[3fcuser291505109]

Been in "maintenance" or what i call a normal weight for 2 1/2 yrs but i STILL am amazed when i look in the mirror and see a slender person...amazed!

And then on the other hand, i STILL am scared stiff sometimes to look because i'm afraid i'll see the obese me, or see that i am fat (was overweight for literally years and years and haven't been this slim since i was 22--i'm 52).

[chickadee32]

When I see my reflection in windows and the like, yes. It always surprises me that the totally normal looking, normal weight person in the reflection is me.

When I look in the mirror at home, though, what I see sometimes (often) still looks chubby. Not fat, but definitely not slender or thin. I know intellectually that I'm not chubby, and seeing chubby in the mirror doesn't make me upset or result in me approaching my eating or exercise any differently... but I consciously note the thoughts so that they don't become a problem. Maybe it just has something to do with my body shape, though; I am not a small-framed or petite person.

[Sheila53]

What Chickadee said.

[586]

I have been in maintenance for 2 years and I still have the dysmorphia of having trouble reconciling what I see in photos/the mirror as compared to what image is in my head.

When I feel a little extra flesh on my hips, I keep trying to remind myself I was unable to fit inside a standard tub a few years ago. A little hip wiggle isn't nearly as big a deal as what I used to deal with. I'll feel bloated one day and be convinced I regained 120lbs overnight then a picture that day will show me the truth: that I haven't regained anything and my mind is playing tricks on me.

The biggest thing that I have trouble with is that my boyfriend has been with me through the last 60 pounds of loss until maintenance. I remember when he couldn't wrap his arms around me completely. For the last 2 years, he's been able to wrap his arms around every part (shoulders, waist, hips) and lock his fingers. This wakes up that part of my brain that makes me think I'm still the weight I was... it would have been physically impossible for him to do that in the past.

I need reminders like that. My mind believes what it wants to believe and I need benchmarks to prove it wrong.