Sometimes people will offer you something unhealthy. For example, you may go to someone's house when they offer you a cookie or some other fatty food. What do you do when this happens? What if you are really trying to stick to a diet?

Now, I find I usually accept. I'm going to have to start practising saying no, though. Let's see. I could tell them I'm on a diet. I could tell them I'm on xenical and they really don't want me to be eating fatty food in their house.

What annoys me is that when I say no, they often try to pressure me into it. They'll say things like, "oh, come on! It's good!"

Yeah, or "It's just a little bit. It won't hurt." Or if they made it they get offended when you won't eat it.

And it works on me, too. I always give in and have that 'little bit'. That's bad, but I wonder what makes people do that?

Me too. I always give in. At least I used to. I turned down some chocolate cake the other day. I 'just said no'. No explanations. Just 'no thank you'.

What I want to do is ask, "You know I'm trying to lose weight, so why are you doing this?"

Offering food to a guest is good manners, and symbolizes a kind of communion. Dining together was used to seal pacts in the past. Most people are just trying to make you feel welcome. I don't think it is really up to them to know whether we are watching our weight or not. It's up to us to figure out how to say no without seeming rude.