I don't understand that perception either. I never saw myself as big and still don't unless I look in the mirror or look at recent pictures. It's just weird that I thought I was okay and not bad and then reality is that I have 150lbs to lose to get to my first reasonable goal.

I've been my current weight nearing 2 years and I still have trouble picking myself out of a group of pictures. The only way I know is because I know what clothes I was wearing. I did have an instance looking at a picture and trying to figure out who was in the picture, only to realize I was in it.

I am so glad that I'm not alone on this I thought I was Crazy. But Isnt it funny how our brain works? When I lost 50 Pounds 4 Years ago I was feeling pretty good. I would look in a mirror and still see me .To me it didnt seem like I lost anything. I would accept all the complements and things people would say about how good I looked But I never seen it. I seen the same person in the mirror all the time.

This time I have decided to Take a monthly Pic so I can have the before after shots to show my brain that I am loosing weight and I am looking good. This will Help motivate me too.


Thanks for Everyone that responded and letting me know that I'm not alone.

You are definitely not alone. I've always wondered about this difference myself. Even standing up in pictures isn't as bad as the ones where I'm sitting down. OMG, we had a mini family reunion this summer and had the waitress take a picture at the restaurant and let me tell you honies, I couldn't believe what I saw. But still what I see in the mirror everday, even naked, is not as big as that picture. For me, I think it's because I've been overweight since around age 8 and have gotten used to the look.

I am really trying to not untag myself from that photo, but it is horrendous.

I think I will untag myself when i get tagged in another photo where I actually don't hate the way I look. (and it will be a snapshot someone else took, not a self-shot photo, where i pose for 20 minutes, suck in my gut and extend my neck to eliminate the double chin)

I hate to think that people from high school and college are seeing it though, err.

Sigh . . . I want to get down to 150 myself, and I had over 200 pounds to lose at my starting point!

I don't always feel much different (visually) in my old photos after losing over 90 pounds, even when I compare old photos with more current ones side-by-side. It's crazy! Even when I look at the difference seen in my avatar it's like my head is playing tricks on me or something. But I know other people can see the difference, and more importantly, I know I can feel the difference. It's weird how our self-image gets all skewed no matter what weight we happen to be at.

I wish I hadn't stopped losing weight a few years back (when I lost about 75) but at least I didn't gain any of it back. Knowing that I once weighed 360 seems so distant and surreal now, yet at the same time not so far away. I'm wondering how strange it'll someday feel to know I once weighted around 270 as well . . . ;)

Well, I guess I'm horribly hard on myself, because what I noticed, when I first started hanging around 3FC is that when I looked at before pictures that look like me I was picking out pictures of people who weighed about 400 pounds.... a hundred plus pounds more than where I was when I started...

Now, I keep trying to remind myself that while I certainly look heavy, I probably don't look like one of those people who has to be lifted out of her house in a crane...

ubergirl I know what you are saying I watch all those shows and I sit their and think omg how do they live like that. Unknown to myself what I was doing to myself. Now that I have decided to lose weight and look out for myself I dont watch shows like that any more. I want to be able to start looking for the good in me.

This post hit home last night... really hard.

We only have one mirror in our house besides the bathroom one that only shows like sholders up on me. This other mirror is usually hidden with a mountain of clothes.. it's on hubby's dresser and he never ever puts his clothes away and honestly it's not my favorite chore either since we are just going to get them out again to wear them. For once his dresser is semi cleaned off.

We spent a few hours last night up at his mom's house (our future house, we are buying theirs when their new house is built because it's bigger than ours) to work out on the gym we bought and walk the private road that I can't wait to live on. Hubby and I even got some jogging in, and I was so proud and feeling "10 feet and bullet proof". We came home and I went in the bedroom to change.. and wala.. there was that mirror!

I DO NOT FEEL THAT FAT!!! When I look at my legs, they don't look big, when I look down, my tummy looks like it's getting flatter.... but then I look at that mirror and I see myself as one of those people that you see out that you know has to have you beat by 200 pounds or more and you think I will never be like that.

It was really hard to take a second look in the mirror, but I made myself so that I KNEW I would get up and exercise with all my heart this morning.. and I did!