I was feeling pretty good about myself this morning. I'm down 13 pounds from my high, eating right, etc. Then I'm out shopping today in a home/decor store and happened to wander into a section with artwork. While leaving the area, I turned into an alcove and found myself staring right at 20+ mirrors for sale covering the three walls surrounding me. And there's my reflection, looking big as a house from every conceivable angle, staring back at me. My mood deflated and I started to feel depressed about how long it was going to take before I found myself in a similar situation and thought I looked pretty good. I got really self-conscious and cut my shopping short.

The good thing is I didn't use this as a reason to give up and eat. It's just that sometimes I hate a good dose of reality....

Yeah I would not recommend mirrors. It can really ruin your whole week. For me, this also includes thinking maybe you have changed sizes, when in reality it's inches from all over and not a size I had lost, and the clothes didn't fit any better, and I just got depressed & gave up. I don't ask for much, just the body I had when I was 17--a size 20!! Only 2-3 sizes!!! It's not much, right? Oh well. All we can do is work at our goals to make mirrors & shopping a more pleasant experience.

My advice from personal experience is to not look at a mirror unless you have weighed your self and have a measuring tape in hand

Don't be sad, look at all the wieght you have lost !

I don't know if this will help you, but it helped me. I have been working on getting fit for almost 2 years. With the amount of weight I had to lose, I knew it was going to take a long long time. When I would get depressed over how long it was going to take - I had a friend tell me - you know what? Time is going to pass no matter what. That time can pass with you doing nothing or possibly gaining more weight, or that time can pass with you losing weight and getting fit. Would you rather look back at the end of a year and see you are in the same place - OR look back and see you are now closer to your goal. I am sure it will take me another year to reach my final goal.

You are doing great - keep up the good work. Excellence is constant gradual improvement over a long period of time.

Charles, that is my line of thinking as well. I think of all of the times I tried before. I tend to lose weight slowly. If I had just stuck with it then, I would have been at my goal a long time ago. So two years from now, hopefully I'll still be around. I have two choices. Since it's either gain or lose with me, I can be at my goal and happy, or I can be bigger than ever and miserable. Time can't be controlled. Tomorrow will be here. Only I can decide what I want to look like.

I had a bad mirror exerpience too. Mine was at Costco after I had lost about 25 pounds. I still get a strange feeling when I pass by the aisle where they were. Funny how emotions can stay with you for so long, isn't it?

~Dee