Weight is something that has plagued my life for several years; I never discussed it openly until I moved in with the boy. Being that close to someone make it much harder to hide weight concerns. I would also struggle to get him to understand my point of view on my weight and it would end badly.

I started thinking about what language I use in relation to my weight; “How Women and Men Talk about Weight” was a great start point. I would talk about my diet and losing weight and the boy would mention getting fit and getting into shape, it’s a small difference but what a difference.
It’s amazing how girls speak about wanting to be skinnier and a certain weight, and even if boys have goals of losing weight and being a certain weight, they describe and talk about it very differently. They talk about wanting to see their fitness level improve and being able to reach a fitness goal. It just seems to differ between genders greatly.

I love the way the article highlighted points to help each gender talk about weight loss to the opposite gender; I summarised them below:

Girlie advice

•    Keep the language differences in mind when discusings weight with males
•    Remember that lack of understanding does not mean lack of caring
•    Find a common language to express your feelings

Boy advice

•    The words muscular, big, fast or strong are not compliments, most girls hear this as FAT.
•    Use language, such as “nice curves” or “you look more toned”.

Related posts:

1. I’m a slacker.