Body Image and Issues after Weight Loss - The "Skinny" You?

So I've been looking at progress pictures on here and have been seeing people on facebook who have lost a lot of weight! Everyone looks so different - like they are physically a completely different person!

I have always been overweight since Elementary School so I have never seen a skinny version of me. It's got me wondering... what am I going to "look" like when I lose the weight that I want.

Kinda makes me scared in a way - am I going to like the new look? Of course I am! But it's the "what ifs and not knowing part". I'm just too impatient to wait but I guess I have no choice.

Anyone else ever felt this way before?

Oh yes! That's one of the things that motivated me to stick to my plan like glue while I was losing -- I was so curious to see what I looked like at a normal weight! I wasn't one who gained weight later in life; just like you I had always been overweight or obese so didn't have any idea what I would look like if I wasn't fat.

Losing 120 pounds makes you unrecognizable to most people. In fact, my father walked by me in the airport without recognizing me and my kids couldn't pick me out in a crowd. Sometimes it's quite handy to be incognito if there's someone you'd like to avoid. :lol:

But it's also kind of weird not to recognize yourself any longer and I'm sure that's what you mean about being a bit scared. It's a very strange experience to walk past the mirror in a store and not realize it's you. Or to look in the bathroom mirror and see a strange yet familiar face.

Whenever anyone took a picture of me, I'd stare and stare at it, trying to "see" myself. Is this really what I look like? Am I really that small? Is this what other people see? (I still expect to look much, much larger in photos than I actually do)

Mostly, it was exciting and I just couldn't wait to see what was hidden under all that fat! But I totally understand how you feel. :hug:

Yes... I feel that way still. I've never been healthy or fit. I can't even fathom what it would be like... but something keeps telling me it will be the best thing that ever happened to me, so I keep going. I hear a lot of talk like, I want to be sexy like i was in high school or fit into my skinny jeans. For me? The skinny jeans are a size 16 and I am ecstatic to have gotten this far, but anything smaller than that? Is a big unknown. Sometimes scary. But all the time better for me.

I recently saw a picture of myself when I was like 50 lbs thinner, ug I barely recognized that girl. I'm hoping to meet her again someday...

I actually have had a couple of people tell me recently that didn't recognize me. Yesterday a man I haven't seen in months (since last Spring) asked me when my sister was coming back. I was like ??????? He pressed on and asked me where my daughter's mother was. LOL--I said, "I am her mother." He was completely befuddled and embarrassed but I assured him it was okay. I do look very different. My weight has changed (size 18 to a 4/6) but also my hair and manner of dress.

Yes, I feel the same way! I've always been chubby/boderline overweight my entire life. I guess because food is a very big part of the culture here and from young I've had people feeding me left right and center.

I've always wondered how I'll look like when I reach my goal weight. I don't know.... What will happen to my perpetually round face? Will I be confident enough to wear sleeveless tops then?

I'm so with you on this.

Even my own husband had a couple incidents when he didn't recognize me in a store. I have regular incidents when people don't know who I am. Which surprises me since I don't think I look THAT different.

And - I GUARANTEE you that you will like the new look! While I have found a few new wrinkles in my face that my fat previously filled, and my "Shar-pei" tummy is rather comical - I wouldn't go back for anything!

LOVE this conversation!! -

4 years ago I had been at my lowest in a LONG time-- 209.

I thought I was ALL THAT.. and, well, I think I may have been. (HAHAHAH)

I NEED to know what I look like at a lower weight than that. I HAVE to know...how I will look, how I will feel.

I can't imagine.... but hopefully soon I will.

My employer has said that I am a completely different looking person. In fact, she has taken my "fat" pictures off our company website..... and put new ones. I am so proud. I am not "there" yet.... but I am closer to there than at the other end.

I NEED to know what I look like at a lower weight than that. I HAVE to know...how I will look, how I will feel.

Me too. The lowest weight I've ever been, as an adult, is in the 180s. I need to know how I will look and feel at a lower weight than that. And honestly I was so messed up when I was that small I really remember very very little about it ~ except I remember thinking I still looked/felt like a cow. And I wasn't. I looked great in pictures but couldn't see it in the mirror, at the time.

Nice to see that everyone feels the same way as I do!

Keep the stories coming

I've been told that I'm nearly unrecognizable now that I've lost over 130 pounds. My face has actually changed a lot... since I no longer have the puffy cheeks and double chin, my features seem to be a lot more pronounced. Although I still don't fully "see" myself yet, I do like what I've managed to process so far.

Yes, it's so weird!!!

I'm now at a lower weight than I was in 8th grade. I keep wondering, "what will 170 look like? 160? 150?"

I think it is worlds different for people who used to be thin but gained weight later in life. (That is NOT to say that it's *easier* it's just different.) I've always been overweight, so this is completely new, and kinda scary, territory.

What I didn't recognise was my "fat face" even though I had it for years. I guess when I looked in the mirror I still saw myself 20 years ago. When I lost enough weight for it to show I felt I could look in the mirror and say "welcome back".

I think the last time I was skinny (and I was STICK skinny then) was when I was 5 years old. And I don't really remember what it was like. My earliest memories I have I was overweight, and that's pretty much all I can ever remember. I'm almost 20 now and trying to lose weight, but I really have NO idea what skinny me would look like. I'm really excited to find out though!

I can't wait to see the "skinny" me : ) I will happen & one day soon.