🙁 Every single family function turns into a comment session about my weight

Gained about ten kilos over the past two years due to a mix of a desk job, some medication side effects, and honestly just general stress, and every single wedding or family function since then has turned into some version of the same conversation, an aunt mentioning how much healthier I looked before, an uncle recommending some specific diet or gym routine unprompted, someone comparing me to how I looked at my own cousin's wedding a couple of years back like that photo is the permanent standard I should be measured against forever. Used to just laugh these comments off in the beginning, assumed it came from genuine concern even if it was expressed clumsily, but after enough repetition across enough functions it has started to genuinely wear on how I feel walking into any family gathering now, to the point where I sometimes consider skipping smaller functions entirely just to avoid the inevitable comments that seem to come from at least two or three different relatives every single time without fail. Tried responding directly a couple of times, mentioned that the comments were not actually helpful and made me feel worse rather than motivated, and the general response was some version of we are just saying it because we care about you, which I do not doubt is genuinely how they see it, but the actual effect on me does not match that stated intention at all regardless of what it is coming from. My closer cousins have started noticing the pattern too and occasionally step in to change the subject when it comes up, which helps in the moment, but does not really address the fact that this happens consistently enough that I now mentally brace for it before walking into any function where a specific set of relatives will be present. Has anyone actually found a way to shut this kind of ongoing commentary down without it turning into a bigger confrontation at a family event specifically? Curious what has actually worked for other people dealing with something similar rather than just absorbing it every single time the way I have been doing so far.

The 'we say it because we care' line came up in my house too, from my own mother, and arguing back only gave the comment more attention than it deserved. I started changing the subject myself before anyone could finish the sentence, usually by asking about their own kids or work instead. It has not fixed everything, but the comments have gotten noticeably shorter after a few functions.

My cousins do the same thing for me, jumping in to change the subject the moment an aunt starts on my weight, and it does help in the moment even though it never stops the comments at the next function. What worked a little was answering with a flat 'yes I know' instead of explaining myself, it seemed to bore them faster than any real response did.

Considering skipping smaller functions entirely just to avoid the comments says a lot about how much this has actually worn you down, more than any single comment on its own would. I went through something similar for a while and eventually just started attending fewer of the optional ones without over-explaining why. Nobody actually questioned it much, which surprised me given how loudly they normally comment on everything else.