbs. I'm at 135 at the moment, so I don't get that speech. I remember that when I first got to around 127, colleages would bring me pastries and cookies, without my asking for them. Frankly I don't mind being around 128; it's quite comfortable, but I have been a bit lax on weekends lately.
hugs
Arturo

make it april paprika and thou shall be a rockstar!

I didn't get the comments a LOT because I have always been in the healthy range. But when I went from a stable 131 (5'6") for many years to what I thought was a stable 118, I was thrilled and those close to me were concerned but didn't say much.

Now that I'm back to my old stable weight I hear comments on how gaunt I looked and that they thought I was too thin back at 118. But I miss it, so that's why I read Stacey's blog.