When I made my New Years Resolution, I announced it to people both in my personal life, and at work. We had a talk about our resolutions, and I chimed in. I decided the best way to be certain I stuck with it was to put my credibility on the line.

Several other women at work also said they were doing the weight loss thing, but to date, I only see them either the same, or still gaining.

They ask me all the time about my diet, how and why it works, and I am happy to talk to them about it, sometimes rather excitedly.

They ask me how much I have lost, and when I tell them, I am not sure if it is skepticism or envy I see in response.

I thought telling people would sort of force me to commit, but in actuality, I was already committed. In the end, it seems to have caused something of a riff. How odd that is.

One girl who poses herself as something of a rival in our "team" environment has never mentioned a word about my diet, but I know she listens to some of the conversations. She had also committed to losing weight after the holidays, but instead seems to be gaining more rapidly than ever.

It bothers me though, to think that possibly in her rivalry, she is eating out of anger/jealousy, etc.

I won't ever announce anything like this again, because, as I said, I was already committed, but somehow, I thought it was something I needed to do. I feel bad because it seems others are measuring their self worth against mine. It makes me feel terribly guilty.

Fantasia,

You have absolutely nothing to feel guilty about. This is an unfortunate situation, but you are not in control, in any way, of what this woman puts in her mouth. Just as ultimately you and I are responsible for what we do (or don't!) put in our mouths. It sounds like she has other issues that she may have to work through before she can approach weight loss.

Think about if the situation were reversed. Would you blame her for your overeating if she were losing weight? I don't think so, so don't even think about it for another second!

However, if you are like me and still want to show that you are concerned, if she ever does ask you about LC, then be very open and sharing with her. I know that would make my conscience feel better, even if I had NOTHING to feel guilty about in the first place!

On another note, your stats are amazing. You have lost a ton of weight already...keep up the good work!!!

Amy

When I was gaining weight, I used to listen to people discuss their diets and how they were losing, and the discussions made me uncomfortable, but I never blamed them. I would have loved to have lost weight, but I had tried everything they were discussing and it didn't work for me. Also, after watching the same people lose and regain the same 20 or so pounds year after year, I was skeptical about whether any type of dieting could work for anyone, although I was somewhat envious of their ability to keep trying. The woman in your office may be skeptical that your success will continue ands the only way you can address that skepticism is to continue losing for a long period of time. Also, they may expect 25 pounds to look like a large loss, but unfortunately it doesn't on someone who starts out over 250 pounds.

I personally have never chosen to volunteer information to anyone other than my husband about my way of eating or the fact that I was trying to lose weight, but I get questions all the time (it's pretty obvious that I have lost a lot of weight) and I try to answer people's questions at the level they were asked. Some people want just a quick response and others want more details. Despite my obvious success, I am aware of only one other person in my workplace who has started Atkins. I also have one friend who started Atkins on January 1 after seeing my success and she is doing quite well (she has a lot less to lose than I do).

I wouldn't waste any time or energy feeling guilty. Other than POSSIBLY (I'm not sure about this) your own children, you have no influence one way or the other over anyone else's weight loss or gain. If this woman is eating out of anger/jealousy of you or measuring her self-worth against you (I don't know her, but I think it is highly unlikely this is the case), then she has much bigger problems than having simply heard you say that you were going to low carb to lose weight.

I specifically chose NOT to make Atkins a New Year's Resolution because I NEVER keep those and I knew I wanted to keep this way of life.

There was a nurse in my doctor's office who seemed very angry with me when I began Atkins. She was against low-carbing and seemed like she was against me losing weight on it. Until I had proven weight loss, better health and had been doing the lifestyle for several months, she was nasty to me every time I visited the office. She would overweigh me, hike up my bp, refuse to use the correct size cuff on me - all sorts of things - and always with a very bad attitude.

Then, one day I walked in and met a NEW PERSON - her! She had actually noticed, along with my doctor, the changes in my health. Both she and my doc had gone on the Atkins program. My doctor still follows it and has done very well. My nurse quit because, she said, "My daughter won't eat that way and it's too hard to cook double." Even so, her attitude has stayed much nicer since and I no longer wonder if I should change away from the doctor I adore because of one member of his staff.

Hi,

I am new but I think that my input makes sense here.

There was this girl in my office who started the BFL program and I would mock her. Don't get me wrong I wasn't a jerk about it but I said stupid little things that indicated that I couldn't believe that it was possible to eat so much and still lose weight. I also used mock people who were on atkins. Not by saying things directly at them, but just saying things dissmising the effectivness of the diet and the risk to the health.

Well after this girl in my office lost about 25lbs. I was convinced. I actually had a discussion with her shortly after starting BFL and I appoligized. She said no worries and she said that the way that I acted was just my nature.

I believe what someone else posted here. If you have success for long enough that coworker will turn. And if you are a kind hearted person you will be there to help her achieve her goal.

I wish that I had found this forum sooner.

Tom