I have lost a significant amount of weight. 25% of my starting weight to be exact or 45 lbs- I still have about 15 lbs to go. How long does it take for my brain to realize I am not actually that big girl anymore? I began losing weight the 3rd week of January this year so it has been 6 months now. I am down multiple sizes in all clothes and wearing things I have not worn in years. I am 35 and happily married to someone who loved me even when I was heavy... I get compliments from him regardless and from my friends and people I see that have not seen me in a while so I am hearing I look good but not seeing it yet. How long did it take people to begin to feel like a thinner person? I am actually only 3 lbs from my original goal but I upped that since I do not feel small enough!

I should say that I have completely changed my habits and am not "on a diet" anymore so really how small I am should not matter since it could take 6 months to stop losing or I could lose slowly for the next 2 years... I do not plan to change my eating other than to eat out a bit more often (more than the once a month I allow now). Nor will I change my working out - it is part of my life now!

Will I ever feel thin enough or am I doomed to be obsessed with my weight forever?!

I'm not sure. It's been years for me, and I just made a comment to my husband, how much I look like a "smaller" fat person. To me, my shape still looks fat. It helps when I see pictures of myself for some reason. But its hard to see the changes in real time. A very good friend of mine just started on her weight loss journey, and posted on facebook that her goal was to get a body like mine. I just dont get it!

There is no set time. For some people it takes a very long time to stop seeing their phantom fat. I stuggle with this too and my goal weight keeps going down and down because of it. People tell me how "tiny" and "small" I am but please --- I am short and still in an overweight BMI category. Like RN said above.... I just don't get it!

BUT, I am now just starting to marvel at my body in the mirror. I am starting to really see the changes. And comparing pics of myself from when I first started to how I changed along the way has been my mental saving grace. And I am allowing myself to beleive the comments people are making. I won't go so far as believing I am tiny or thin but I am definitely not feeling fat.

So relish in how much you have accomplished. Put on a pair of your old clothes or hold them out in front of you in the mirror. Now THAT will show you just how far you have come!

Congratulations on making such a wonderful and positive lifestyle change. You truly are an inspiration!!

Thank you guys! ShanIAm we are very very close in stats so most interesting to hear from you! You are slightly further along (8 lbs! Lucky!) but pretty close! I guess I am an inch taller

I have always thought it would be interesting to be able to have a first impression weight wise from people. Maybe we should start a group! Then again, I guess honesty might be a bit depressing for someone who did not get the answers they were wanting. I often find myself when meeting people wondering if they see a thin person or a slightly chubby person or ? I have been taking pictures of myself every couple of months in the same dress to compare but still not sure if I will ever see it. Funny because when I look back at pictures of myself 10 years ago (at what is my goal weight) I think I look fantastic.

You guys are the ones who have been an inspiration! I just hope I can be that for someone too!

Ah, yes, Harriette -- you are my twin! We even started around the same time too! And I had to laugh because I am about 6 pounds away from the weight I was when I was a senior in high school and looking at those pics now I thought I looked perfect. Of course, in high school, I felt fat! It's all relative I guess.

FYI -- I stalled a bit when I hit 144 for no real reason but once I broke through it the pounds came off "quickly" again between 143 and 137. I've stalled again but I'm ok with it. If I lose half a pound a week that makes me happy. Because after 6 months, it's truly a way of life, not a dieting chore. So it's not so agonizing!

I'm looking forward to reading more posts from ya!

I still don't feel thin. I can see from recent pictures that I look thin but in the mirror I see my old self. When I'm shopping, I'm always shocked I need a size small in everything.

I just wanted to say, I weighed 166 pounds this morning and I Feel Thin and I Love My Body!!!

It's not about how much you weigh, it's about your mentality. You can be fat and happy or thin and miserable.

Think about this: you have fat days and thin days, right? Everyone does. Some days you feel like you're enormous and some days you feel like you are small. This is entirely mental! I can have a fat day followed by a thin day without my weight changing at all. This proves to me it has nothing to do with reality, it's all perception. Change your mind. Look in the mirror and compliment yourself. Take group exercise classes and use the whole hour to look at your new body and really absorb it. Stop comparing yourself to others. Realize that your size does not define you and whether you are thin or fat, you are awesome and deserve love and respect.

"feeling thin" won't come at a certain weight. It will come when you change your mind enough and decide to see yourself positively. You will probably always have a few fat days, but hopefully they can be few and far between.

Great post!

Whenever your brain lets you.. I am not thin but I am a lot smaller than I was.. and I feel bigger than I was.. I don't know when it goes away.

This is exactly what I was dealing with. Why on earth can I lose 25% of my body weight but feet fatter? I found a picture of me in a dress from last Nov and compared it to one taken last week in the same dress- That made me feel better! Although I looked at the Nov pic and thought "Holy crap I was really THAT big?!" I thought at the time the Obese category of BMI was out of line BUT now I look at me... maybe I will feel smaller when that category says "normal" in 8 lbs?

Exactly what k8yk said!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am not sure that you actually ever feel thin. Its been over 2 years for me since I've lost weight. I still look in the mirror and see my fat self staring at me. I don't think she will ever go away. The positive side is she will also not let me fall back into my old habits because I am always aware that she is watching me.

I think this (feeling fatter after losing weight) happens because (at least for me) we spend a lot of time avoiding mirrors and ignoring how we really look and/or we want to continue our unhealthy habits so we tell ourselves and our brain fools us into thinking things aren't that bad. Then, we start eating healthy, there's lots of sacrifice involved..we may sometimes (or often) feel deprived and all of this makes our brain retaliate and tell us that it's not even doing any good....and also, now we're checking ourselves out a lot and paying attention to our bodies. So that awareness might make us hyper aware of fat that isn't even there. Hope that makes some sense! I'm busy but just wanted to post this when I could. ; )

Luckymommy I think you might be on to something there. I do remember pretty much ignoring myself before. I would look of course to make sure I was not lumpy but other than that I generally looked away. Now I look at every reflective surface!

What has helped my overall outlook about myself was buying a pair of pants today in size small and shorts in a 6! Slight vanity sizing but I have a pair of 10's exactly the same and at the beginning I could not even get those done up but now, since I have to cinch them to keep them up I bought new ones on sale 2 sizes down! I still see a wide person in the mirror but how wide can one be when you fit easily into a 6? lol I think I am slowly turning the corner. I am after all wearing tank tops this year for the first time EVER and I have a nice tan to show for it.

ETA Holy CRAP TamiL, I would not have known you were the same person in your before and after shots! You look Amazing!!