3 Fat Chicks on a Diet Weight Loss Community - Conflicting Body-Image Issues

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- 20-Somethings (https://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/20-somethings-56/)

- - Conflicting Body-Image Issues (https://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/20-somethings/287983-conflicting-body-image-issues.html)

I have similar thing going on. I was never thin, but somehow I also think I don't realize how big I am?

I feel and look better now than I did 70 pounds ago. Or at least in my head I do. I have little moments where I realize the progress I've made like when I put my hand on my hip I can feel that there is less of me there.

I can put on an outfit and think I look completely fine, but then when I see pictures on FB or something I can't even look at them.

I seriously was just thinking this a few days ago. I asked my husband is there like an opposite of Anorexia because I'm not skinny and feel fat, I'm fat and I feel skinny. lol WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME? I am the same way as most of you girls though. I put something on and I feel GREAT in it and then I pass a mirror or see a picture of me in it and I'm like OMG what was I thinking.

I suffer from the same thing so it's good to hear that I'm not alone. Back when I was a size 16 I would look in the mirror and think I looked great. I didn't think I looked fat at all. Now that I lost weight and am a 6/8 I think I look larger when I look in the mirror. I look fatter to myself now that I did 50+ pounds ago at my all time high... Something in my brain isn't right:dizzy:

I can tell the difference in pictures though. I'm not sure what it is about the mirror but because I avoid photos (at any size I hate having my photo taken) I think I let myself get a lot bigger than I would have had I seen the reality in pictures. That damn mirror and my brain were telling me I really hadn't gotten THAT big when clearly I had (let's just say I wore out the crotches of like 4 pairs of pants from my thighs rubbing together...).

It makes me feel a little better to know I'm not alone.

There's a term for this, it's called fatorexia, believing you're thinner than you really are. I went through this exact thing for ages, not bothering to lose weight because I thought I wasn't that fat, but dressing room mirrors are not kind and that's where I first realised I needed to lose weight. But don't get discouraged, keep up with your weight loss plan and in time you'll look great in the clothes you want to wear.

Man I totally hear you! I have the same issue!! It sucks when my closet is full off all these nice dresses from a thinner year...
I have a bunch of dress pants for work that I bought in a size 10 that used to be on the large size but I got because it was comfortable and looked better when i tuck my shirts in.
NOW these pants fit pretty perfectly, and it's not cool!! I need to loose the weight because I refuse to buy any bigger pants and I know how silly I look when I wear clothes that are too small even though it may still fit lol. As for dressing your age, there lots of cute stuff you can still wear, just try shopping at a woman's store, not the same places you shopped at in college. There's lots of cute stuff that fits way better since it's made for women who are grown and have curves and don't want to show off their butt crack constantly!

I've been going through this issue of myself in the mirror not being the same as what I see in photos for years. It will never end. Although at my lowest my photos looked better than what I thought I looked like in the mirror. Currently I hate taking photos so I don't share the photos of myself like I used to. I just realized the other day that I was doing it subconsciously. Maybe when I get back into the 140s I will want to take more photos.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AJ'sAwesomeMom (Post 4849233)

So I have kind of a weird problem, and I'm curious if anyone else is or has previously experienced something similar.

I have a lot of body image issues regarding my weight (among other things), but they sort of conflict with each other. For example, if I look in a mirror naked or in a bathing suit, I am literally disgusted with how I look. Same goes for pictures of myself. But at the same time, I have a tendency to not realize just how big I've gotten. So take a fundraiser I attended last winter: I bought a dress online, and when it came it was shorter than I expected. But I tried it on with a pair of heels and thought, This looks pretty good! But when I saw pictures from the night, I looked like a gorilla stomping around in high heels and a short red dress. I looked ridiculous.

I used to be really fit. I played sports in high school and part of college, and just generally loved working out. And I think in my mind, I convince myself that I'm much smaller than I am which leads me to make poor choices in clothing...and when I realize how bad I looked, it makes me hate myself.

I have no idea if this makes any sense, but I think this distorted view of how much weight I need to lose is contributing to my inconsistency with working out and eating right. And I worry sometimes that even if I reach my goal weight, I'm still going to alternate between thinking that I look disgusting and dressing in too-tight, unflattering clothes because I think I look better than I do.

As an aside, I'm turning 30 in a month and a half, and sometimes I think I'm having a hard time dressing my age as well. I had my son when I was 22, and occasionally I find myself buying clothes that are way too young for me (and too small) in the hopes that it will motivate me to be able to fit into them...only to look ridiculous for a number of reasons once I stuff myself into them.

Is that you on your avatar? I think you're very pretty, so you have no reason to see yourself as disgusting, because you're obviously the exact opposite! You have a beautiful face, a stunning hair colour, and most probably you're nice as well. And you don't look overweight, just normal and healthy! So feel free to love yourself, because you look great!

Our minds/emotions can play tricks on the eyes. I think that there's some statistic out there of Americans who think most Americans are extremely overweight, but very very few said that they themselves are overweight.

Also, a lot of women (in my experience like 90%) define themselves as hourglass, and it is a rare body type and when I see pics, they (from the pics) don't appear to be.

You aren't alone! When I was gaining weight and caught my reflection, my eyes focused on the skinniest part of my body so it didn't seem like I was getting much heavier.