This is my first new thread that I ever started.

I KNOW I am smaller now because I go on the scale and my clothes are looser and I can get into smaller clothes but I don't think I GET IT yet. I have been on IP for 2 months and that is a pretty short amount of time to drop several dress sizes. It took me years to get used to my newer size when I put on weight over time. I don't know if I was in denial or if I just did not get it. I KNEW I was in bigger sizes but I don't think I ever fully believed that I was bigger. My whole life I had been a smaller person and so that was part of my identity. But, as I grew I don't know if that identity fully changed. Over time I got used to my newer sizes and even found new clothes that worked with my newer shape (or lack there of) but I also found a new confidence and acceptance. I was more bosomy and fuller figured and carried myself differently so in a way I thought I was used to that newer person. But, I wasn't. Inside I was still me and not fully understanding why I had trouble tying my shoes or couldn't curl into a ball or sit on laps. Once someone referred to me as "short and stocky" and I was like WhatYouTalkinAbout...? Short yes, but stocky. No....? Then, I looked in the mirror and was like ohhhhhh, I can see why she said that. Still, it wasn't me. I don't have a short stocky build like she thought. I just looked short and stocky because I was carrying so much extra weight.

In recent weeks, the changes in this diet have been more more visibly apparent. And I don't know if I would be referred to as short and stocky. Maybe. But, the outline of my figure has returned and I can fit into significantly slimmer clothes. The problem is that my head or my mind's perception has not yet caught on to what I see in the mirror or what the numbers on the scale are telling me. I am still dumbfounded that I can sit on the couch with my knee bent, close to my head. (Sort of like Marie Osmond in that Nutrisytem commercial except my leg does not come in as much as hers).

I have a new jacket in my new size hanging on the closet door in the bathroom. Every time I look at it, I think what is that little people jacket doing in here? It just does not look like anything else I have. So much less fabric. So, as I never fully adjusted to the fuller me over the years, the newer (yet older) me may take some time to get used to. Is that me? Am I her? Can I get into that? OMG, it fit!

Just wanted to share and know what you all think as you are going along your respective IP journeys. Happy Friday to you all.

Yep, I get it. I posted on the same topic in the past week. I thought the full length mirror I had was warped, until I saw myself in another mirror and was stunned. I knew I was wearing smaller sizes, as I had lost 145 pds, but my brain was slower to catch up.

I really enjoy crossing my legs now! Couldn't do that before without my hips and knees hurting. So many other things, like getting up out of a chair, or going up stairs...so much easier.

I guess it's a lifetime process, eh? The mind is so interesting...

Great post purplesky. I think my fatgirl brain will be harder to get rid of than my fatgirl body!!

PS; Our stats are similiar, well starting and end points. I'm am not like you though in that I have always been very heavy for my height. I have spent most of my adult life at around 200.
You know the expression that inside every fat person is a fat person screaming to get out. Well now that I am at my original goal I know that just this thinner person is the fat person just waiting for a chance to jump back in. So I am reading the maintenance threads to learn how people on there are being successful.
I'm wondering what size you are wearing now? I am a petite size 8 on the top but still petite 10 for pants because my huge spare tire around my body has deflated but not gone away so makes it hard to get clothes that fit all over. So I am going to stay on phase 1 to see if I can get to 125, hopefully it will go from my middle.
I have noticed that many people who are much taller and heavier than me are wearing smaller sizes.
Pat

I also never accepted that I had gotten larger. In my mind, I was still my same size in many ways. I did not recognize the person in the mirror or pictures. And yet, on another level, I did realize that I had changed. I hated to try on clothes and had lost of lot of self confidence. It was all warped in some way.

I haven't lost enough to have a drastic change in clothes size. It will be interesting to get to that. It must take adjusting!

I have found the same thing. I think for those of us who are short we have no where to go but out when we gain weight.

I was a super skinny child, petite as young adult and young woman. Petite as a new mom. I started gaining this weight maybe 5 years ago, and I always kept thinking that I was still tiny. I wore 14/16 and I blamed the cut

First time I realized that I had gotten big was new year's eve 2010...or the new year day 2011 when my friend posted pictures of her party and I could not believe what I saw I went on shedding 15 pounds in 3 months...but then I gave up and by October or so this past year I was back to 160-165 range; I was sitting at my chiropractor's office and I saw my huge belly staring at me from a full size mirror and I it hit me HARD. I had to come to terms that I was fat... I truly committed to this weigh loss on December 4th... So far about 17-19 pounds gone and I feel that the small person is being reborn.

I am now starting to wear size 10 jeans and medium tops. Both are fitted. I heard the middle is the last to go. I am just starting to lose in my legs now.

It takes a while to get used to the new you even if it was you before or a you you have never seen before. The funny thing is that people treat us based on how we look. Very sad but very, very true. But inside you are still the same person you identify with.

OMG! I can totally relate!!! I bought some new clothes recently in sizes I can't ever remember once owning. I tried them on in the store and was really impressed that I was finally THAT size!! Back home, I couldn't wear them. I left them in the closet, thinking that it was impossible that they fit. Finally, I decided to wear them and of course, they did fit. And I was still impressed. The power of the mind is the strangest thing. We have to retrain our brain, for sure!!!

Girl, I can't even get the numbers straight in my head! Forget about clothing sizes or how I actually feel / look. Everytime I think about weight I think, "Oh I'm 187.4 (or whatever it was that morning)" and then I have to stop and think, no wait, I'm 167! It's bizarre!

There is a lesson here on getting the weight off when you are younger. We are wearing the same sizes top and bottom, I am 10 pounds lighter and an inch taller. I think I carried such a large amount of weight around my middle
at 200 pounds I have a large amount of flabby skin. I think the longer it is on the harder it is to shrink.

When you get to 130 you will be down even more sizes. WTG!

But I'm not complaining this time last year I never dreamed I'd be wearing sizes 8 and 10.

Where I really notice the difference in how much energy I have. My office is several long corridors away from our office support people. I find myself zooming there and back before I even realized I decided to go down there. Previously I'd sit for quite a while before deciding if I had to go and then trying to figure out where the most candy dishes were along the way.

Pat

Thought you all might be interested in this link....

http://www.mybodygallery.com/

Purple - there is SO much I want to say about this. But, I can only type for short periods of time before I get tired and hurt and have to stop.

This is NOT a subject that should be taken lightly. I think we really must address it in coaching sessions. It is a HUGE mental aspect of weight loss. It's actually the hardest part. Our mind plays tricks on us with how we see ourselves.

In 1990 I lost 72 pounds. I was 138. Everyone told me I didn't need to lose another ounce - I looked great - I had all the positive feedback a girl could ever want. I went jeans shopping with 2 friends and I drifted over to the PLUS section, just like I had always done - those were my sizes. That's what fit me. I had not been shopping since I lost the 72 pounds. I grabbed an 18W and tried them on. WOW! These are a little big I thought. Hmmm, maybe the next size down would fit. Grabbed the 16W. Still too big. My friends said you're in the wrong section. So, I went to the regular section and grabbed a 16, then a 14 - too big. They thought I was nuts and kept telling me to try on smaller sizes and handed me a size 9. A size 9 REGULAR. No W, no X in back of the number. I thought they were crazy. They fit. They fit perfectly. Was I excited? Nope. Did I see what they saw when I tried those 9s on? No. I was looking in the mirror, at me in those size 9 jeans and saw a fat girl. The fat girl that I had always seen. She was burned into my mind. There was such a disconnect between what was REAL and what I saw in my mind. I knew I had lost 72 pounds, but it didn't compute.

We MUST address our self image on this road to losing the weight, too. Most people think body dysmorphic disorder is for those skinny girls - it affects us, too.

That was really cool, Ishbel. Thank you. I could see myself in some of these women. Seeing their sizes also helped. The range in sizes for similiar weight and height was suprising but it has to do with build and where you hold your weight and how tone you are. I could also see my former self when I was younger. But, when I looked at my starting weight I had to turn away. Refused to look. I was seriously in denial before. This is also telling me that I may need to try for my actual goal but I am still going to wait to decide.

I wonder what sort of approaches work to bring the mental in line with the physical reality? Body perception is so interesting as our mind really can really do a number on a us!

It is unfortunate that our society does respond so to the physical. Discrimination is real. I have found that for me it is not just about how I look. The way I feel about myself is the energy that I project to others. This really affects how I am treated in return. As I am losing and feeling better, I sense that my interaction with others is much more confident and happy. the world is a mirror in this way and I am treated with the same more.