Weight is so subjective

 I've been sitting at my 141 lbs for months now.  I've revised my goal weight from 145 to 141 just because that seems to be the weight my body is comfortable at.  Fine.

Anyway, lately I have been hearing two comments:

1. "I wouldn't have thought you weighed that much!".  These are the people who, for many reasons, I end up telling them what I weigh and their reaction is one of visible shock.  Okay, since when is 141 a heavy weight?  For a medium-framed 5'5" woman 141 is at the higher end but still a healthy weight with room to spare, and my BMI is peachy-keen if you want to use the BMI as a scale, and I wear size 6.  

Seriously, you would think I revealed I hoard weasels and have delusions of being able to fly from the level of shock.

2. "You're so tiny; be careful you don't lose any more weight."  This is sometimes from people who haven't seen me in awhile - this morning, for example, I was back at a spin class I haven't taken since the spring and while I was at goal weight then I guess those 4 lbs make a difference (?).  But there are also those people who see me regularly and suddenly are all, "You've lost even more weight, right?" When I tell this group that my weight hasn't changed in months they kind of look at me like I'm exhibiting weight-related psychosis.  

My husband and I were talking this over and he thinks it's that I'm super healthy and fit and so am tight - laughable when I grab fistfuls of skin, but anyway - and so people assume I have to be at a light weight because I'm smallish instead of small but compact and solid.

It just made me think about how weight is so subjective - the number is only a part of our overall health and well-being.  And that other people see us very differently, sometimes, than we see ourselves.  Just feeling a little philosophical about it all today, I guess.

And, fyi, I met a huge personal goal last weekend and ran a 10K race in a really good time on a super hilly course - barely a year ago I was 250 lbs.  Am so, so, so grateful I had this chance to change my life.

I  think about this sometimes too. I had a friend who every time she saw me for a year after I got to goal accused me of having lost more weight. (Well, not accused, exactly, but you know what I mean.)

I think the shock of "You weight THAT much?" comes from the fact that many women lie about their weight in public. I see reports of people's weight all the time that I am sure are made up because they are bigger than me but supposedly weight less than I do. But when you hear all the time that someone 150 pounds weighs 125, you have a mental picture in your mind of what 125 is that isn't accurate.

I got the same thing when I was at goal, which is a pretty hefty number, considering I'm only a smidge above 5'.  At 150, I was still pretty overweight by the charts, but people at church who see me every week began to say things like "Have you lost more weight?" and "Do you even weigh a hundred pounds?" or "What size do you wear now?  A 2?"  When I would say I weighed 150 and was wearing 14-16s or large sizes, they were totally shocked.  In looking back at the pictures of myself from those days, I sort of understand it, because my face looked very thin, and my upper body was quite small-looking.  And considering that I *was* wearing 30-32s and 3 or 4xes, it was quite a change!

Now that I've regained 25+ pounds, people have quit commenting, HA!
--Dorothy 

Congrats on your 10k race goal. And your weight loss success. You know you have succeeded when people start saying the stuff you are hearing. People often ask me if I have lost more weight even though I have been at this weight for nearly 11 months. There are so many things that go into people's perceptions and also so many factors that differ in people's bodies that make weight different even for people of the same height that the scale number becomes meaningless except as a reference point for you. Weighing more than you appear to to others is probably a good thing because it means you have more muscle mass.

So regardless of what people say, interpret it as people noticing your success and enjoy it. Its your journey and you have won.   Diane