Hey I've been on WW for a few weeks now and I have lost 12lbs. I am very happy with that. The thing is you can't notice yet. I look the same and feel just as fat..makes me just wanna pick up some junk food and eat it because I look the same anyways..might as well. I know friends that lose 5 lbs and its very noticable..some people are lucky i guess lol. I feel like I'm exercising, eating right and have nothing to show for it. Does anyone else have this problem?

I've lost 120 lbs and I still feel fat.

Hang in there, girls!
It took me at least 25 pounds before I could really see any difference in the mirror. Other people noticed earlier, but I thought they were just being nice. Some times it's easier to see in photos. If you have one at your heaviest, take another now, then compare them side by side. Taking your measurements also helps when it feels like nothing's changing. It is! Keep going - the farther you get, the better you feel. Honest!

It depends on your starting weight. If you, lets say just need to lose 10 lbs and you lose 5, you will notice a difference sooner than someone of the opposite situation. So, the less you lose, the faster you see the results. That's what they said at the WW meeting I went to.

It's different for everyone. I still couldn't really tell, by looking in the mirror, when I'd dropped over 60 or 70 pounds. Hubby kept telling me he could see the difference and thought I was crazy cause I couldn't. So he pulled out an older picture and took one of me in the same pose and put them together, then I could see it. We look in the mirror every day and become accustomed to what we see. So while we gradually lose weight, our view in the mirror gradually adjusts to compensate. But pictures...you can actually see the old vs. the new side-by-side.

Even still, as LittlePaperStars mentioned, it's also going to depend upon how much one actually needs to lose compared to how much they do lose. And how exercise may be distributing it. You may be looking for immediate results in the waist/hips, but getting the first results in the face, arms and legs.

Agreed 100%. The bummer for ME is that I threw out all my fat photos in disgust one day...couldn't stand looking at them back when I was 189. Plus, like Rtael said about losing 120 lbs and still feeling fat, I KNOW I'm having "body dismorphic" issues cuz I still feel fat, too. Even though intellectually I know I'm not. I have a collar bone now, and defined calves, but it seems like all I really see when I look in the mirror are the parts of my body that still look fat to me. There's a great thread over on Maintainers about how it takes quite some time after/during weight loss for your brain and eyes to catch up with the reality of your new size -- especially for those of us who have been (or were) overweight for many, many years. I finally made it to a size 10 for the first time since my senior prom (1990) and for some reason I can't get the idea out of my head that a size 10 is "still fat." I think the media has a heck of alot to do with this...all those skinny actresses.

Just my opinion.

Remember, too, that while YOU may have noticed the mere 5 pounds that your friend lost doesn't mean that SHE/HE did. We see ourselves much differently than others do. And, whether you have 10 pounds or 100 pounds to lose does make a difference in how quickly the changes will show.

How do your clothes fit now? I can never "see" my weight loss until I buy proper fitting clothes (which isn't often, usually only every two sizes - the point I can't tie my pants up anymore. LOL). So, if your clothes feel loose head out to your favorite clothing store. You don't have to buy anything but it won't hurt to try a few things on in a smaller size - one that will show your progress better than clothes that are too big.

Whatever you do don't throw in the towel. Even if you don't see results they will eventually show - sometimes seemingly overnight. Just remember that the only sure way NOT to see progress is to give up now. It always helps me to focus on the less obvious perks of living healthily. Don't you FEEL better now? Don't you have a little more energy? Any aches and pains due to your weight starting to ease? We all have SOMETHING besides our looks that weight loss improves. Find yours and pay attention to that for now. Maybe that will help.

[QUOTE=LovesBassets] Plus, like Rtael said about losing 120 lbs and still feeling fat, I KNOW I'm having "body dismorphic" issues cuz I still feel fat, too. Even though intellectually I know I'm not. I have a collar bone now, and defined calves, but it seems like all I really see when I look in the mirror are the parts of my body that still look fat to me. [QUOTE]

Oh My God!! I still feel freakin fat too!!! I'm the same way, in my mind I know that I look hot, I can feel my bones again and have really defined legs, but I look in the mirror naked, I still think I look huge. Part of it is the extra skin and part of it is that I had low self-esteem for YEARS and YEARS that I think it's going to take quite a bit of time for my mind to really "see" myself for what I am.

Anyway, yes, compare pictures!! That was always the best way that I could tell! It will be noticeable soon enough, my dear!

Whenever I feel discouraged or still feel fat, I go try on the last pair of "big pants" that I saved. I may feel huge, but I can stuff two of me and the cat in there now! What we see in the mirror can be so distorted by the years of what we thought we saw.

Are you exercising? Muscle instead of fat can make you look a lot smaller that the number on the scale might indicate

Mel

Good advice (as usual), Mel . Problem is a chucked all my old "fat" clothes.

Here's a funny/pathetic story that's kind of linked to this topic:

I ordered a pair of size 8 jeans from Eddie Bauer last weekend. Buying clothes that are too small is a big motivator for me. The jeans I ordered are designed to be "looser" in the hips and thighs, which are my problem areas. So the jeans came today...I tried them on...they fit. They're still a bit tight, but I think I could get away with wearing them in public. But instead of dancing around like a banshee because the last time I was able to squeeze myself into a size eight Ronnie Reagan was in office, the jeans were acid-wash with zippers at the ankles, and my bedroom was plastered with Duran Duran posters, my first thought was "There is NO WAY these are size 8 jeans!" I actually said that out loud -- to myself . I thought (and still think????) maybe they were mislabelled at the factory. I just can't get it through my thick skull that they're an 8. And then, of course, I was like "Yeah, size 8 for people with fat thighs." WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME??? The whole situation disintegrated to the point where I was like "Well, I STILL look fat! Do I need to be a size 2 to feel thin??"

I really have to work on this issue...I just can't seem to see myself FOR WHAT I ACTUALLY AM. It's just so bizarre.

Editing now to add this: Then AGAIN, when I was 189 lbs I didn't see myself for what I really was. Total denial, even when looking at myself in a full-length mirror. But at that point I was trying *NOT* to see what I really looked like. Now, I stare at myself in the mirror thinking "Okay, you're thinner. You really are. Check it out. Do you see it?" Nope. I don't. Not 100%, at least . Closer to 35% - 45% MAYBE, but that's on a good day.

Okay, that was more of a rant than anything else. Sorry. And I don't s'pose I need advice so much as I need a lobotomy and/or a whack upside the head with a canoe paddle .

Hey guys thanks for the awesome replys..it's nice to know I'm not the only one lol and I'm definatley gonna compare pictures!

Hey! I did a major house-search today and came up with some truly appalling fat photos of myself. YAY! I made up some little "then & now" jpgs for myself and have been *studying* them. I'm gonna get my brain in sync with my bod!

I posted 'em in the galleries if anyone's interested. I'd add a link to my gallery if I knew how. But I don't. Sorry .

You are more than your fat or at least I hope so. When you start to feel fat, just look at the awesome inner being that you are. I spent most of my adult life weighing under 115 pounds then I turned 40 and quit smoking and grazed my way to 179 pounds. Thank God I had inward beauty and family and friends who love me for me. being thin will not repair a hurting life, there will be just less of you to hurt and being fat will not ruin a happy life your belly will just jiggle when you laugh

love yourself where every you are in life

Kate,

Yay for finding fat pics - woot!

I posted a reply to your jeans story yesterday, but it magically disappeared...so here it is again, in brief:

I can TOTALLY relate to thinking the sizes are screwy when you fit into something smaller. I just recently bought a new denim jacket because the one I was wearing (double xl ) looked a lot like a backpacking tent. The one I bought was a Large. I couldn't get over thinking it had to have been mis-marked. I actually took the old one out, laid it on the bed and then laid the new jacket over it to see if it really was smaller. It was. Go figure.

Some day our fat heads will catch up with our newly skinny bods!

Cheers everyone!

I did that with my jeans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !

LOL. I was just too embarrassed to put it in my post!