In defense of all those well meaning friends and relatives, there is some truth to the "haggard" comment. Don't forget how the body moves fat around: you lose it from the top down, and then redistribute it from the bottom up. That is, most people lost weight from their face and neck and upper chest first, only from the ab, hips and thighs as it shifts from there upward. Apparently this process takes about six months (there's a thread around somewhere that I can't find, of course). So after you hit goal, your face with fill out a little and soften up (some people even report their boobs get perkier - may the Lord hear me typing those words ...) Be prepared at that time for people to say "you're putting back a couple of those pounds, are you? See, I told you that you were too thin!"

But you can't win with mothers and cousins, is my experience!