I see the weightloss on the scales and i notice in my clothes but to feel thinner and not so fat i just dont see a big difference yet. I keep saying 5 more pounds will make a difference. I still look the same in the mirror to me but in pictures i can see a little difference. Does anyone else feel this way?

yep!!!! seems to me that when we have a lot to lose, each pound is such a tiny little drop in the bucket [of course they add up, but it takes time!!!!].

and for me, at the larger sizes, i had to lose 40 pounds before needing to find somehting smaller... so even if the clothes are looser, they still pretty much fit for a longer time than when we're thinner.

i didn't feel thinner until i'd lost about 150 pounds... not denying there are some IMAGE issues here, either.

just hang in, julie. it'll all come together at some point. my wee bit of advice: keep on your program since it's working so well for you, and focus on some other measure of success in addition to the pounds lost. maybe the fact that you can walk farther or faster or stand longer or whatever.

Some peope, I am one of them, will always feel fat. Right now I think I would be totally happy in a size 12 but when I was that size I still felt fat. It is emotional. I guess like body dismorphic disorder or something.

Hope you don't mind me jumping in....I usually post in the 20-somethings group, but I like to follow you guys...there is a lot of inspiration to be taken from your board.

I've got to tell you....I can completely relate to feeling like I'm not any thinner. I have often wondered if it could be that I am that "out of touch" with my body?? Is this disconnect something I trained myself to do because I was 110#s overweight, or is my disconnect with my body one of the reasons that I managed to gain 100 pounds without really noticing? -- I did notice that I gained weight...but I didn't realize that it was 100#s worth of weight!

I think that this feeling that you are not any thinner comes and goes (for me). I feel like I am starting to make that mental transition from an overweight person to a thin person. I am finding that the psychological or mental part of loosing weight is truly the toughest bit.

It seems that we are our own worst critics. How do you go about being your own cheerleader? This site is great for support from others...But how do you provide support for yourself?? Any thoughts on this?

dowsx4....I can totally relate!

Kris
261-188-155

i feel that way too. i've lost 38 lbs... but i'm still fat. i've lost 2 full sizes... but i'm still fat. it's hard to see. i can tell in pictures, and i rely on that. eventually, i'll be able to see in in the mirror, too.

Kris, I think you are right. It is harder to be your own cheerleader than to be one for others. I don't know why.

I have to agree with Jiffypop. Find some other way to measure it. For me, i can dance much longer since I've lost weight. And I measure myself once a month (me and the scale have a disfuctional relationship).

Also, try being more body aware. Have you ever taken yoga or bellydance? These two exercises make me total aware of every inch of my body and therefore I know when I've made improvements.

Have you tried the before and after picture method? BFLers will testify to this one. Take off most of your clothes and click away! Keep the pictures hidden and in a few months take them again. You'll be amazed by the results.

Finally, try rationalizing with yourself. Where did those pounds go? You didn't lose a limb, you didn't cut off that much hair. Those 45 lbs came from SOMEWHERE.

I feel like I will always be the fat girl on the inside, no matter how close to goal I get. *sigh* That is something I've got to work on.

I actually have been having the opposite problem lately. I've lost 12 lbs. in four weeks, and I've been feeling really good about it. My clothes are fitting looser (although it will probably be a good 20 more lbs. or so before I'm back into my 16's) and I'm feeling healthier. So, when I see myself in a store window or mirror some days, it's a total shock to realize that I still have a long way to go!

I too have sort of an opposite problem. I've lost 40 lbs and am now wearing older clothes and buying new ones in Misses sizes (well, an 18 but that's still Misses). My problem is I feel so much thinner I'm almost ready to say I've lost enough. Maybe it's just feeling better. The problem with all that is I'm still 210 lbs and my head knows that's still not "thin" by any stretch of the imagination. Fortunately I've been just doing an "eat healthier" and get more exercise thing and I sort of have to stick with that. But feeling "thinner" seems to make it easier not to work as hard at losing more and I don't want that to happen.

I can relate to your problem. I started weighing 313. Now I weigh 230. 83 pounds! Even when I had lost 40 or so not many people noticed. I knew my jeans were two sizes smaller from a tight 26 to a size 22, but it takes a while for people to notice and it takes a while for your mental image to change. Sometimes I cringe when camera comes my way forgetting how much I have lost. The pictures suprise me, I still expect to see the 300plus pound girl to be there.
Here is the worst one: Sometimes when I look at a magnifying mirror it takes me a minute to realize the magnified image isn't my real image-how messed up is that???
I guess we have to take it one day at a time and eventually our minds will catch up with our bodies!
Laura
313/230/180

The fatter I am the more I avoid the mirror, any mirror. If I look and I will see the loss of potential. I think it has been said before you don't wake up one morning and say today I am fat and instantly are. Its a process of letting oneself go, that process has a mentality and reasoning. Also you have an internal vision of who you are and what you look like and often the reality and this self view do not match.

So how often did you scrutinize yourself 45 lbs heavier? Your working hard and looking for that transformation. Weightloss is a slow transformation and because you have already seen the failure, that lost potential, your inner view is looking more to that image.

So how do you feel?

Can you move around easier? Do you have more energy? Are you happier? There are more markers on this road than the skewed view of the dieter.

Miss Chris

When I was just dieting and doing the aerobics (walking/running) I felt very much like you do, Julie. It was when I added pilates and weights that my body really started to change. It seems like now every week something is different. Yesterday it was my trapezius muscles (across the top of the shoulders). All of the sudden they seem to have popped out and gotten just that little bit of definition. When I was in my third week of pilates, I noticed a huge difference in my waistline. And in other non-visible improvements, the good-mornings almost completely eliminated my lower back pain. I looked at a picture I had of myself when I weighed about 40 pounds less than I do now, and you would have thought I looked great. I didn't. I wasn't working out, and I was just a blob. This time when I hit that weight, I want to look like I really AM that weight.