I don't know if this is allowed... please tell me if it's not. But I'm having so many issues with my body image. I think I look HUGE but everyone keeps telling me I don't look that big... I just don't know what to believe anymore...

Based on these pictures (which I just took today) about how much do you think I weigh? I'm going to take my tickers off for now, but please don't snoop to see other posts please... and please be honest. I'd like to know what the honest thought is, not out of pity or anything.

It's so tough to tell what someone else weighs by looking. How and where someone carries her weight, what clothes she wears, the angle of the camera, her proportion of muscle to fat, her height...there are just soooo many factors that I swear I've seen people on this site who weigh a hundred pounds more than me, but look smaller than I do in photos.

When I look at your photos--and I'm not saying this as false flattery--I see someone with beautiful skin, an adorable haircut, and a great, iconoclastic sense of style before I see "heavy." People tell you that you don't look big because there are more eye-catching characteristics about you than your weight.

I just put up my first-ever 3FC photos. To me, you look about my size, probably a little smaller, but you're also a little taller (I knew that without looking--you just look taller and I'm a short critter ). If I had to guess, I'd say you weighed about what I do, but wear a smaller size because you have a couple of inches on me.

I just passed 210 heading the right way, so that'd be my guess--around 205, 210 based on what I see when I look at my own body and knowing what I weigh.

You're also clearly a good bit younger than my 41-year-old self, though, so regardless of what you weigh, you're going to carry it differently.

Totally agree.

i'm going to guess 254 but i must say for an over weight person you carry you're weight extremely well. you are very curvy and not lumpy and your proportioned well. stop stressing!

I was going to say the same thing - you carry your weight very well. You look very shapely and proportionate. (And on an unrelated topic - cute pixie cut! That is not an easy haircut to wear well!)

You are adorable! Love the hair! I'll guess about 230ish? My highest weight was 250 and I'm 5'4'' (a lot shorter than you) and I looked a lot heavier than you do. If I'm wrong, that's no surprise. "guessing" isn't my strong trait! But like the others say, you have gorgeous skin, and a trendy hair style! I think you are too cute! Definitely stop stressing!

You look like a red-headed Jean Seberg. That's what's distracting everyone: Your marvelous face, with its very evenly proportioned features. You have EXACTLY the right haircut for it. You therefore have a pretty good instinct about what suits you. And also, I hope you tip your hairdresser well.

[This is Jean Seberg, in case you were wondering. Google her & look for photos of her during her "Breathless" period, particularly in the striped boatneck sailor shirt.]


I also have an oval face, fairly slender neck & small hands, which, in my case, took a long time to puff up to the dimensions of my morbidly obese body, and which used to make some people think I weighed less than I did. Just some of them. Not everyone was easily distracted. (I was; I kinda forgot about my body for years & lived from the neck up, like a brain in a jar.) I'm guessing you're in the 260s. But do keep in mind, I am horrible at the weight-guessing thing, probably because I was in denial about my own weight for so many years & deliberately cultivated ignorance on the subject.

Asking "How much do you think I weigh" is a loaded question, kinda like "Honey, does this dress make me look fat?" So I am not even going to attempt a guess. I just want to say that I think you are beautiful. You should lose weight for your health and confidence, not because what others do or do not think of you.

I'm not good at guessing weights.

From the picture I can see you are plus size, and seem pear shape? I am apple. You wear yourself well -- a good hair cut, excellent skin, flattering clothes for your shape. It's a cute plus size, and I'd date you if I were in the dating market.

I don't know what your confidence level is at and if it matches the photos. For me that was always the turn on/ turn off more so than plus size or not plus size.

You are on this board, so I'm assuming you are trying to get fitter/in better shape. I don't know the goal -- maybe you want to be a smaller plus size, or get out of plus size, or work on body image and mental health, or get pregnant, recover from ED, or be a fitness model or...

I don't really know what you goal is here. I don't really care either. I mean that kindly, not in a mean way. I just figure you know your own biz. I don't pick your goal. YOU pick your goal. And I'm willing to accept you however you are and try to support you as best I can in your process as long as your goal isn't harmful to you or others.

That's part of MY process here -- to be accountable to others and lend a hand or leg up in their process, because I need hands and legs up sometimes in MY process. My goal is to drop 100 lbs, and it's going to be a long process!

So... what's the reason behind the current body image crisis? Why are you picking at your body? What is it you are unhappy with?

GL!
A.

I'm not sure, but substantially thinner than me...and yes, I'm jealous.

"You wear yourself well" ... what a great phrase! Around here we say "she keeps herself nice"

And the OP does.

I'm really bad at guessing weight, but I think you are REALLY REALLY beautiful, georgeous skin, hair and cute outfit! ... and you have GREAT proportions- (my butt and thighs are amazingly big, seriously epic :smile

If you like reading please by the Body for Life for Women book (Amazon ships it immediately.) It should help you with body image, confidence, and weight loss.

I honestly have no clue. Lower 200s, I'd guess. But when I look at the photos of you, your weight isn't the first thing that catches my eye. You're a pretty lady. Your hair is amazing (I love the colour.) I bet you look even better when you're smiling! And you have curves in all the right places.

240???

Why does it matter how big people think you are? Although you're still certainly plus-sized, what matters is that: first you are confident, stylish, and supremely presentable; second, you are working out and dieting in order to achieve a thinner -- healthier -- body.

Worrying too much about your body "image" makes weight loss not about the body you have the body they see. Would you stop trying to lose weight if a fairy granted you the superpower of looking like a photoshopped Jessica Alba all the time, while your real body, how good you feel, your health profile, remained the same? I wouldn't.