Body Dysmorphia
 

:o

So, I have lost 26 pounds. I am VERY happy about it. I feel good - actually, most of the time, I feel GREAT! All my old clothes are looser, or too big (not many, but a few!! :D) and I have had to buy some smaller clothes - YAY!

BUT... my hubby took a number of photographs the other night at a rehearsal I was at for a play I am in, and I had a look at them. <cue ominous music HERE> Egads!!!

I cans see how anorexics see themselves as fat, I suppose. I thought I looked MUCH thinner than I really do! ;) I mean, I have to laugh, because I am totally on the right track, and very pleased with my progress thus far, and to be honest, three months ago, I would have looked at this as a set-back and eaten a few pies!!! Or LOTS of PIES!!! :devil:

I just wanted to share with you all my shock that I am still a HUGE woman. And that it feels (okay, a LITTLE disappointing, but hey!) fine. I am doing something about it. I just never experienced that kind of difference between my thoughts of myself and how I actually look before.

Okay, ramble over! :D

Heather :dizzy:

Do you have any photos of you from when you were 26 pounds heavier? Comparing them might help you to see just how far you've come!

The other thing you can do is this:

A gallon of milk weighs ~8.5 pounds. Pick up 3 of those and it will really hit home just how much you have lost!

Hey, what a great idea, Lori, thanks!!! :) I'm going to try that with the milk, for sure!

Heather :D

We were watching an episode of What Not to Wear one day. The subject was a young mother. She thought she had to hide her huge bottom half in baggy trousers. When they got her dressed up she really was not disproportionate at all.
We wondered this ... if all you have is a little mirror in the bathroom .. you know, to check your face and hair ... and then you just look down at the rest of you. You'd be seeing yourself in disjointed bits. You wouldn't get a total picture.
I didn't have many mirrors in my house for a long time. It was hard to get some and actually use them. However, it's done me the world of good. I have to calmly look, study and learn. Make the picute stick. This is not at all what I thought I did/would/could look like.

definitely go back and look at the older photos! I look at my progress photos almost every day. Encourages me and gives me a reality check all at once :)

You know what? Those pictures don't look any different to me! :D

But they will... oh yes, they WILL!

Thanks all -
Heather :)

Sometimes people feel thinner before they look thinner. Don't let it get you down! 26 pounds is great! It's something like 10% of your weight, isn't it?

Hang in there! It gets better, you'll see.

Jay

Have you considered a facial? You seem to have an abnormally large white growth on your face. ;)

I can't wait to see your new pictures. You are doing so well.

I kind of LOVE what you're saying though! I'm the same way, of course, I've lost around 70, but I dress sexier and strut a little more than I used to....but I'm STILL 220+! It was always one of my great fears that I would get to 160 or less and still hate my body, but doesn't it feel great that we love ours NOW, just think how good we'll feel in ONEderland!

Keep on struttin your stuff girl! You deserve it!

YAY is right! It'll happen for you. I'm vertically challenged, too. However, compared to you, I'm tall. I do think it doesn't show up for us as quickly as taller people.

You are doing great!

You're doing absolutely GREAT!!!!! Soon you'll be able to see those results in pictures, in all your clothing, in EVERYTHING. You are headed in the right direction!!!!

If your anything like me.. even when you get to 160 you wont be satisfied. I always thought.. man.. if I could just get to an 11 (american) I would be happy.. I was 11 for a while, and I was like *ugh* then I was like ok a 9 I will be happy.. got into a 9 decided on a 7, now that I am a 7 I want to be a 5. Which might I add that I *can* wear some 5's but not all 5's.. **** I cant even where all 7's, but I *can* wear all 8's. So.. for me.. its just been a vicious cycle, and no. I wont be happy until that stupid BMI chart tells me I am healthy instead of border line OBESE. :tantrum: Im having a day.. can you tell? First day of TOM.. thats my story and Im sticking too it.

Point is.. for me.. even as far as I have come, I seem to forget those days 100lbs ago.. it was soooo long ago. Do yourself a favor and try not to ever forget.

I don't see much difference in my before/current pictures, either, but people close to me seem to be noticing...I think our eyes are trained to immediately go to our trouble areas and ignore the rest.

You know what, though? You're already halfway to losing 52 lb, and at that point, I GUARANTEE you'll notice a difference!

Plus, I agree that it's good to hear that your confidence is increasing. That's the best part of weight loss! ;)

Hooray for those 26 lb!!

I have that issue...Just recently I posted a "before" and "current" side-by-side here asking if anyone saw a difference, because I sure as **** didn't, and was getting really discouraged. Apparently there *is* quite a difference, and that after only 15 lbs! So just imagine how different YOU look to the people around you! ;)

I have opposite effect. I don't feel any thinner now than I felt at 190 but this week almost every person I ran into made a comment that I was looking 'skinny'. I actually took pics of myself just to see what they were seeing.

Even more bizarre, at 190 I didn't feel as fat as I was. I was shocked when I saw photos from a vacation.