I can't be satisfied, is the bottom line. When I'm overweight, I feel gross because I'm fat and my body doesn't look good because of all the fat. Now that I'm not overweight really anymore, my body has taken the opposite turn. The fat won't come off my arms and legs, but it LOVES coming off of my torso, and well, I kinda feel like I look gross but in the other way. Instead of fat, I'm now bony and saggy. And that's not pretty either.

I've started the C25K running program in hopes that it'll help some, and I'm hoping to get back in the gym once school starts back up and I have free access again. But part of me feels like that no matter what I do, I'll never be satsified and my body will never look like I want it to and I'm SO tired of being self-conscious! It's gotten to the point to where I almost don't even want to be naked while I'm having sex so I can spare my partner the sight of my body, even though I know he doesn't have a problem with it.

I don't know what to do. I wish weight would come off my body differently. I hate having such an awkward body. :/

It seems we are always our harshest judge. I understand where you are coming from, having myself experienced reaching a goal and still being overly critical of my appearance. I don't have a solution for you, just commiseration.

HI Lauren... first of all, you have done a fantastic job!

I would suggest than in conjunction with the cardio......do some weight training. It is really the only way to 'sculpt' your body.

I can definitely relate to your frustration. As you know, we can't lose weight in the order that we'd like. In order for me to be happy with my lower body, I have to be very thin in my upper body and even then, it's disproportionate to the the point that I can never find a great fitting pair of jeans no matter how thin I get because the waist is always too big. I'm now starting to tell myself good things about my body. Maybe you can too? I look in the mirror and focus on what I do like, rather on what I don't and I actually (mentally) complement myself. I'll say something like, "That's a really small waist you got there," or "I can see my cheekbones and collar bones now." Have you tried doing this?

We really are our own worst critics so please keep that in mind.

I saw someone post a link here several times and it had photos of different women of different weights and what that looks like and it was so interesting! Have you seen that sight?

Ok, I think this is the sight I was thinking of: http://www.mybodygallery.com/

How does your body look compared to how it did when you were almost 300 pounds? Could you even entertain the idea of running or going to the gym at that weight? What can you DO now that you couldn't before? How does clothes shopping now compare to then?

It's so easy to sit around picking your body parts apart wishing they were different - but I really don't believe anything is gained from wasting time on such thoughts.

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