I was sitting here and I was thinking . I want to lose 155 Pounds to Get at least to 160 is one of my goals right now. I thinking that 155 Pounds Omg is Almost My 19 Year old son . I Know this may sound weird but when I look at my self I dont feel like I weigh this much. and then when I look at photos of me I see it jest shows all over. why is this ? I have taken a few Before Photos is when I get to loosing I plan on using them as a pep me up. This jest starled me when I was Looking at the amount to loose and it hit me. How did I ever let myself get this big and not notice ?

Even though I have only lost 8.5 Pounds My husband tells me that he can tell already that I have lost some weight to keep it up. It makes me feel good. Better then looking at the stinkin Pictures

I was just thinking the same thing right now as I was looking at success stories. Where was I when I was gaining this weight and why didn't I stop. And I'm only young, how can I have so much weight to lose? It almost seems insurmountable. I'm blocking my mind from looking at the big picture. As far as I'm concerned, my fall equinox mini goal is where my head is right now in terms of how much weight I need to lose and after that my halloween goal. I just can't think of the whole thing if not I might just cry... or eat cake... if I had cake...

I remember when I started this journey I was utterly shocked to see how BIG I was--somehow a picture is harder to deny than the person in the mirror!

Just remember these are BEFORE pictures. Take heart. In twenty pounds take another picture and put it side by side with the other one. You WILL notice a difference. (But if you don't, 'cause self-perception is the trickiest of visions, then post here and we'll see the difference.)

Oh my god, I'm so with you on this one. I look at pictures of me and I am shocked. That is NOT what I see in the mirror every morning. Since I've lost some weight, I'm actually feeling pretty darn good about the way I look. And then someone takes a picture of me at one of the many bbq's this summer and I'm like "What the H$%*! I'm thinner than that!" Totally shocked the crap out of me But those pictures have been a huge motivator. I was slacking in August but after I saw the pics from me on Labor Day weekend, whoa! I'm back in the game!

I agree. At 330 pounds, I never "saw" myself as "that" big. Boy oh boy was I ever wrong . Good thing is, we have the power to change it and we are all working hard to do just that. We rock

I never saw myself that big. When I told my friend I had lost over 150 lbs, she was stunned since that was more than she weighed. She went around telling everyone that I basically lost her.

It can be overwhelming, but you are doing great and that is awesome! One day at a time.

My 17 year old son weighs 175, and when I got to the point of that much weight loss I was really kindof freaking out. I was like OMG, what in the **** did I do to myself. I've now lost about 55% of my total weight...(I've lost 30 more pounds than I weigh), it's kind of weird when you look at it like that. Where did it all go?

I sometimes wonder how and WHY the heck I let myself get to be 287 lbs at only 5 feet tall (short?). And why I didn't do something sooner. But I don't spend too much time dwelling on the past. What's done is done. I wasted enough time living "that way" for so long. I don't want to spend another minute wasting any more time on THAT. I can't go back and change the past. We can only work on NOW and our FUTURE.

I am grateful that I didn't let it get any worse and that I took the action I did when I did.

Oh and about those pictures. I always wondered why I looked so big in them (the rare pics that I allowed) and why everyone else looked exactly the size that they are. Hmmm.

But funny thing is, now I look at the pics of my self (& there's lots of them, I became a camera hog) and think "that can't be me. I can't be that small, why am I so much smaller in the picture then in real life?". Funny. And odd. And very, very nice.

This is true for me too. They say the camera adds 10 pounds, but its not an extra ten pounds I see when I look at pictures. It is a heck of a lot more.

This morning someone tagged me in a photo on facebook, for the whole world to see. And it looks entirely different from the person I see in the mirror. I wanted to untag myself, but didn't. I need the reminder that the photo is probably a closer representation to how i look to others. It hurts a lot though.

Oh I have a speedy untagging finger. I untag myself from the rare photos taken of me that I don't like/have control over. And it's silly because those pics are the me the rest of the world sees. Can you say M-O-T-I-V-A-T-I-O-N?!?!

Self perception is a really odd thing. As is the perception of those close to us. My husband swore I looked the same as when we got married (I had gained 35 pounds). He didn't notice the difference until I lost most of it, and he was out of town when I did most of it, so he saw it all at once! Kind of floored him. Having lost the weight, I don't see much difference when I look in the mirror. I didn't think I looked that bad at 185, but when I see photos, I sure didn't look great.

Unfortunately, now when I look in the mirror, I see what is left to lose, rather than the fact that I look a lot better. Occasionally I catch a glimpse in passing in store window, and I'm surprised that's really me. I look pretty good!

I'm really hoping that when I'm done with all of this I have a more balanced perspective.

Some days I'm like there is no way I'm big enough to weigh this, but then there are days when I feel like I belong out in the pasture with the family's cows!

I know exactly how I let myself get this way... I was in a happy marriage and having babies and knew I no longer needed to impress anyone. Now I am done having babies and am in a very strong happy marriage and it's time for me to wow my hubby once again... and then again and again and well you get the idea.

Facebook is the whol;e reasonI started this again and properly. Irealised that I had beend ieting for 3 years and when I saw the photo I was like "whos the fat girl in my dress"
What a shock when I was the fat girl, BUT while I am on this journey I refuse to get upset by my size as long as I am doing something, i.e making good choices, exercising.
And hey at least I have my 'before' picture all picked out