After significant weight loss, friends, coworkers and acquaintances will start noticing your new found body. They will feel like it is time for them to compliment you on your new fit body. How can you accept these compliments without being rude or seeming awkward?
People around me noticed my weight loss and positive changes about my body way sooner than I have. It was annoying for a while to address their compliments and answer their questions about my fit body, and I hated it. But looking back I see now that their comments and questions helped me a lot with my mental barriers of accepting my new fit body.
Why people compliment on your weight loss success
I bet you want to know why someone is giving you a compliment on your weight loss. If you think that the person who complimented on your looks wants something from you, you will less likely believe the compliment. All this can make you interpret the compliment in a totally different way than it was intended.
Getting fit and losing weight affects not just your looks and attitude but also the perception of how others see you. There will be a change in people’s attitudes towards the new fit you.
Part of their changed view comes from the fact that your looks have changed, and that change in your body becomes noticeable at a first glance to others. The other reason for from the fact that it’s not just your body that changed, but your attitude as well. Your improved self confidence you’ve gained with regular workout shines through.
These are just some of the reasons why you are drawing wanted (or unwanted) attention of your friends and acquaintances. You may find this to be pleasing, and it can even give you a temporary boost in motivation to workout harder. On the other hand, if you are like me, you will find all this sudden rush of attention unwelcome and have mixed feelings about people who unexpectedly shower you with compliments, and struggle with finding the best way to deal with all that sincere or false openness.
Some people will be thrilled about your success, because you’ve accomplished what they are just hoping to achieve one day. As may it be fascinating for you at first to hear the compliments, you will grow tired of them soon after. Especially when you realize that what they say is actually a reflection of their own biases, self-doubt and flaws.
How you are currently dealing with compliments about your weight loss
Until now, you’ve dealt with compliments about your successful weight loss in one of the 3 possible ways:
- Rejecting the compliment
- Deflecting the compliment
- Accepting the compliment
How you are dealing with a compliment about your successful weight loss tells about you a lot.
The way you deal with compliments reflects your level of self-esteem and self-worth. [Tweet this!]
If compliments on your successful weight loss make you feel uncomfortable, it is because the compliments contradicts your own self-view.
1. Rejecting a compliment
“- Wow! You’ve lost a lot of weight! You look great!”
“- No, I don’t look great.”
When it comes to compliments about your looks, an inner fat girl makes you deny that the flattery could be true.
If you have high self-esteem then you will reject the compliment because you want to be perceived as modest.
Just imagine how it feels for the other person when he or she says something nice with his or her best intentions, and you reject it. This is the worst you can do. You undermine the compliment or insult the compliment giver by rejecting a compliment about your weight loss.
2. Deflecting the compliment
There are 3 ways to deflect a compliment about your successful weight loss:
- Self-insult:
“- Wow! You’ve lost a lot of weight! You look great!”
“- No, I did not lose a lot of weight. My lose clothing makes me look like I’ve lost a lot of weight, but trust me, I am still fat under it.”
- Denial:
“- Wow! You’ve lost a lot of weight! You look great!”
“- No, I don’t. Look, I have batwings under my arms.”
- Boomerang:
“- Wow! You’ve lost a lot of weight! You look great!”
“- You look amazing too! Is that a new necklace you’re wearing?”
The problem with deflecting a compliment abut your successful weight loss is that you give the impression that you don’t respect the opinion of the person who gave you the compliment. You should return the compliment, but not right away. Say something nice about the person who gave you the compliment about your successful weight loss the next time you two meet.
3. Accepting the compliment
Your best bet is to just accept the compliment about your successful weight loss that has been given you.
“- Wow! You’ve lost a lot of weight! You look great!”
“- Thanks, that’s very kind of you!”
If you want to follow it up with an explanation of how you’ve worked hard for looking like this, feel free.
Actually, accepting a compliment about your successful weight loss is a compliment for itself. By accepting the compliment someone gave you, you are suggesting them that you trust their judgement, wisdom and opinion, and you appreciate what they have to say.
Lesson on how to accept a compliment about weight loss
Even if you don’t agree with a compliment, you should take it gracefully. Respect the compliment giver by accepting the compliment. Say this if you are accepting a compliment on your successful weight loss if you don’t agree with what the other person said about you:
- “Thank you”, “Thank you very much”
- “Thanks, I appreciate that.”
- “Thanks, that’s a lovely thing to say.”
- “Thanks, that makes me feel good.”
- “Thanks, that means a lot to me.”
- “Thanks, you’re very kind.”
If you agree with a compliment given to you about your successful weight loss, accept the compliment by saying the following things:
- “Thanks. I’m really glad you noticed that I’ve lost significant weight because it’s something I’m proud of too.”
- “Thanks! I trained really hard.”
Don’t be focused on the content of the compliment when receiving one, but rather focus on receiving the compliment. And don’t forget to smile!
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