Hiya,

I went to Borders the other day (as you do) looking for a cure for my endless despair yet again, wondering if I'll find a book that will show me the way and I'll finally discover the answer to my psycho/weight/body image/motivation problems...
So I came across this weight loss/motivation building CD involving a bit of hypnosis etc. (didn't think it will reeeeally work but like the typical fatty I am always on the look for a miracle ) and I thought to myself that it's going to be another one of those things that I buy, will use once maybe because I got excited about it in the shop and then it will sit on the shelf and gather dust like other things i.e. exercising bike, pedometer, and such like... but of course I did get it despite thinking that the person at the till will probably think I'm a saddo .
Anyways....
I was listening to this motivation CD and one of the things that was said there is to visualize yourself in your target/goal weight to let it inspire you and so on...and........I can't do it...I mean I can visualize a nice slim body but I can't visualize my face or my head on top of this slim body...I guess it could be because I was never slim and don't remember myself like this...but also maybe because I just don't believe it could really happened...I don't know.
Can any of you visualize yourself slim?
It made me think about my (unplanned) every day routine on the way to and back from work, I sit on the bus and look at people outside the window, and I imagine 'what if or I wish... I swapped bodies with the girl that is crossing the street'. Does anyone else do that?

If my fantasy came true and I could really swap bodies with someone I guess I would choose to swap with Jennifer Aniston.

Who would you swap with?

Shimi

I know what my body would look like... But I do have trouble with the face! Partially because I don't really stare in the mirror enough! Have you tried a crude photoshop?

Swap bodies - if I wasn't a martial artist I'd swap with Lindsay Lohan pre-bullimia. But I am a martial artist so I will swap bodies with Skwigg! www.skwigg.com

I know I'm not a UK chick but I like encroaching on other boards... Your question is interesting. I've never been a normal weight so I have no idea what I'd look like if I lost weight.

I had a dream not too long ago that I could swap bodies with anyone I wanted. I did swap bodies with one person, someone who was overweight but had bigger breasts than I do. I remember in the dream looking down and thinking "these breasts aren't that great, I want my old body back". I then ran around looking at other girls and saying "she is too skinny", "she is too skinny" and at the end of the dream, I decided that the only body that would do was mine.

The dream kind of startled me because yes, I rather be me than anyone else. I want to be a thinner me but I still want to be me. It may take me a while but I'll get there.

Nelie, I do understand where you are coming from... I do still like to be me, but a slim me....(this me is hiding inside somewhere, I swear ) .
I wish you good luck. you are doing fantastic.

Shimi

If I could swap bodies with anyone in the world, it would be with.....Halle Berry in that Catwoman outfit......OUCH. I think every woman would love to look that great in an outfit like that.

Kim

Check out my rubbish photoshop skills!

Interesting Thread! Hope you don't mind this CA girl dropping in. Even before I gained all this weight (pre children, depression, etc) I have looked at other bodies imagining that it was mine. Even healthy & some what slim, I still had the negative body image. Garielle Reece (pro volleyball/model) has always been the #1 body that I would want.

http://www.sports-wired.com/women/Gabrielle_Reece.html

.... Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft .... or Marilyn Munroe in Some Like It Hot

Basically I don't have one body shape that I would like to be - I'd just like to get to the point where I can look in a mirror and say 'Yeah - I can live with that.'

I've got relatives who have got great body shapes but they are still always unhappy with something about themselves. In particular I have a sister in law who looks like Nicole Kidman but who has this insane problem with the shape of her knees.

I guess that I'm trying to say is that while I would like to look like AJ or MM I would be more than happy to be me - but fit, healthy and happy.

KNEES!! That's kinda genetic. You need different parents/ancestors to change that.... Weird.

I'd never been thin, so I had absolutely no idea what I'd look like thinner or what my body would be like. I'm not sure that I imagined it would involve hipbones though!

I've also never really thought about any particular body I'd like, I just went on the assumption that anything would be an improvement rather than lusting after something unachievable! But as a runner I'll go for Nell McAndrew - she looks fit without being too skinny like some of the real elites, and I wish I could run as fast as her too!

Hah, your much prettier than Nell McAndrew, she probably wants to look like you!!!

I have no idea who I would like to look like, I always thought Dawn French would be good....ha ha.

I'm really happy with how things are turning out, that I'll just be happy to be me without the blubber, but if the weight loss fairy comes along and turns me into Angelina Jolie overnight, I shan't be complaining!

Daisy Fuentes! She says if I do Windsor Pilates, I could have a body like hers. Humph. She bit off more that she can chew with that statement!!!

Personally Shimi I avoid those self help books/cds etc. I will tell you why. I got a book called the Hanging Book it was pictures of people hanging them selves in different ways (drawings, in case people think I am sicker than I really am) and one of the unfortunates was using piles of these books...to step up to hang himself lol!!


Seriously though, I do not want to be skinny or even particularly slim. I would look odd. The women whose bodies I admire are the old film stars such as Sophia Loren and Marilyn Monroe. Of course neither would be considered slim by today's standards but they sure looked great! I am meant to have boobs and a bum, I just wish I had someone else's tum!! (Oh I am a poet and didn't know it!!). I am happy with my face (apart from not to precise jawline) as it is not as lined as some people's at my age of 46. If I were to get very slim it would show in my face and I don't want to be a prune!!

Well I used to be a size 8-10 when I was in school (10 on the bottom half - I am a pear) so I know what I can look like when I am slimmer. My problem is that I can imagine what I will look like when I get slim, in fact that is how I see myself in my mind, so when I look in a mirror or at a photo I am shocked to find this fat person looking back at me! ...And then I comfort eat

There are loads of people I would happily swap bodies with (Marilyn Monroe, Halle Berry, Angelina Jolie all sound good), but realistically I would just like to be skinier and more muscular. I'll never have a perfect body(I'm too stocky) so I might as well be strong!

I used Paul McKenna's CD and book, and he suggests that if you have trouble imagining yourself slimmer, just start by imagining yourself a few lbs slimmer, then a few more, etc... worked for me!

I've never looked at anyone and wanted to swap bodies - even at my heaviest. I wished I was thinner but me, thinner not someone else, if you get me... Best way to get started on losing weight is to do nothing - learn to accept yourself as you are, and like yourself, today now (Paul McK has an exercise for this too... see he brainwashed me good, eh?) But there is some truth in that. Rather than - even as a sort of joke - wishing yourself to be otherwise, try and accept you, yourself, NOW! (I wish I'd been as pretty as you, when I was younger, by the way!) It's a weird thing but once you like what you see when you look in the mirror, the weight does seem to start coming off, more.

However slim you get your body type stays disappointingly the same - so I've got the same proportionately huge thighs at size 12 I had at size 20... so I guess there's a lot of solid good sense in loving yourself as you are, because the underlying shape isn't likely to change a great deal!