When did you notice? - 3 Fat Chicks on a Diet Weight Loss Community

Altari · 02-21-2008, 09:52 AM

I've seen a few threads on when other people noticed. But when did YOU look in the mirror and say "OMG I'm smaller?"

I've lost 17 pounds so far, and some pants are falling off, while others actually feel tighter. I think they feel tighter because as I lose, they sit lower on my hips.

I know the scale and the tape measure don't lie in tandem, but I just can't look in the mirror and see myself as 'thinner'.

sumu1 · 02-21-2008, 10:06 AM

Good morning... congratulations on a great job so far

. You raise an interesting question, when others can see the change, you can feel it in the way you wear your clothes but you can't necessarily see it. It's a strange feeling, it's like your brain hasn't caught up to your weight loss yet. You still see yourself as your larger self. I think it's because it's a HUGE emotional shift. You have to get to the place where you can see yourself the others see you. If you have any pictures of you before maybe that'll help or take a leap of faith...others say your body is changing, take it as a compliment, smile to yourself and keep pushing forward

I'll be honest, I'm on the lower end of the weightloss spectrum but it's still tricky. I honestly don't see it yet. But I tried on a pair of jeans I haven't worn in a while, in a daring size 8, and they are tight but they fit. I still see the amount I have to go and all the "problem" areas but I try hard to also remember how far I've come.

Hope this helped a bit.

suitejudyblueeyes · 02-21-2008, 10:08 AM

I haven't lost a whole lot but pretty much every other day something happens to make me think I'm smaller. Perhaps it's wishful thinking.

Overall I think I look the same, but little things I definitely notice and pretty much focus on -- like the fact that I can see collarbones, for instance. And I'm kind of obsessed with flexing my leg muscles in various positions and feeling the solidness I've been creating there. And sometimes I'll put my hands on my waist and be surprised at what I feel (either due to change in size or developing muscle). Occasionally I'll catch myself in the bathroom mirror and think, hm, my stomach looks a little smaller, or my hips look a little slimmer. I don't really care if this is actually true or not, but believing it myself has been great motivation for me.

Generally I'm just loving all of the changes I'm finding in my body. From the very outset of starting to lose weight I've been staying focused on what I can tell is changing. I don't really mind if no one around me notices, and most of the things I notice are very personal (no one aside from DH is allowed to feel my leg muscles!

). Sooo, to answer your question, I've been noticing since the beginning, in many little ways!

HeatherAngel · 02-21-2008, 10:12 AM

Honestly? I still struggle to see it. But every now and then, I'll catch my reflection and be rather surprised... it took at least 80lbs lost for that.

EDIT: I'll add that it has been very confusing for my brain - the labels on my clothes, I am convinced, must all be wrong.

PJS145 · 02-21-2008, 10:29 AM

I've been maintaining since the end of last summer, and it's still difficult sometimes for me to wrap my mind around. I, too, will sometimes catch a glimpse of myself in the store or something and be very surprised! I'm always looking around (especially while clothes shopping) and comparing myself to other women-am I the same size? What size is she picking out? It's very Crazy Making! Sometimes I wish I could step outside myself and just see exactly what I look like because I don't think I really know! And for some reason, pictures of me just don't do the trick......

Lovely · 02-21-2008, 10:32 AM

I have to admit I'm much like HeatherAngel in this regard. I don't really see it, and then I have myself semi-convinced that I can't possibly be getting smaller... my clothes must just be getting bigger!

nelie · 02-21-2008, 10:51 AM

I lost well over 100 lbs before I could see it. Collarbones were definitely a help in seeing it.

BlzMaxGnrCCJkMly · 02-21-2008, 11:02 AM

i cant see it in myself, so i rely on others to tell me!

dgramie · 02-21-2008, 11:15 AM

I can tell today by the way my flannel pjs fit. I pulled them out of the dryer and they are usually kinda snug on my legs;;;well today they are not snug at all. I have only lost 15lbs but i guess the exercise is working. Plus my thighs are usually the last place I loose. I cant wait for others to be able to tell that I am loosing.
My sisterinlaw asked if I had gone down a size yet. She said that 15lbs is one size...well not for me its not. I think it will be more like 25-30 for a size but I can tell my clothes are looser and hang nicer.

bethbeth · 02-21-2008, 11:21 AM

I have really noticed a difference already, which started when I hit about the 15 pound mark. My jeans are way too big, and my waist and tummy look smaller! Yippee!

peachcake · 02-21-2008, 11:34 AM

I've only lost 7 pounds but I have been doing cardio as well as lifting weights and I can feel the difference in my arms, they feel stronger and are a little leaner. My tummy looks a little less jelly like, but I think part of that is I am not retaining water and I'm not all bloated like I use to be when I was eating junk food.

mandalinn82 · 02-21-2008, 12:05 PM

I'm another that took well over 100 lbs to be able to see any sort of difference. The reason is the pattern recognition function of your brain.

See, your brain remembers what things that you see all the time look like, so it can see things instantly without having to analyze every bit of data that is coming back from your eyes. So it'll recognize a pattern (my barstool, my grey cat, my body) and then fill in all the rest of the pattern based on memories of what things look like. So your brain recognizes "my body" in the mirror and fills in the visual image with it's historical memories of what that should look like.

The brain doesn't do the same thing with photographs because they are a different size/scale, so looking at yourself in a photograph makes it easier to see the difference. Other people that don't see you very often see the difference because they don't have that same stored pattern of what you look like. My brain still runs about a year behind reality...so I see myself as I looked a year ago, not as I look now. Hopefully as I continue in maintenance it'll even out, but know that it is TOTALLY normal not to see a difference even as others do.

suitejudyblueeyes · 02-21-2008, 12:19 PM

Hmm, that's very interesting Mandalinn.

Now that I think about it, most of the reasons why I notice my body's changing on a regular basis is because I'm relying on touch/tactile data input, as opposed to just sight. I guess it works different in your brain when you literally feel a difference -- your brain doesn't call up the memory of what feels like to put your hand on your stomach, it just deals with the new info? Something like that?

Verrrry eeenteresting!

dandk0204 · 02-21-2008, 12:38 PM

Well I lost almost 40 pounds and I still look the same. My pants are loose but I don't see a difference at all. I still have 100+ pounds to lose so I think that's why I don't see a difference. My mom claims that I look smaller but she is just being a mom lol.

junebug41 · 02-21-2008, 12:45 PM

I noticed a runaway pelvic bone and my stomach had gone down. I thought *maybe* I had lost 10 pounds... When I stepped on the scale (I wasn't really actively trying to lose weight, only heal from a shattered ankle)... I had lost 40.

I noticed after that

I was just so SHOCKED to be finally losing weight (I honestly didn't know what that felt like) that I'm sure my pants would have been falling off and I still wouldn't ahve believed it. But I got my first comment right after that first weigh-in.