When Others Are Jealous Of Your Weight Loss Success

One of the challenges of success is dealing with how the people in our lives react to it. It is a fact of life: when you lose weight, there will be people in your life that are jealous. Sometimes it is the people you least expect that are the most jealous. These jealous feelings can come as a real surprise and may be hard to navigate at times. Sometimes others are jealous when you lose weight.

There are many reasons why someone can be jealous of you when you lose weight. The main reason someone can be jealous is that they are scared that somehow their relationship with you is going to change. Maybe they have always been the pretty, skinny one and you've always been the funny one. Now all of a sudden, you are pretty and skinny too. This throws them a psychological curveball they are not expecting. Now you are funny, pretty and skinny. What's next?

Understand that someone's jealousy comes from their own insecurity, for whatever reason. People can become jealous of someone for any reason. Perhaps they feel this person has something they don't have or is something they are not. Some people are more prone to insecurity and will feel more jealous easily.

Your responsibility is to manage your own feelings. Now, if your sister is jealous of your weight loss and is saying things that are unkind to you -- the best course of action is to confront her about it. Confront someone in a polite, unemotional and very factual way. Saying "You said this and it made me feel......" Give them time to respond. Sometimes they may not even realize what they are doing and your pointing it out to them will give them pause.

Sometimes when you lose weight, your personality can change. Losing weight can make you feel more confident and better about yourself. You are seeing that people respond to you in a different way. When you feel more confident and better about yourself, you act in a different way. You may say things that the "old you" wouldn't say. There are people in your life that may wish you wouldn't say these things.

Accept the fact that some of your relationships may change. But the most important truth about these relationships that do change is that they probably were not relationships that were good for you. People that love you want to see you succeed. They want to see you bold and confident. Now, they don't want to see you acting like a smartass and telling your Grandma off -- but they do want to see you standing up a little straighter and feeling good about yourself. The people in your life that want the "old you" back probably liked the you that wasn't assertive and didn't question things and didn't stick up for themselves.

The idea that your relationships could change may be scary to people. But this is an even scarier thought: imagine having these people in your life that want to keep your down. Imagine having people in your life that deep down, truly do not want the best for you. Which would you rather have?

1. Prev:Reasons That Weight Loss Camps Are Successful
2. Next:Overcoming The Challenges Of Childhood Obesity And The Role Of Schools