"People are expecting you to put on weight"

The great thing, I have discovered, about living with an expert is that they are passionate about their subject matter. And they don't mind discussing it - at length, in detail and with more insight than I could ever imagine.

This weekend the lodger (aka expert friend) and I managed two long walks, with the dog, and talked about all sorts of things including matters dietary. We were talking about people's response to me and, how, locally, people will have seen me shrink over time whereas other friends have been shocked because I didn't tell them.

Funnily enough, in the past week, I have seen two women, locally, who both commented on the fact that I was still looking slim and had obviously managed to keep it off. Of course, I haven't; I've put on more than half a stone and compared with my lowest weight, it's easily three quarters. The lack of any meaningful exercise - partly time, partly the damaged back and partly organisation - means that I am just not burning fat in the same way as before because I am not walking up and down the hill several times a day.

Anyway, the point of this post was to say that both women seemed surprised that I had seemingly not put on any weight.

So, apart from feeling that I had to justify my weight gain (no, I have put on weight, honestly!), I think this is something we have to watch out for. "People are expecting you to put on weight," said my expert friend ie people are expecting me to fail.

I want to buck the trend; I want to be in the tiny percentage that manage to keep the weight OFF. If I continue with my current eating habits, it's NOT going to happen.

What I have also noticed is that I need constant reminders about not slipping big time. The possibility IS there. All the time. Sometimes I override the internal dialogue (about slipping) and sometimes I don't. And it's the times that I don't that need attention.

I believe it's going to be quite challenging to a) buck the trend and b) react to people in a positive way, particularly if they are waiting for me to fail.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm.