Our own weights are not anyone else’s business. Our family, friends, colleagues at work and others see us daily, weekly, monthly or yearly so they can pretty much know whether we are at a normal weight, thin, overweight, obese or whether we have gained or lost weight since our last encounters. We do not need nor want to place a sign on our shirt that says “I weight____ pounds”.
However, I am strong believer in letting people in your world know when you are on a weight control effort. When people are unaware of this AND they see you often, they will not know day to day that you are trying to lose weight. They may see you decline a alcohol containing drink at a happy hour or say “no thanks” to a dessert offering after dinner. But, if they do not realize that this is because you are trying to shed weight, they may very well try to coerce you into the poor drink/food choices that they themselves are indulging in.
Let’s place yourself in a hypothetical situation: A friend or relative of yours tells you that he/she is trying to lose weight and is asking for your help to be supportive when you are around him/her. You would be more than happy to try to help the person by not trying to force carbs/alcohol on him/her, perhaps if you are having a dinner party at the house to ensure there are protein and vegetable offerings, salads etc.
I advise everyone to be open about their weight control efforts as this will bring much more support to those around you. Most alcoholics are trained by their various programs they attend to be very open about their alcoholism and quest to stay away completely from drinking. I believe people with chronic weight control issues should similarly be open about their efforts to stay away from their addictive substances (i.e. the foods/drinks that place weight on). By doing so, we all will receive much more help and support from people that could otherwise play a role in hurting our efforts.