📝 AITAH for making my MIL feel insecure about her weight by refusing to eat the cake she made because I’m on a diet

By aitahmilcake • Score: 103 • April 8, 2025 11:02 PM


Recently I was at my MILs house for our weekly Sunday dinner. My husband 31m and I 29f have been together for ten years. I have known his family for a long time.

I have always been someone that is very health and fitness focused. I had a minor knee injury at work last year, and I am finally back to normal. I gained about 25lbs in that time due to not being able to workout and struggling to adjust to needing to eat less calories. I am currently 5’8, 175lbs. I am now trying to go back to my normal 150, which is ideal for the frame/build that I have. I monitor my calories and workouts daily to ensure that I’m in a deficit. How many calories I eat in a day depends on how active I am.

At dinner I focused on eating the protein and vegetables. My MIL and sil commented on how I skipped the mashed potato’s, which I normally love and eat a lot of. I told them it’s just not a potato kind of day.

Side note, everyone in my husbands family is obese, except him. MIL and sil have always commented on my weight, and have called me skinny. The reality is that I’m just a healthy weight, and I know they’re both very insecure about their own weights. They’re both over 300 lbs. They both try fad diets occasionally and fail.

I didn’t want to mention that I’m on a diet because I know they’ll give me shit for it, or be upset. They’re both very touchy on the subject of weight.

After dinner, MIL brought out a cake that she worked hard to make. She tried to cut me a piece, and I told her that while it looks great, I’m very full and I’ll just steal a bite of husbands cake. I don’t want a full slice to myself. The reality is I was already over my calorie limit for the day, really didn’t want to go any further. But I was willing to eat a bite of his to make her happy, and to say that I wanted to at least try it. She insisted I eat a full piece, and wasn’t taking no for an answer.

I told her I could take a piece to go and eat it later if she really wanted (I would’ve just gave it to my husband later tbh). But she told me to sit down and eat a piece of cake. At this point I was tired of fighting with her, and told her I’m trying to lose some weight and I really don’t want any cake.

She lost her shit. She said that I just think she’s gross for eating cake when she’s so fat. Really, I think she was just projecting tbh. Nothing I said would imply that. She then started full on bawling about how she’s so fat, and I think I’m better than her. FIL kicked us out, and blamed me for making MIL cry. SIL told me I should’ve just eaten the fucking cake, or lied and said I wasn’t feeling well.

Husband is the only one on my side, and he told his family that MIL is mentally unwell and needs some help, and he’ll be waiting for MiL to apologize for lashing out at me over nothing, and not to contact us otherwise.

AITAH?

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