So I've been looking at progress pictures on here and have been seeing people on facebook who have lost a lot of weight! Everyone looks so different - like they are physically a completely different person!
I have always been overweight since Elementary School so I have never seen a skinny version of me. It's got me wondering... what am I going to "look" like when I lose the weight that I want.
Kinda makes me scared in a way - am I going to like the new look? Of course I am! But it's the "what ifs and not knowing part". I'm just too impatient to wait but I guess I have no choice.
Anyone else ever felt this way before?
Last edited by SweetScrumptious; 03-30-2009 at 05:58 PM.
Oh yes! That's one of the things that motivated me to stick to my plan like glue while I was losing -- I was so curious to see what I looked like at a normal weight! I wasn't one who gained weight later in life; just like you I had always been overweight or obese so didn't have any idea what I would look like if I wasn't fat.
Losing 120 pounds makes you unrecognizable to most people. In fact, my father walked by me in the airport without recognizing me and my kids couldn't pick me out in a crowd. Sometimes it's quite handy to be incognito if there's someone you'd like to avoid.
But it's also kind of weird not to recognize yourself any longer and I'm sure that's what you mean about being a bit scared. It's a very strange experience to walk past the mirror in a store and not realize it's you. Or to look in the bathroom mirror and see a strange yet familiar face.
Whenever anyone took a picture of me, I'd stare and stare at it, trying to "see" myself. Is this really what I look like? Am I really that small? Is this what other people see? (I still expect to look much, much larger in photos than I actually do)
Mostly, it was exciting and I just couldn't wait to see what was hidden under all that fat! But I totally understand how you feel.
Yes... I feel that way still. I've never been healthy or fit. I can't even fathom what it would be like... but something keeps telling me it will be the best thing that ever happened to me, so I keep going. I hear a lot of talk like, I want to be sexy like i was in high school or fit into my skinny jeans. For me? The skinny jeans are a size 16 and I am ecstatic to have gotten this far, but anything smaller than that? Is a big unknown. Sometimes scary. But all the time better for me.
I actually have had a couple of people tell me recently that didn't recognize me. Yesterday a man I haven't seen in months (since last Spring) asked me when my sister was coming back. I was like ??????? He pressed on and asked me where my daughter's mother was. LOL--I said, "I am her mother." He was completely befuddled and embarrassed but I assured him it was okay. I do look very different. My weight has changed (size 18 to a 4/6) but also my hair and manner of dress.
Last edited by Thighs Be Gone; 03-30-2009 at 07:01 PM.
Yes, I feel the same way! I've always been chubby/boderline overweight my entire life. I guess because food is a very big part of the culture here and from young I've had people feeding me left right and center.
I've always wondered how I'll look like when I reach my goal weight. I don't know.... What will happen to my perpetually round face? Will I be confident enough to wear sleeveless tops then?
Even my own husband had a couple incidents when he didn't recognize me in a store. I have regular incidents when people don't know who I am. Which surprises me since I don't think I look THAT different.
And - I GUARANTEE you that you will like the new look! While I have found a few new wrinkles in my face that my fat previously filled, and my "Shar-pei" tummy is rather comical - I wouldn't go back for anything!
My employer has said that I am a completely different looking person. In fact, she has taken my "fat" pictures off our company website..... and put new ones. I am so proud. I am not "there" yet.... but I am closer to there than at the other end.
I NEED to know what I look like at a lower weight than that. I HAVE to know...how I will look, how I will feel.
Me too. The lowest weight I've ever been, as an adult, is in the 180s. I need to know how I will look and feel at a lower weight than that. And honestly I was so messed up when I was that small I really remember very very little about it ~ except I remember thinking I still looked/felt like a cow. And I wasn't. I looked great in pictures but couldn't see it in the mirror, at the time.
I've been told that I'm nearly unrecognizable now that I've lost over 130 pounds. My face has actually changed a lot... since I no longer have the puffy cheeks and double chin, my features seem to be a lot more pronounced. Although I still don't fully "see" myself yet, I do like what I've managed to process so far.
I'm now at a lower weight than I was in 8th grade. I keep wondering, "what will 170 look like? 160? 150?"
I think it is worlds different for people who used to be thin but gained weight later in life. (That is NOT to say that it's *easier* it's just different.) I've always been overweight, so this is completely new, and kinda scary, territory.
What I didn't recognise was my "fat face" even though I had it for years. I guess when I looked in the mirror I still saw myself 20 years ago. When I lost enough weight for it to show I felt I could look in the mirror and say "welcome back".
I think the last time I was skinny (and I was STICK skinny then) was when I was 5 years old. And I don't really remember what it was like. My earliest memories I have I was overweight, and that's pretty much all I can ever remember. I'm almost 20 now and trying to lose weight, but I really have NO idea what skinny me would look like. I'm really excited to find out though!
The "Skinny" You?
