I am on the left. I had started gaining weight here so I think I was around 90lbs. I wore that outfit for the picture then promptly took it off after having a tantrum about how fat it made me look. I understand now that I did not look fat and I was being ridiculous. That shirt was about a children's size 8 for goodness sake. I know that logically that does not equate fat, even at my height. At any rate, I still look at this photo and think about how fat my arms are. I'll never be perfectly happy with my body. I've just got to get the heck over it.

*raises an eyebrow* I think you'd be hard-pressed to find ANYONE who thinks your arms look fat in that photo.

Why can't I view some pictures but can view others? Jelbb, I can see your's but that is the only one on this thread I can see! ERRRR....

Yeah, I've been looking at pictures of myself wondering how I thought I was fat... the biggest problem of it is they were taken just over a year ago!!! I was perfect, but I wanted to lose "5 more pounds"... I guess that's how it all starts though, huh?

I was totally there too! When I had a checkup at 13 I weighed 112. My mom had to let me know that's what she weighed when she got married. So ever since then I thought I was fat. In high school I was 130-135ish and a size eight, I was disgusted with myself because my friend's were 6's! Ha!

I used to always think i was 'BIGGER' than the other girls...and now Im working on getting to where I was back then!! Its weird how I could think I used to be fat, and im just trying to get anywhere near the 50s to feel thin! Weird!

Hi Ladies!

I think most of us who struggle with our weight can think of a time when we were way smaller and thought we were fat.

I think this is a HUGE lesson for us!!! Maybe we were trying so hard to get to where we thought we would be PERFECT that we freaked out and went the other way because we couldn't keep up with the pressure we put on ourselves!

Let's love ourselves the way we are NOW and try to make smart choices that will allow us to be healthy and fit, then we'll naturally get smaller, right?

Who's with me?

Well said Burhenns! I got down to 118 when I was 16/17 by eating half a meal a day. Needless to say I felt horribly fat - I guess I was what they call "skinny fat". I lost weight but didn't gain any muscle. This time around I'm working on toning, so when I'm slim, I'm really slim. And I'm actually eating! (And it's yummy!)

I ALWAYS felt fat.
From as long as I can remember, from as long as I've had a consciousness about what "fat" means, I've been "fat."

In my case I know where a lot of it comes from. My family was full of fat-haters. My best friend was petite. Our pop culture icons are all objectively underweight.

I was NOT really overweight until I was in my late 20s. From the time I was 12 to the time I was 20, I weighed between 120 and 150 pounds, with an average weight of 135-140. This is all "normal" and I would be so happy to be that size again. However, my parents, brother and grandmother were constantly telling me how big I was. Add to that the fact that my high school bf was abnormally skinny (in part due to drugs) and that accentuated my perceived fatness.

Now that I'm objectively FAT (or at least rubenesque) I feel like I don't have a good perception of how I really look. If a guy (who is not a chubby chaser) is attracted to me I'm perplexed. Doesn't he see that I'm FAT? But I have no idea how fat I actually look.

For you country music fans, I think I'm somewhere around Trisha Yearwood's size and shape circa 2005

I remember the Carson Kressley show where he takes cheesecake photos of chubby gals. I know a lot of them have these sort of perception issues as well.

It makes it hard to know when you're a good "healthy" weight because nothing seems to look or feel right.

What is important here, is that we are staying healthy, and loving ourselves, well said burhenns.

I think I sort of have that problem now...I use to be a lot fatter and kids use to always tease me for it, so I think my body image is kind of skewed.

I mean I KNOW I am overweight, but in my mind I am really obese. My boyfriend is always telling me that I am not even really fat, just a little chubby. Then in my mind I think that he is just saying that to be nice. Sometimes I can see myself for how I really am, but most times I think that I am terribly obese

Here is a picture...
I am the one in the grey dress, NOT the skinny one in the orange ( I really would be crazy if I was the one in the orange)

Vday, I have the same conversations with my boyfriend. If he says I look good, I'll say he's "obligated" to say so because he's my boyfriend.



I also understand, logically, that most men don't want or expect women to look like the women on TV, but I obviously don't actually believe it.

For what it's worth, I'm not your boyfriend and I still think you look pretty in that photo.

I personally think she looks better than the girl in the orange shirt.

same for me! Found a pic from before I was sick and gained weight...Wow! Can someone tell me why I always hid behind over sized sweatshirts and blue jeans? I wasn't skinny but I was HEALTHY! Oh, to be 170 again....

I have a picture that I have hanging on my desk of me when I was about 16ish standing next to some random girl that I cant remember now. I had went to an accounting camp (yes us nerdy accountants do that). My boyfriend comes in one day and says OMG honey who is that hot skinny chick in this picture and totally went bonkers. I had to let him down gently it was me about 3 years before I had met him. He almost couldn't believe it, I would assume the fact that since the picture was taken I had tacked on almost 75lbs. He was almost dissappointed it wasn't someone else.

The only reason I keep that picture is because I hope that's what I will look like when I am that around that weight again. However, I hope to be about 60lbs less than that when I am all done with my weight loss.