There are so many wonderful things about being normal sized. Yesterday I put on a cute little skirt, it just hits the top of my knee. I haven't worn anything shorter than two inches below the knee in almost 25 years. I wore it with a size small blouse that was too small when I bought it. It is very fitted, one of those sheer type with the camisole that comes with it. I am old enough that I feel undressed without hose, but it was very hot so I decided to put some bronzer on my legs and go without the hose. I felt fabulous! I used to cover up even in the summer, which is over 100 degrees May-September here. I was so miserable. Now I feel so free, not afraid to show my legs, I can wear the light little tops. I move so easily. I can cross my legs and even wrap my foot behind the other leg if I want to. It has been twenty five years since I was this size. I had forgotten how wonderful it feels. I don't think I felt this good even then. I hated exercise growing up, so I never had muscles in my legs like I do now. I am in love with those muscles. I make my husband poke them to see how hard they are all the time. He laughs at me, but he is proud of what I've accomplished. I have been thinking a lot about how uncomfortable I was before. The fat around my mid section was the worst. It felt so awful, it made every day miserable. I would get sore if I stayed in bed too long. It is so worth the effort to make yourself healthy. Just do it, you will be so glad you did!

I have my thin days and my fat days in terms of how I feel. Toeing the top of the "normal" BMI range I don't think I can really call myself "thin," but I'm satisfied to be "normal." Here are some thoughts in general (both positive and, well, less positive):
- I feel strong now that I've been lifting weights for six months. My calves have muscles! Who knew? And I can SEE them!!
- Riding a bike will still make your butt hurt even if you're thin. And if you aren't a regular cyclist, it will still make your legs hurt and be hard to do. OTOH if you cycle for exercise, these things become less noticable! Exercise is hard if you're out of shape, no matter how much you weigh.
- Being thin feels COLD. Without all that insulation it's easier to feel the cold! OTOH I'm hypothyroid so my cold feeling was extreme because of that too.
- One of the best feelings I have is for DH to grab my waist or my ribcage right above my waist. His hands are big and I feel really tiny in comparison, even on days when I think I look fat in the mirror.
- Airplane seats don't feel nearly as small as they used to.

I think the best feeling I have now that I am a normal size is a feeling of empowerment. When I was fat, I would say things like, "Run a 5k race? I could NEVER do THAT." Now it's like, "Do a triathlon? Give me six months to train and I'm there!" There are all sorts of activites that now seem within reach that I would never have contemplated when I was fat. The fact is, I probably could have run that race or done that triathlon when I was fat, with the proper training. But when I was fat, I didn't believe that I was capable of doing it so I would never get started.

(Let's just pretend that I didn't say, "Run a marathon? I could NEVER do THAT!" yesterday . . .)

I have a few more added thoughts on how it "feels" to be thin:

1. I ran away from the camera unless I was drunk at my highest weight. Now, I LOVE getting my picture taken and don't even mind if people want to take spontaneous pictures of me. I don't need to suck it in or make sure I'm caught from my special "thin" angle. And I LIKE the way I look in pictures, too, whereas before, I was less than thrilled.

2. I get cat calls instead of cattle calls. At my HW, if I tried running or biking in public, I'd get some obnoxious frat boy type yelling something like, "HEY FATTY!" or "MOOOOOO COW!" Now, I get the equally obnoxious but more favorable, "HEY SEXY!" or just "HEY GIRL!! WOOOOOO!!! Wanna come to a PARTY?"

3. Grocery shopping is no longer shameful. At my HW, if I was buying lots of junk (even though usually it was for my ex who liked it more than I did), I was afraid of the checkout person thinking, "No WONDER she is fat! She's buying all THAT stuff!" If I bought healthy things, I was fearful of the checkout person wondering if I was trying to lose weight.

4. No more overshirts. I was once the queen of blazers and overshirts because they helped hide my love handles. I rarely have to worry about clothes making me look FAT. Now, some things do not flatter me the way I want them to, and some things make me appear bigger than I would like to appear, but nothing makes me TRULY look FAT.

5. No more back pain (erm, the knockers were a little bit too large... now, they are smaller, but a comfortable size!), acid reflux, or insulin resistance.

6. I used to think, "Ok, I like so-and-so-insert-name-of-Hottie-McHotPerson-here, but I'm not sure if he or she will like ME because I'm not sure if this Hottie McHotPerson is, uh, down with the round." Now, if I decide I am interested in someone who is not interested in me, at least I will know it has nothing to do with my weight.

And I don't have to worry about people in general judging me for my weight, which is nice.

7. I get cold easily. Sometimes, I get cold VERY easily. But I used to be constantly roasting.

8. I don't have to be afraid of showing some skin.

9. I'm hungry much more often. That isn't so much a benefit, but it's amazing how much less I could eat while fat even with the same activity level and still feel alright. Now, if I try to restrict my calories the same way I did at my HW, I'm so hungry I can't concentrate. But, since I know WHAT to eat, I can eat more and not think, "ohmygosh, I'm such a fat@$$, I should put this down now..."

10. I no longer hear, "You MIGHT want to consider losing A LITTLE BIT of WEIGHT" from my doctor. That line irked me because I was healthy in every other way (no high cholesterol, no high blood pressure, etc). But now, I hear, "You are so healthy and fit and have done a great job! I wish everyone had your habits and discipline!"

Now, some realism:
All my problems didn't go away just because I stopped being fat. My life improved for the reasons above, but I had to assist in making the rest of the improvements. I once thought the entire world would be mine once I reached my goal weight (silly, I know), but it wasn't. Some people started being incredibly catty to me once I lost all my weight, and others became catty once they found out I WAS fat once. I quickly realized some people in this world are jealous witches and immediately detached myself from such so-called friendships.

Sometimes, I am prone to depression. I still am, even though I'm not fat. I thought once I stopped being fat, I'd never get depressed again (since I WAS 23870347902374 TIMES more depressed at HW), but other circumstances in life can still be just as depressing or hurtful.

Still, I AM much happier and am SO glad I decided to change my life.

This is a GREAT thread!

I was naturally thin until I got pregnant for my daughter--in 1976. I've been fat for 32 years now, and can't remember how it felt to be thin.

It would be nice to run up the stairs with a basket of laundry and not feel like my lungs are going to explode.

It would be nice to be able to get down on the floor and be able to get back up again.

It would be nice to be able to step up onto a chair, stepstool, or ladder when I need to.

It would be nice to fit in just about anywhere. There are even some bathroom stalls that make me nervous about fitting.

It would be nice to have my life back, and be able to feel some of the things you all are sharing about. I hope it'll happen one of these days...

I joined because of this thread. It is incredibly inspiring to hear what it's like to be thin/normal/average weight.

I was actually thinking about this very recently.

I love the stories of women being picked up by their husbands.

I've been obese most of my life. It started when I was a child, and with my mom's help, I lost weight starting when I was eleven/twelve. I maintained for years, until I had my first daughter. Even while maintaining, I was still chubby for my short height. After I gave birth, my weight has been going up and up.

I can't remember what it was like to even be average, and I really want to feel all of these great feelings all of you are feeling.

Can't wait. But, must be patient.

( Accidental bump of an old thread. Oops! )

Hi Techno and welcome! It's perfectly OK to reply to an old thread!
This one is a goodie and deserves to be bumped. And how great that it inspired you to join!

Stick around with us and we'll help you get there, one day and one pound at a time. As you've read, being thin (or fit, which is how I like to put it) is a fantastic place to be.

Techno - this is definitely a great thread, that deserves a little bump now and then. Welcome to the forum!

Gosh, I never saw this thread before, I must have missed it...but I am LOVING IT!

If I could sum up how it feels to be thin in one word, I would use a real big one like Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

I didn't realize this was an old thread either. I loved reading it and seeing everyone's great stories.

I also was never thin when I was younger. I was overweight until I had my children, then I was obese.

Now I am what so many of you have said-- amazed at my energy, love to shop for clothes, proud of myself, an athlete, I show skin, and I am freezing 100% of the time!

I still don't see my body the way it really is. I think I am actually much thinner than I feel/look to myself. I have been coming to this realization as many people comment about how thin I am. I still don't feel it. But I sometimes have trouble finding clothes small enough! And I was with a co-worker and I admired her pants-- she showed me the label to see the brand and I saw they were a size 6. I would have sworn that she and I were the same size but I've been buying size 0's lately.


thanks for bumping the thread!

It was nice to see and revisit this thread again!!! If you ask me this is definitely a bump-worthy thread, but then again I think there's lots of bump-worthy threads here on the Maintainer's Forum.

I have taken for granted being naturally thin my entire life - eating a ton of junk, being lazy, but since I now I have to work for it, I really appreciate being thin now.

--I can squeeze through small spaces, behind people's chairs, without my butt hitting them as they sit
--I can squat down to pick something up effortlessly, climb on ladders/chairs, hoist myself onto counters with no problem
--I can occasionally indulge and SAVOR food, if I decide to splurge. and I can, because I watch what I eat the rest of the time.
--I hardly ever need naps anymore. I don't feel tired until well after midnight, sometimes, and I need to force myself to go to bed
--I have no problems falling asleep
--I love it when DH picks me up--believe it or not, I hate it when he does it, because I still feel "too heavy"

I really don't have the best body image. My mom always told me my thighs were big when I was 110 pounds and 5'5". I think I'm fat at 132, and even now at 123, I still feel like my legs are too big, and my waist could be a lot smaller. However, the exercise is helping my self image because I feel strong and healthy, as opposed to skinny and out of shape.

Wow, I am so inspired by this thread. I admit, I cried a little I figured I should take a little look at the maintenance section to get an idea of what I will do when I get there, then I saw this thread. I took some of the best inspiration and made a sticky on my desktop for days when I am feeling down. I will admit, to this point, I have mostly been focusing on how I will look better. I never realized how I would FEEL better and how it would effect my everyday life. Thank you so much everyone for sharing your stories. It touched my heart.

Hi,

Just to echo lots of other people's sentiments this is a really amazing thread, older and newer posts!
This is all very fresh for me now, as I am just about able to say out load that I am thin - I am now 6 lbs away from my arbitrarily set goal weight, but I just have to make it there in my own head!!

The good things:

Pretty much all of the above, When facing a long walk or uphill climb somewhere, I still immediately think, crap I can't do that, and then a light bulb flashes, oh yeah, duh, of course I can, I can run 6k non stop, of course I can walk up a hill.

Hip Bones and collar bones - I love love love them.

Shopping, oh it is all so shiny and new to fit in little sizes.
Just last week was buying a Nike running jacket, and my sister was with me, they only had small or extra large, and I was picking up the XL thinking it might be a bit baggy, but could be ok. My sister was saying don't be ridiculous it will be massive on you, was walking away when she said, just try on the small...guess what, perfect!!!

Meeting new people, I know that the first thing they think isn't FAT FAT FAT - that's amazing...sometimes like the activity thing though the thoughts are still there that they will think it, and then the realisation dawns that in fact they won't.

So, lots of good stuff - it feels really, really amazing to be thin.
Still have a lot of negatives in my life, doesn't solve everything by any stretch, but yes it has done a lot for me to get thin - Yippee

OK So I'm not "thin" yet, But these 3 things hold so true for me. Especially the facing long periods of activity. When my friends say they want to go hiking, my FIRST reaction is to dread it, then I remember how silly that is, I LOVE hiking and I'm fit now, so there nothing to dread.

I love my collar bone so much I think my husband is jealous!

Meeting new people is weird for me. In the back of my mind I still sort think they are thinking about how fat I am, then something will happen and a realize that they are a similar size as me, so it turns out they probably are not thinking about how fat I am...weird.

I've not been very overweight before but i've spent most of my life a bit overweight. When i'm happy with my weight and fitness the things i enjoy are

1) All clothes look good, everything suits me - same as others have said.
2) If i'm walking along the street i often feel a bit twitchy and want to break into a run because i've got so much energy (sometimes i actually do this and 'pretend' i'm in a hurry to get somewhere, but really it's just for fun - but when you're 40+ it's not really the social norm to run whilst out shopping!!)
3) Same if i'm walking up a hill - i want to start running up it because i enjoy the feeling that my muscles are strong and really WORKING and i can feel the power.
5) Not remotely needing to suck my stomach in to try and look better!
6) Seeing people look me up and down whilst talking to me and imagining they're thinking positive things instead of negative things
6) Sinking into bed at night and suddenly realising how physically tired i am, how comfy the pillow is, and how happy i am. That lasts about 5 seconds, then i'm asleep.
7) The biggest one really is having all positive thoughts about myself, as against all negative thoughts, it really does have a big impact on my happiness.

I'm mainly making this post for selfish reasons because i wanted to use it as as a motivational tool for myself so i can re-read it if i'm feeling weak-willed!
Other things that other people have said have resonnated too so this whole thread will be great to have a re-read when i need it - and maybe this is another 'bump' for new contributions?.....