Has anyone had someone use you to boost their self esteem?

Odd question here. I had my surgery on June 26 2002 I lost 65 lbs. so far. Dropped from a size 24W to a 16 misses. Before the days of my surgery I was 263 lbs. On some weekends my husband and I would go to church with his mother and spend the day with her so she can take time with our daughter. On the days when she knew we would be there she seemed to always dress in the most tinniest dress there was. (she is about 110 lbs. and wears a size 4) Of course I would come in anything that would hide every bit of my fat. She would flaunt around as we would talk to people and do the most ridiculous things in front of me like fitting into tight spaces she knew I couldn't fit into. On days she didn't know we were coming we would pop up on surprise, believe it or not she was dressed like a normal grandmother. Then we would go out to eat and she would talk me into ordering the most fatting high calorie thing on the menu and she would order a salad. This happened so many times I felt she was using me for self esteem boost. I know that my own self esteem wasn't so great then. On the other hand a friend of mine would see how man men she could get the attention from when I was around her. She too would dress up more, wear more makeup, and fix her hair more exotic. She would get the looks and if I could read her mind she would be laughing and telling me,"Don't you wish you looked had my looks." I noticed this action with others as well. Now that I've lost the weight everyone has toned down. Has this happened to others? Am I imagining all this? Or was I noticing more because I was very over weight with low self esteem at one point? Sorry this was so long but I feel a weight lifted off my back. Thank you all.

We greatly appreciate your interest in helping us build our Q&A database. To discourage vandals from posting garbage, however, we require people to register before posting.

You must be logged in to post an answer. Click here to log in.