[BabyFatGone]

I seem to have the reverse problem. I lost 20 lbs a year and a half ago and feel thin. Everyone tells me that I look great after losing all that weight.

However, I saw some recent pictures and was aghast at how out of shape I still looked. I want to lose another 15 lbs or so but weight loss has stalled and I am not able to motivate myself to go the whole distance.

[njsweetpea]

Awesome topic! Although I have lost over 40 pounds, I look in the mirror and still see my former, overweight self and continue to go to the size 16s when I shop. I read or heard somewhere that the mind takes a picture and holds onto that image in its memory and it takes time to change, my mind hasn't caught up to my body yet. I have a photo of myself before starting my weight loss journey, similar to those done on The Biggest Loser, with me wearing a pair of "unforgiving" spandex shorts and exercise bra. When I look at that it does give me a visual reminder that a physical transformation has actually happened for me and that my brain needs time to adjust to the change.

[prinny]

Originally Posted by mandalinn82

Yep, it works the other way too, which is why so many people have their "turning point" when they see a photo.

That's sort of what happened to me. I have never felt thin, but I always imagined myself at the much smaller size I was for a long time (130-140 for about 15 years). I would be designing clothes for myself thinking I still looked like that and once I actually made them, and saw them on my fat self... urgh. Not so good. I saw a picture of myself in a costume at 140 taken in 2005 and in the same sitting me at almost 180 in February and I decided I had enough of that. 33 pounds later I am close to the picture I wanted to get back to, and it looks like I am going to do even better than that!

I know I will never feel thin. Even when I was too thin after college, my boyfriend at the time said I looked sick and I was 120 at the time, I didn't feel thin AT ALL. At least now I can look at the old ~180 2009 picture and give myself some perspective.

[Mama24]

Originally Posted by Mikayla

I had no idea this was happening, this explains so much. Thanks for the great info!

I really haven't lost a ton of weight yet, but I really think losing weight has changed the way I see my body in general. I never really noticed that much but now I see rolls and fat everywhere I look. *sigh* I'm glad to see it will get better in time.

I am new here and maybe you know something I don't but I am pretty sure that little weight thingy means you have lost close to 50 pounds. That is a huge accomplishment! You worked hard for that! Be proud, girl! I'm proud of you and I've never even met you!

And I am glad this feeling will eventually go away. I still see a very big girl in the mirror.

[Curvz0002]

Well I've been up to 194lbs, down to 128lbs, and everywhere in between and I don't think you ever feel 100% satisfied with the way you look. I never have anyway! There will ALWAYS be some slight imperfection that you just groan about when you look in the mirror. We just have to learn to love ourselves as who we are and continue to strive toward our goals! One you begin to get too comfortable with the way you look, you start slipping.

[Ija]

Originally Posted by Curvz0002

Well I've been up to 194lbs, down to 128lbs, and everywhere in between and I don't think you ever feel 100% satisfied with the way you look. I never have anyway! There will ALWAYS be some slight imperfection that you just groan about when you look in the mirror. We just have to learn to love ourselves as who we are and continue to strive toward our goals! One you begin to get too comfortable with the way you look, you start slipping.

I am now at my lowest adult weight ever, wear a size 6 jeans (which are getting loose), can now see my abdominal muscles... and I still feel fat, everyday (and today especially, not sure why). My brain is slowly catching up, but yeah, it takes a really long time.

[Madison]

There is definitely a disconnect between head and reality isnt there. I recall moments when I would look down while sitting in a seat on a plane for example and see space on either side where in the past I could barely fit in and it would blow my mind.

At my lowest weight (in recent history) for the most part I felt thin most days. I felt good. When I felt anxious/angry/stressed etc I would default to fat as my feeling. But when I broke it down (if I could catch it before it took a life of its own) then I would see that it wasnt that I felt fat . . . it was that I still felt deficient in some way - not "XXXX " enough - whatever the XXXX is for you at that point in time. That week before TOM arrives all bets are off and I did lose my mind. Keeping my hormones stable has helped with this A LOT.

My current issue is the opposite one that others have mentioned. For many many reasons I gained back more weight than I am comfortable with . . . and now that my head is in a good place again (and I have finally forgiven myself for that) and I am eating food that keeps me energetic (& stable) and that I am working out - I feel great again! I know that I do not look the way I want to and that I definitely have weight to lose BUT BUT BUT BUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT when I see pics of myself now I am still shocked at how fat this person who is sposed to be me looks . . . that is not how I feel for the most part.

And I dont know which is better or worse. Looking a certain way to the rest of the world and feeling intermittently fat or feeling good and having the world still see you as fat (and in my case these "wonderful" souls have made a point to remind me that I am larger than I was, you know, just in case I wasnt sure that I had archived my skinny jeans).

But all it does is reinforce the fact that there is no finish line . . . we all just continue to learn

[RubyGuggenheim]

I've been struggling with this problem a lot. Even though when I was bigger I saw size 8 as TINY, now that I'm a size 8 I still feel the same as I did at size 14 when I look in the mirror.

It's also just a completely subconscious thing. I still dress to hide the muffin top that comes over my jeans, even though I know objectively that there isn't one. I can't put on a sleeveless shirt or dress without throwing a cardigan over it to cover my arms before I leave the house, even though they no longer need covering (and possibly never did?). I hope someday I get over it, because cardigans get really hot in summertime .