yikes. This thread is making me a bit ashamed of being a man. Time to leave.
People are stupid. Generally well-meaning, but stupid just the same.
And I agree - those empire waistlines only work on the very skinniest of women. And even on very skinny women, they still don’t actually look good - they just hide all the bones.
When I was very small, my aunt babysat me and her nephew (not my brother) who was about 8 months older than me. We were both blonde and blue-eyed. She was shopping one day and had us in the cart when this old lady came simpering up to her and asked if we were twins. My aunt said, “No, in fact they don’t even have the same father.” The old lady was mortified and quickly scuttled away. This story has always made me laugh.
I had a guy ask me if I was pregnant too!
I was doing volunteer work at a homeless shelter at the time, serving food. After he asked me (and I wasn’t even fat then) I reassured myself that a high percentage of homeless men are mentally ill and he must have been halucinating at the time.
If I use this line when I actually am pregnant, which level of Hell will I arrive at?
Also: Thread Winner
I had someone almost ask me this question. I was at a basketball game a few weeks after having surgery and admittedly looking pretty rough. The elevator operator mentioned that she hadn’t seen me and Mr. Jelly Roll in a while (we had season tickets) and I mumbled something about having been sick and she lit up and started to point at my belly while at the same saying, “Oh! Are you…” At which point my husband stepped in and said, “Yes- she just had cancer surgery.” It was true and thankfully shut the lady up. My husband and I have never talked about The Elevator Incident.
FilmGeek, may I suggest Weight Watchers? I just hit 20 pounds off with them and am going strong, in spite of the fact that I stole all the dark chocolate out of the Halloween candy tonight! 
I am actually on WW now. I’m not doing too well, though. Now I think I’ll be more vigilant!
Look on the bright side. With her thinking you’re pregnant, you can gain weight continuously over the next six months and get away with it.
I would just like to say that I look good in empire waist tops.
Thank you.
Y’know when commercials say “8 out of 10 people prefer (whatever)”. ? Well, there are people who actually ask people what they prefer. Those people (poll-takers) often work in malls. I used to be such a poll-taker. We almost always worked with a ‘target demographic’.
We hated when the ‘target demographic’ was ‘pregnant women’, because the number of women who appeared to be pregnant was always so much greater than the number of women who actually were pregnant!
As a non-mall-worker, I just keep my damned mouth shut. It’s safer.
I realized I was fat last week when I buttoned my pants and there was spill over :smack:
When I was younger I was always too thin. I guess I can’t rest on my laurels any longer.
AKA “muffintop”.
Dudette, that made me get serious about my shape. At least now there is no muffin top unless they’re right out of the washer wet and shrunk (and even then not always). Good luck!
I never would have thought of it at the time, but “Does the Church now pay for gender reassignment surgery?” might have given him something to think about 
People always think I’m pregnant, but not because of how I look. Just because I’m in my twenties and married I guess.
‘‘I wasn’t feeling well this morning.’’
‘‘OMG you must be pregnant!’’
It’s ridiculous how often I get this. And when I tell them that it’s not possible, I get the knowing, ‘‘oh, you say that, but you’d be surprised…’’ wink, wink
Look lady, just because you play Russian roulette with your reproductive organs doesn’t mean I do. One of my methods of birth control has a .001 failure rate and the other has a .20 failure rate. We use them together every. Single. Time. Do you know why? BECAUSE I DON’T WANT TO FUCKING GET PREGNANT, OK? I can’t think of a single thing that would fuck up my life plans more than having a baby right now.
In fact, it is my fervent hope that I never experience childbirth, ever.
Some day, I will happily adopt, but do you think I really want to get into that with you, so you can blink and sputter and furrow your brow and mutter about how someday, I’ll change my mind? Noooo.
I feel ya, Olives. Any time I feel queasy or rest my hand on my stomach or anything I get a slew of “OMGZ, are you pregnant?” despite the fact that I am not married. My boyfriend and I always use at least 2 types of birth control and we take great pains in baby prevention because babies are not okay right now. Or ever, really. Apparently being in your mid to late 20’s is enough to make people think you are knocked up no matter what your marital state.
I am extremely jealous. But impressed at the same time. You give me hope. 
Good deal! Work the plan.
One thing that helped me was finding the place on the website where I could adjust my points. I knocked 3 points off what the calculator told me I should be eating each day. It may or may not help you.
Good luck! Let’s get more svelte together!