Study on weight loss and interpersonal relationships

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170202141843.h tm

"All 40 of the study participants reported having people in their lives try to belittle or undermine their weight loss efforts," Romo says. "This negative behavior is caused by what I call lean stigma. However, the study found participants used specific communication strategies to cope with lean stigma and maintain both their weight loss and their personal relationships."

Interesting stuff!

Interesting read. Thanks.

Thanks for sharing. As I was reading it, I thought, naw this doesn't apply to me, everyone has been so supportive etc.

Then I got to the paragraph where they started describing people's communication strategies. I do all of these. And I do it all the time! I constantly down play  the extent of my lifestyle changes. I always try to make sure I'm not making other people feel self conscious about their food choices. 

I hadn't even realized it.

Um....Yup.  Seeing some passive/aggressive behavior in someone who I least expected it from.   "what doesn't kill us makes us stronger"

I did not read the study yet, but I will. I already have a communication strategy in place, and have for some time. While I endeavor to be polite and courteous, it can best be summed up by the acronym STFU. I will often communicate that with a smile, but the sentiment is there nonetheless. 

I could not get beyond the abstract. I have had very little in the way of negativity during my weight loss, and it all pretty much came from a very good friend who had the exact same surgery about five years before me. He has since regained most of his weight. Before surgery he implored me to refuse it, telling me it did not work, it was no fun, blah blah blah. Immediately afterward - as in the first week post-op - he came to visit and taunted me with all the things I would no longer be able to eat. 

I told him flat out that I had made these changes because I wanted to, and that I intended to pursue them with all vigor. I went on to tell him that his surgery failed because he never adjusted his attitude. I proceeded to list his errors, pointing out that they were self reported, and not something I was making up. 

The next time we got together, he was substantially subdued, and more amenable to listening to me about the mental changes I had enacted in my life. He was also more interested in the dietary changes I had made. I do not know if he is implementing any of them. That is his problem, not mine. He is a good friend, but I am in no position to try and change his life. He has to do that. 

As for just about anyone else, there have been questions. I am very direct. I can eat this. I won't eat that. No, there is no need to discuss it, justify it, or satisfy your curiosity. Have a nice day. 

So far, it has all worked very well, and I have not had any relational problems beyond what I described with my friend above. Of course, anyone who knows me in real life has known for a very long time that I am polite, but very direct and open. And I do not tolerate nonsense of a particular sort. 

It's interesting, but some data is missing without more information.  Socioeconomic status, pre-existant relationship quality, co-morbid mental illnesses, support systems in place before surgery, etc.  There are many factors left out.  The abstract is interesting.  I'd like to read the original study, as many confounds would have needed to be accounted for.  I'll try and get a copy later.