But before you take these comments to heart, I want you to consider a few things first.

Remember that people who know you are used to seeing your face a certain way.  They’ve spent years gazing on full cheeks and a round profile.  As you lose weight, you’re not going to look like that anymore.  If they met you for the first time after you had lost weight, they would think you looked perfectly normal and fine.  But since their mental picture of you is with a different amount of fullness to your face, they’re just as inclined to think that it makes you look sick as that it makes you look good.  Not because you do look sick, but because you no longer fit their preconceived portrait of what you should look like (to them).

That’s the most benign explanation.  But of course, there are more insidious reasons that people may want you to feel badly about the weight you’ve lost.  Some may be jealous of the weight you’ve lost (wishing it were them), some may be jealous of the person you’ve become and of the people who now admire your figure.  Friends, spouses, siblings all may get jealous that you’re the cute new thing on the block while they’re still just themselves.  Some people will react to those feelings by putting you down to pump themselves up and make themselves feel better.

It’s this last group I most want you to look out for and avoid reacting to them whenever possible.  Their goals are not in your best interest, and if you let them sabotage your confidence, you’ll never know what you might have achieved.  You look in the mirror – if you like what you see, then don’t worry about the people who try to bring you down.    Trust me, we’ll tell you here in the doctors’ office if we think you’ve lost too much weight (and of course threaten to sit on you and unfill the band a bit, if needed).  Let your own inner voice be your guide, not the misguided or malicious (even if unintended) voices of others.