Day 101 - No, It's Not My Hair

I like how some people who have not seen me since I started Medi, look at me and know something is different and they immediately say something about my hair. For example, another mother from the neighborhood was out riding bikes with her daughter while I was outside with Bandit and she stopped to talk. After a few minutes she said, "I like your hair. The cut, and color really look nice." I beamed a smile ear to ear and said. "Buffy, I lost 32 pounds" She said, "I knew your face looked different." It happened yesterday again the dentist office. The hygienist was talking about my hair color, which I really have not changed drastically enough to notice and I just smiled and said no, I didn't do anything with my hair. She said "hmmm, well it looks different." I don't know why I didn't mention my weight to her but I figured she could tell because they took a digital picture of me six month ago I was there last and I knew that was up on the computer screen when I walked in the room. Even the girls at the desk when I checked out engaged me in a conversation that they don't usually do, "so what's been going on with you?" kind of sing-songy one said. I said "Oh, not much." and then went on to talk a little about Carrie and Steven. I felt kind of smug in a way but I really did not feel the need to jump right into, "well, I lost 35 pounds...blah blah..." If they could tell I lost the weight, why wouldn't they just ask? I think they were probably just being polite. They were of the mindset that you don't ask a person about their weight. I think I may have read something like that in Dear Abby. It is like you wouldn't say "Wow, you've packed on some pounds." So I guess saying that somebody lost a lot of weight is like saying "Wow, you were really fat before." It's kind of like asking a woman, "how far along are you" when they are not pregnant. That unfortunately happened to me years ago and was mortifying. But to that person's defense (besides that he was a senior citizen and a man), I was pudgy, and I was wearing a loose fitting top so it was understandable. That man just hadn't read that column in Dear Abby where she said you never say that to woman if you are not sure. Dear Abby said that you could ask them ask them what's new in their lives and wait for them to tell you if if they are pregnant. So I guess for weight loss the same could thing apply and maybe it depends on how well you know the person. it is a very interesting study in psychology. The polite thing to do is say that somebody looks great and then see what the response is. I had an acquaintance say to me last week, "You look different." I smiled broadly and the other friend who I was with who knew about the weight loss said "She lost a ton of weight" and almost simultaneously I beamed that I lost 34 pounds. The acquaintance said that she wasn't sure if it was me when she first saw me and she had to ask somebody who I was...While I took that as a compliment because I am so proud of myself with the weight loss, at the same time I thought to myself, Wow, I must have looked so bad before that now I look so different to some people so I pulled up my before picture taken at the Medi Weightloss Clinic and I definitely can see why people would say that. I mean my hair does look great (thanks to my friend Diane at Profiles), it just looks better on a thinner face. Now that I am officially 5 pounds away from goal since my weigh-in on Wednesday (I lost 1.5 pounds this week so now I am official 145 pounds)... I will share with you my before picture...

Okay now quickly go back to the picture at the beginning of this post and erase this image from your memory.