I know I'm a featherweight but these situations still make me feel like an elephant
 

So, I know that I'm not far from my goal, and that I was never really that heavy to begin with, but there are some situations that still make me feel like an elephant. It drives me nuts when people assume that because I am slimmer than I used to be that I should be totally comfortable strolling around in a bikini, or that I will always look model-ready in pictures, etc.

We all have times when we FEEL overweight, even if we aren't. Mine are:

• At the beach
• Whenever I am visiting my boyfriend's family, where all the women are naturally petite and athletic
• Trying on underwear at the store (no matter what I still have that little fat around my bra straps)
• When I'm having my picture taken
• When I'm running/working out (When I'm out of breath and red-in-the-face I just can't suck it in!)

Any other feathers have times that they FEEL overweight?

Mmm, of course. All the time. That's why I work harder to lose more. :dizzy:

When you're wearing pants that are a bit snug and you sit down and there's a HUGE belly roll that makes your shirt look too tight. So embarrassing!

You know, I never knew that there were actually people out there saying that the featherweights don't need to lose weight until I came on this forum.

I think I must come from a really dysfunctional background where I'm told that I'm overweight even at 120lbs! Only one person in my entire life has told me that I did not need to lose weight and like you, I was never "heavy" to begin with.

Where are all these peeps who make you feel good as a featherweight by saying that you don't need to lose weight! Send them here please!!

I agree!

Also, when I wear shorts, or a short skirt, my thighs seem to double in size when I sit down and they are squashed against a chair...

And, when I am sitting/laying and my boyfriend puts his arms around my middle region.


It's true, but at the same time, I've had people be disparaging toward my fitness goal and try to guilt me into eating more or slack off on exercising on the basis that I "don't need to lose weight" (There is a thread about this on here somewhere), which is also irritating.

Whenever I'm around mostly Asian people. Cause I'm a big big Asian lady by actual Asian standards.

Mostly just the mirror and knowing I used to be leaner.

Hanging out with pixellate ;)

I think we all have moments like that. That being said at least with the underarm fat there may be a solution: http://www.bralessinbrasil.com/2012/...hello-big.html

Basically a too big bra band can cause this. Also bras with too low of underwires underneath the arms can lead to the same problem.

FWIW, I've found too that bikinis in bra sizes give me a lot more self-confidence because I have more uplift and they give me a great shape. Combining that with a high-waisted brief and I happily go swimming in bikinis regardless of my weight. ;)

Thanks for the tip! Maybe I just need to go underwear shopping ;)

Definitely this.

I may be thinner than I was a few months ago, but I'm not as thin as I was 2 years ago. Hence, I feel fat.

I feel fat any time I eat something I shouldn't of or didn't plan on.

I've been 10lbs less than I am now. It was too thin for me and I got up to 112-115, but just KNOWING I've been smaller is...ugh.

Definitely when trying on clothes, especially tops. Hate my stomach. Not that I have stretched skin or anything, its just the biggest part on me!

So happy to see you here again!!!

I have this too, especially if it's food I don't generally eat like chips, sweets etc.

^ agree. At my smallest I was underweight, and I don't want to be there again, but knowing that I CAN get there, makes me irritated that it's taking so long for me to achieve my much more rational goals.

My stomach isn't my normal problem area (Legs and arms carry the fat for me) but for whatever reason, when I wear low-rise pants/skirt and a fitted top, my stomach looks weirdly huge. I think it's something about my proportions, since my natural waist is really high, it makes my legs look really short and my stomach look really wide -- really irritating.

I will never look good or feel comfortable in a bikini.

When I am sitting down and my thighs spread out...like literally double in size!

When I am slouched over and my belly sticks out.

When I put on shorts and my thighs rub together.

When I eat more than I should.

When I look in the mirror and I know that over the last year I've gone up 7lbs!! After maintaining for a year!

When I'm shopping and I'm looking for something in my size... I pass by 2's, 4's, 6's, and usually 8's 'till I find a size 10 near the back of the rack!

This^

Yesterday I went to a theme park that was basically over-run by high school and college-aged people. I know that I'm past that age-range and therefore my body doesn't have that youthful fast metabolism, and ability to eat junk and still be tiny, but I definitely felt enormous next to all of the 00 girls in their bathing suit tops and shorts, and jealous as they ate funnel cakes and nachos.

When I am around any of my friends, they are ALL slim.
At the beach
When I try on any of my 'happier weight' clothes :P
When I sit down and see my tummy rolls!

When all my girlfriends are eating lettuce and I do the same because I don't want to look like I'm a pig and I'm still starved after but they all complain about how full they are. All I want to do is eat an entire bucket of KFC. So I go home and I do:o

YES--I'm so glad this isn't just me. It's depressing to see that the jeans you bought can't zip up at all :(

Ditto. I can definitely eat more than my friends, I just choose to not show them the inner beast that eats EVERYTHING ;)

^^THIS!! exactly this. I am not "fat" right now- and may have been a little TOO small at 5'8" and 120 lbs.. but now at 135 I feel ENORMOUS... my goal is to get back down between 125-130, but just knowing how small I once was and how hard of a time I have been having just dropping 5 lbs is frustrating beyond belief.. definitely makes me feel like an elephant.

I just had a combo-moment of these two things (went to the beach with a bunch of my very, very slim friends) - and definitely felt like I had to suck it in the whole time.

This^^^ I have to eat every 2-3 hours or a feel like I'm going to pass out... this often makes me feel like an elephant, especially when I get the: "You're hungry again already? We just ate... I'm still full..."

This seems to be a common feeling amongst the featherweight community. I know I feel this way a lot.

When my breast retain water..guess it feels more like a cow! Now that my breasts have shunk I love them being small {over 50 lbs} YES they are small and droopy BUT now at least they fit in bras and clothes YEAH! SOOOOO when I retain water it goes there!!!

I am always changing my goal weight lower because of situations like these! I am sure when I hit my goal weight, I am going to change keep going lower.

Definitely when I'm trying on swimsuits. This year I opted for a very covered up swimsuit cuz I didn't feel comfortable showing a lot. When I went shopping and tried on swimsuits, I felt like I needed to lose more weight to look good in most things.

Also when I look at my body in the mirror sometimes, I feel big. I'm just waiting and waiting for the day I look in the mirror and see a slim girl.

I feel overweight when I go out at all anymore. I moved and I'm literally like 3 blocks away from a really nice part of the neighborhood. Not that my area isn't nice itself, it's just a little closer to the NOT nice part of the neighborhood. :lol: And a lot of the women are very, very skinny. They dress up and put on makeup just to go get coffee for crying out out! I'm not a girly girl, I'm usually very casual, and makeup is a fairly foreign substance to me. So I look at them and think, "Yep. I'm fat."

I'm trying to embrace my quirkiness though. It's a work in progress.

Knowing a have a pair of size 6 jeans in the closet that I used to fit into makes me sad. I'm a size 12 now which is great but I'd like to be single digits again. I just felt so solid, giggles in the right places but not too the wrong ones. I want that feeling again of being healthy making good choices in food and exercising because it made me feel better.

I am with you there. I thought I would be happy at 125, now I am aiming for 120 or 115.

Sometimes I catch my reflection in a window while walking home and get that "need to suck it in" moment. I totally understand just feeling big.


I think the dressing up/makeup/hair etc. can create an illusion of thinness/fitness too. I am in the same boat, rarely wear makeup, don't do much to my hair, where very casual clothes, and it can be intimidating to be around women who are more into the clothes/makeup etc. Many of my friends are, and my boyfriend's family are very wealthy and into appearance, it makes me feel uncomfortable just to be around them sometimes.

I am guilty of saving "skinny" clothes, that I hope to one day fit back into. I also have the reverse, when I put on pants/top that I expect to be a bit loose/ comfortable, and find that it fits and or/is a bit more snug than I expected (and in spite of my weightloss).

I actually ditched my big clothes as I found it made me back slide. Now I just have clothes that fit and if I start to get snug I push myself back to the gym. I read a blog I think it was once about a girl who wore her yoga pants and found she had gained 15 pounds and never noticed because her pants were comfy. She advised sticking to denim. I have and it has kept my weight in check. I'm still null on the gym scale but one day at a time. My healthy eating has returned so I take that as a victory.

Agreed with beach!
Agreed with wearing shorts (I have a pair that are lose around the hips, still ride up around the thighs! I guess I just have big thighs :/.)

Also in photographs (especially with skinny friends)

But I try not to let it get to me, I've come so far and I'm sooo close!

I so totally agree with what so many of you have said -- just knowing I was once a much lower weight (even if I don't think I should go back to that weight) KILLS me!

I have two pairs of size 26 jeans that just sit in my closet and mock me.:devil: Every so often I think I should just pitch them but then I think, "What if...?"

And that "thigh-spread" thing is just awful. Especially living in Southern CA where we have shorts weather so much of the year...

I often see myself chubby on the photos. A friend of mine is a professional photographer, and he tells me I shouldn't rely on photos, as they always add weight, but it still upsets me :(

My boyfriend's cousin's wife gave me a bag full of clothes to wear and while a few things just barely fit, a number of other items were far too small. It both stung and gave me a goal to work towards. :lol:

When I look in the mirror and see a small waist but huge hips and an annoyingly chubby lower stomach, I become frustrated that it ruins my figure more than the jiggly thighs and wide hips...

When I sit down I feel said lower stomach hanging and it bothers me...

You should consider yourself lucky, because people see you so skinny. I would get extremely offended and upset if I was given clothes which are way too large.

I didn't say I didn't feel lucky, just that I felt fat. :lol:

We're women, we're supposed to feel fat ;) Even if we're actually underweight.

Right now, my BMI is 14, which isn't very high, and many people tell me I've lost way too much weight in the last year and a half. I haven't bought any new clothes for months now, because even the smaller sizes are too large on me. My ribs, hip- and chestbones are very visible, so my logic tells me I can't be fat, but when I look in the mirror or watch myself on the photos, all I can see is a huge woman!

So no matter how much weight some of us can lose - deep in our minds we'll always remain "thick", even when we have all the evidences we aren't even close to being overweight!

Really are those your weights!I would say your WAY to thin perhaps anorexic?:?: