Hi I am new to this forum and I was just wondering if anybody has had the same experience that I had. I was at my brothers wedding two weeks ago and I had great time. Anyways when my brother and my new sister-in-law got back from their honeymoon our family decided to look at the wedding photos and videos. When I saw myself on the video as a bridesmaid I was absolutely shocked and embarrassed. I knew I was fat of course but I really didn't know how huge I looked until looking at that video. This was a huge wake up call for me.

Welcome to the forum!

Pictures were definitely a wake-up call for me too. I don't have a full-length mirror in my apartment, and I honestly had no idea how overweight I'd become until I saw a full-body photo that had been taken of me. That encouraged me to start losing weight and getting healthier, for sure.

However, my even bigger wake-up call was when I was eating New Year's dinner with my family. My family's house has one entire wall of the dining room/kitchen that's mirrored, and when I sat down to eat, sideways to the mirrored wall, I looked over and saw that I could see back fat rolls through my shirt! I had never known that I had back rolls when I sat down! After that, I really got serious about losing weight and taking better care of my body.

Still, even after losing almost 30 lbs, I still am surprised when I see recent pictures of myself. I look so much better in the mirror than I do through a camera lens! While I can definitely tell that I've lost weight, it seems that perhaps I still have more work to do in terms of being able to accurately perceive my body and how I actually look.

My pants were a wake up call. One day I woke up and realized "Holy, none of my clothes fit". It was very odd. I had worn those same pants like 4 days prior, and then one day when I woke up, I could not get them to do up... and then I realized that all of my other clothes were too small. It was bad. However, I continued to gain weight and just kept buying new clothes. ...

My "big" wake up call was when I realized I weighed more than my pregnant friend who was taller than me. Not cool

Sometimes I see pictures of myself and can't believe how large I've gotten over the last couple of years.

I would always see pictures of myself and think 'oh it's just the camera/angle/lighting' etc and reassure myself that I didn't look like that in real life. If only I'd woken up sooner!

Looking forward to not cringing when the camera comes out!

Yep, it was a picture that knocked me awake. BIL's wedding - family picture out in the yard ... yikes. It still took me another 6 months to get my head straight about how I was going to lose it, but I stopped the upward trend the next day.

End of 2008 we took a family trip and pictures from it were a big step to waking me up that change was needed.

A picture of me standing next to my brother at our cousin's wedding was what did it for me. I knew I was gaining weight and I knew how much I weighed but I was somehow convinced that I carried the weight really well and that you couldn't tell how big I was. That picture was a very loud and unpleasant wake up call.

Welcome! and yes before photos were why I started my weight loss. I couldn't believe how big I had gotten, and literally the day after I saw some pics of myself I decided to start eating right and exercising.

Pictures weren't a "wake-up" call, but once I decided that I need to do something, the pictures were re-inforcement that I ABSOLUTELY HAD TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT MY WEIGHT!

Yes. My husband, toddler daughter and I were out shopping at Target. She was walking and holding my hand, for the first time ever in a store, and she was so proud! My husband snapped some pics of us from behind us. His intent was to capture a sweet moment with her holding my hand and pointing things out. All I could see were the rolls and rolls of back fat. It was terrible. I didn't realize, until that moment, that I looked like that. I thought I dressed my body well and was skilled at concealing through proper attire my unflattering areas. Nope.

I was in the mid 170s then, and I started making small changes. It still took me a couple of months to get my mind right and get started whole hog, but that was certainly a tipping point.

Yes. My profile pic was one of them. My mental image of myself was always thinner. So it came as quite a surprise.

They were definitely a wake up call for me and still are. I have always felt like I "felt" smaller than I appeared in pictures. I have been working out and losing weight and feeling better but there are still some pictures that I look at and I'm like "damn, still have to work harder at this". It's a good way to see how far you've come as well. Funny you say that, because yesterday I was going through old pictures on my laptop and came to some from 2 summers ago - and let me tell you I was shocked at how I looked. I know I've come a long way but I use those as motivation now.

^this. I always thought it was cruel how i'm all like "I look good/okay today!" and then I see a picture from that day.

Yes. They definitely are. It's amazing how I could look in a full length mirror, and see a little weight gain, but then a picture is taken, and I see more than a little difference. It's almost shocking, as if it happened over night, and I just saw it for the first time.