I'm pretty confused here too....
I think I'm missing something, but taking Skunk's op at face value:
I have the same problem...if you want to call it a "problem" Skunk....any time someone doesn't see me for a couple of years, they think I've lost weight. Recently I saw someone I haven't seen since 1999, back when I was 220...I'm now 315, and as usual, "OMG Bubba, you're looking so good...how much weight have you lost?" I don't know if people just expand me in their minds once I'm gone, and so the real me always looks skinnier, or if it's all BS...the whole "Flatter the fat, hairy, crazy man waving his knife around and he won't hurt me" plan.
--BubbaThud