Are you dieting? Say goodbye to your (female) friends

Women that start a diet, had better brace themselves against jealous reactions. According to the British journalist Sasha Slater many women consider it a threat when a friend of them loses weight.

"Woman are very good at evaluating other females. When these are fatter then themselves, they do not consider them a big threat. They would be less capable of catching a man and therefore their 'chances of survival' are limited. However, as soon as such a fat friend starts to lose weight, jealous reactions can come to surface", says Slater.

Some women even go so far that they start to feed up their friend. "When you are on a diet, it is very much possible that your (female) friend makes a negative remark. Some of them do not 'recognize' you anymore as your old self, others feel somehow 'insulted' because you don't want to indulge in disert together with them. These are all tricks to get you back on your old, familiar and safe weight".

The only solution is to break up friendship with these friends, or to avoid them for a while. Until you have reached an acceptable weight and you are better capable of taking the remarks and they have no influence on your chance of diet success.

Aw, I hate it when they boil down complicated human relationships to a few rancid platitudes.

Hahaha! I better go "catch me a man" to "ensure my survival".

yes indeed. Because that is what we women are all about, and our "friendships" are based on whether we feel our "friend" is competition or not.

This is really insulting. Did this "journalist" do any research at all or just pull this out of thin air? I am particlulary amused by the assumption that all women want is to "catch a man." And the only way to do that is to be thin, because men are so shallow they can't look beyond that. Sasha managed to stuff a lot of stereotypes in her little article!

Karen

Women are usually extremely competitive for whatever reason. They feel threatened. I can understand what they are saying her but it doesn't always have to be like that.

I didn't lose weight to 'catch a man' anyways. That was the least of my concern. I always try to help my female friends lose weight. I don't care about petty garbage like this. It happens, a lot people are shallow. Not ALL people are shallow.

Words to live by!

Such a generalization. I suppose use of the word "friend" is very subjective.

If you lose friends over jealousy, were they ever really your friends?

My female friends are nothing like this.

So did the British journalist who this is "according to" just invent this one day over her tea and bickies?
What rubbish.

Yes I think this journalist has really simplified the issue.

My friends are really supportive of me and eachother whether this weight or losing weight or very slim. The only time they would question weight loss would be if it were unhealthy, for instance constant crash dieting or someone trying to be too (anorexically) thin.

I did have one friend about 10 years ago who did feel that she had an advantage over me with men as she was slimmer. I didn't realise this though and took her with me on a blind date to a club with a guy I'd been chatting with on the internet (I know three's a crowd, but safety first). It turned out that she'd assumed the guy would take one look at us and decide he liked her better (I know, crappy friend). He was friendly to her all night, not wanting her to feel excluded, but as it became clear that he had no interest in her and was interested in me, she became increasingly sulky and withdrawn. In the following weeks she was really nasty and its no shock we stopped being friends. So yes these jealous types do exist, but true friends are happy for you, and supportive whatever your endeavours.

And the blind date and I celebrated our ten year anniversary together yesterday. So yes, there are plenty of men who aren't shallow too.

Lee

This woman calls herself a journalist but can't spell! This makes me a little wary of her psychological insights.

Some women can be that way, I have 2 friends, and we are all trying to loose weight. All of us are at diffrent stages, and we are all trying to encourage each other. I got my fellow while I was heavy, I have no concerns about getting a man when I'm thinner. Both my friends got there men when they were heavy also, and the guys are still with them.

My first husband was that way, he was jelouse that I lost weight and was trying to "feed me up". He hated that I spoke to people, didn't have a problem before. Didn't work.