Well, hello to you too!

I’m sure we’ve all been there. You see some family after a long time and right at the door we get some unsolicited/unwanted opinion or advice. If you’re overweight, it goes something like this:

YOU: “Hello, how are you?”

FAMILY MEMBER: “Not as good as you from what I see! You’re not going hungry for sure… you gained some weight so you must be doing well, not living poor anymore. Have you thought about losing weight? It will do you some good to lose weight, you know, for your health. You’re so pretty, you’re just a bit overweight. Listen, I’ve been doing this diet and it has helped me so much! Remember last time you saw me? I’ve lost about 30 pounds since then!” (blah, blah, blah)

And at this point you stop listening, in your mind you have replied to every sentence (not in a nice way) and have left the room at least 3 times.

I get it! How can anyone think this is what we want to hear? Although some people may have the best interest at heart, at least let us sit down and ease us into that conversation. Gosh!

Also, WE HAVE MIRRORS! We don’t need a reminder about the fact that we’ve gained weight. We are aware, and yes, we have thought about losing weight. Believe me, the reminder is everywhere, this is not a bright idea of yours. We’ve heard about Keto, Paleo, Gluten-Free, Vegetarian, Pescatarian, etc… It’s all over Instagram, Youtube, TikTok, and the other 1,000 social media platforms out there. We’ll make that decision on our own, when we’re ready. Talking to us about it for 2hrs (because it’s usually a one-way conversation) will not make us feel any better. But it could make us feel worse.

It’s not that we don’t want to try it…. can you think of any other options?

(I’ll give you a moment)

We may have already tried it and it didn’t work,

or we just started,

or we already lost our first 5lbs (and that may not be enough for you),

or we have a condition that makes the process a little bit slower.

Either way, there are ways to go about this conversation without making us feel bad, and please avoid doing this right at the door. You can make yourself available to help us, sure! We will let you know if we’re interested in this conversation. Maybe we just don’t want to talk about it in front of other people or it involves money that we don’t have.

Also, please keep in mind that we do not want to spend all our time together talking about how to do the diet, which products to use, or the results of a certain diet. This is not a nutritionist consultation or a convention about a certain diet or product.

We definitely appreciate your concern. We also appreciate the consideration of letting us make that decision instead of pushing your opinions into us.

Please read the room…. we want to know about you, your life, something fun, something nice, we want to forget about our insecurities. Be mindful that not everyone is ready to make changes when you want them to or when you think they should be ready. If you really want to help us, keep us in mind, not yourself… and remember to say “Hello to you too, so nice to see you”!

(Please subscribe to be notified when the next new blog is posted)