Hi folks,

It's pretty obvious to anyone who knows me at all that I have lost a lot of weight and I get questions all the time from people who want to know how much weight I have lost. Lately, I have found myself lying in response to the questions and answering, "Oh, about 50 pounds -- I'm really not sure." This isn't true; the true response is that I have lost about 75 pounds.

The reason I have been lying is that I have visions of people doing calculations in their head, "So, she's lost 75 pounds and she is still fat -- how much did she weigh when she started?"

I've thought about telling them that how much I have lost is none of their business (using more polite words), rather than lying, but that seems somewhat excessive. If someone has lost a lot of weight, I think it is natural to make inquiries about it. However, I have noticed that the people who ask me for a number tend to be people who know me less well. My close friends congratulate me on my loss and periodically say, "You look like you have lost even more weight," but most of them refrain from asking me how much I have lost (with one notable exception, but she's always been nosy).

Does anyone else have the same reaction to this question that I do? How do other people who have lost a lot of weight deal with answering questions about how much they have lost? I think it might be more of an issue for women than for men, I've noticed reading posts that the men on this forum seem to be more open about their weight with other people in their lives than the women do, but I welcome suggestions from anyone. I am usually a pretty open and truthful person and my deception in this area is bothering me.