Watchdogs

I know you know what I'm talking about. Those people who once they realize you're working on losing weight--either because you've told them or they've noticed the slight drop in your weight--keep track of your progress and talk about it every time they see you.

I mean, yes. The first time this person complimented me on the slight loss was nice. A mood boost, even. It's nice when someone other than your mother notices that you're dropping a few pounds.

But after the fiftieth time she's brought it up, I'm a little over it. I can't tell at this point if it's patronizing or if she's trying to be supportive. But I'm also not one of those people who likes to talk about weight in every conversation. Yes, I come here to talk about it because I need the outlet but I prefer this outlet because I don't get any real feedback. I can talk about all the nonsense in my head and then go back and read it later when I need some encouragement but I don't have any other voices in my head. In a face to face environment, I don't really want to talk about it all that much. Partly because, contrary to the TMI I share on this and my other blog, I'm a private person. I don't share the intimate details of things to the peeps at work or church. Heck, I don't share a whole lot with my family, even!

So yeah, it's getting old, having this person ask me about it or say something about my weight every time she sees me. She's been positive up till now and I'm pretty sure she'll stay that way, but still...

There are people I see every day at work who haven't said a thing about it. Maybe they haven't noticed. Or maybe they're too polite to bring it up. I'm the type of person who never mentions it when someone loses weight. I think it's a little rude, actually, to ask, "Hey, have you lost weight?" because it implies that they were fat. In fact, I never comment on people's appearance, period. I might compliment what they're wearing or a new hair style. But I never say, "you look good today" because it implies that they don't normally look good.

I also realize, too late, what a mistake it was to talk about my efforts at all to my family and on Facebook. People mean well, I'm sure, when they ask me what I'm doing to lose or what my motivation is but it's also a bit intrusive. It also opens me up to face criticism as well as smug looks should I happen to fail. And it opens the door to watchdogs...people monitoring my success or failure. And policing...people monitoring what I eat, or if I exercise.

Speaking of exercise, day three of steady weight training is in the books. I've got the video cued up for tomorrow morning so I can move into it quicker and make sure it's a fresh work out. I don't want to get bored or underwork some areas! ;-)