I'm sure most of us have been through this: the mental "fat girl" image that doesn't disappear with the weight. I'm really struggling with it right now...
I came to a sudden realization that my body image was very skewed when I was flipping channels and came across a show called "How to Look Good Naked." There was a woman on the show who thought she had a large butt. To prove to her how distorted her body image was, the host lined up 5 women with varying butt sizes from smallest to largest and asked her to stand where she thought she belonged. She stood at the larger end of the scale when she should have been right in the middle, thus showing her that her mental image was quite distorted.
As I was watching this, I decided to pick where I fit in. It turned out that the girl who I thought had a butt like mine was actually 5" larger than me! It was a big wake-up call that I look much different than I think.
So...ladies (and gents)...have you struggled with your own body image? Does it get better after maintaining for a long period of time, or is that funhouse mirror effect always there? Is there a way to train oneself to see one's true size?
Height: 5 ft 8.5" athlete who can give a punch & certainly take one too! :)
Yes,
I saw something exactly the same as this, I think it was on the tyra banks show and I was blown away by how the ladies viewed themselves and thought where they actually fit in and which body was close to theirs etc. its crazy that most woman all live in a funhouse mirror mindset. We are never happy with our bodies, thanks to all the magazines and such.
I guess my best advice is to continue to believe when other people tell you just how great you look, because I too somedays have a fog view of myself, yeah the funhouse mirror vision I see peering back, its crazy how we think we are something we are not!
But I hardly doubt people would be making any of this stuff up by complimenting you or myself. So we just have to remember we look fit and fantastic, so we must own the new and improved us and continue to strut our stuff! Maintainers mindset in training....
It took me a year or two to stop going to the extra-large and large end of the rack when shopping even when I actually wear what is usually the smallest size on the rack. Now I pretty much instinctively reach for the right size clothing, and intellectually I know I'm small and fitter than most other women I see, but even at the six year mark (hmmm...I need to change my signature!), I still look in the mirror and see the "fat parts". I also can see the good, the muscle, the bones.... But I doubt that I'll ever not see the fat!
I have no idea what I look like. I know that sounds silly, but I still not quite sure if I'm thin or not. I mean I'm wearing a size 2, actually I bought a size 2 Petite coat today, I have bones pertruding everywhere, lots and lots of extra room on chairs of every sort, people tell me all the time how skinny I am, so I guess I MUST be thin-ish, but I still can't quite grasp the concept that I truly am. I wish I could find someone with my exact measurements and weight and take a good look at them. That would be incredibly eye-opening to me.
I have no idea what I look like. I know that sounds silly, but I still not quite sure if I'm thin or not. I mean I'm wearing a size 2, actually I bought a size 2 Petite coat today, I have bones pertruding everywhere, lots and lots of extra room on chairs of every sort, people tell me all the time how skinny I am, so I guess I MUST be thin-ish, but I still can't quite grasp the concept that I truly am. I wish I could find someone with my exact measurements and weight and take a good look at them. That would be incredibly eye-opening to me.
I know, I wish I had an identical, identical twin of all the same proportions, including weight.
Then I would have a sort of walking 3 dimensional mirror.
Oh yeah. On some (seldom) days, I'm able to see myself as I really am, but it's still pretty hard most of the time. For instance, there are people attending the same university as me that I deem as "normal" (whereas I see myself with still "quite an amount of pounds" to shed), and suddenly it occurs to me that we're the same weight and height, minus a centimeter or half a pound or something like this. It's really puzzling. Why do I see them, and not I, as normal?
I play a game (it requires my partner). I find people on the street, and ask if I'm smaller, bigger, or the same size. That is the ONLY way I can get any sort of visual of what size I am at all.
I try to pick someone out in a crowd who I think is my size. Sarah always tells me I'm smaller, so I know that my image is still skewed. Then she picks out someone who is visually the same size as me and it is always mind-blowing.
Height: 5 ft 8.5" athlete who can give a punch & certainly take one too! :)
Mandalinn I know that game, and I am a player too. That is exactly what I do with my husband. He will always point out somebody and when I take a lookskie, I am like yeah right she is way fitter than me!
50% of the time I know I look good, but the other 50 % I see the ole me peering back.. So with my 50-50 image now, I say I am only 1/2 way there to seeing the REAL ME.. Today when I put on my workout clothes and looked in the mirror, I actually thought Dang girl, I really do have it going on...
tee hee hee
I don't think I'm thin and yesterday, I was shocked to accidentally get a glimpse of myself from a weird angle in a big truck mirror... my back/side area just looked so... dare I say it... SKINNY! . Nonetheless, I STILL sometimes think I look like someone with "quite a bit of weight to lose" - and if I don't have quite a bit of weight to lose, then I must be just plain "normal size."
I think my girlfriend is thin, slim, and slender. There would be no problem with thinking this, except for the fact that we wear the SAME size! Then, I rationalize this with the fact that she is taller than me.
However, there are two girls who we are both friends with who I also call "somewhat thin" - one is around my height and one is a couple inches shorter. The other day, my girlfriend told me that I am actually thinner than both of them! And I'd LOVE to play the stranger game with her, but I know she would get annoyed, since she thinks I am already too fixated on weight and does not understand why I STILL am fixated on weight now that I've lost it all!
I had a "fat flashback" on our date last night - I wore a pretty black blouse that I couldn't even button halfway at my HW. I used to always wear blazers and overshirts to hide my fat tummy and jelly rolls, but last night, I didn't. I still had an old "fat" habit of mine, though: I kept pulling at the shirt to make sure my "rolls" weren't showing. She gave me weird looks and asked WHY I doing that, and reminded me that I have no fat rolls at all now. Old habits die hard, eh?
Last edited by NightengaleShane; 11-09-2007 at 12:34 PM.
I play a game (it requires my partner). I find people on the street, and ask if I'm smaller, bigger, or the same size. That is the ONLY way I can get any sort of visual of what size I am at all.
I try to pick someone out in a crowd who I think is my size. Sarah always tells me I'm smaller, so I know that my image is still skewed. Then she picks out someone who is visually the same size as me and it is always mind-blowing.
I do the same thing! Too funny. Only my accomplices are my daughters. I'll do more like the who's thinner thing - me or the particular person and they always tell me, that I am and I'm like, no way and they're like without a doubt Ma, you're way smaller then her. And then they tell me that I am smaller then MOST people - period. Defintely mind-blowing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by shrinkingchica
I know, I wish I had an identical, identical twin of all the same proportions, including weight.
Then I would have a sort of walking 3 dimensional mirror.
Anyone else find that there is something about looking at yourself in a gym mirror that makes you feel smaller than looking in a home mirror? There is something about being at the gym in gym clothes that makes me see my "real" size. It is the only place I feel genuinely pretty small.
Anyone else find that there is something about looking at yourself in a gym mirror that makes you feel smaller than looking in a home mirror? There is something about being at the gym in gym clothes that makes me see my "real" size. It is the only place I feel genuinely pretty small.
Yup! Maybe it's because my gym clothes are usually quite snug (I absolutely hate when a T-shirt wide sleeve gets caught on some part of a machine), so I can see every line, muscle definition, etc.?
I think the mental image I have of myself is out of whack too. I'd love to play the stranger game (I love that name for the activity!) with my dh or dd but they would tell me I'm being obsessive. Still, I try to do it myself when I see people on the street and wonder if I'm bigger, smaller or about the same size as they are. Sometimes I'll catch a glimpse of myself and think, wow, I really am pretty thin. Then other times I'll see my back fat or belly roll. It's weird. I find that when I stay inside and work at the computer all day (I work at home) I start feeling like my old self and in my mind's eye, I'm fat and look like I did at 190.
Kery, I too feel best in the gym, in my snug gym clothes. There is one mirror there that makes me look fat but most of the time I feel pretty thin there.... I love my arms after lifting, when they are puffed up a bit. I love to buy new gym clothes and have really gone overboard lately. I never used to wear anything that would conform to my waist and now I don't like to buy shirts that just hang. Funny how things change...
Anyway, back to the topic. How to reconcile how we really look with the picture we sometimes have of ourselves in our heads? I'm all ears...
Pam
Last edited by MileHighMama; 11-09-2007 at 10:59 PM.
I am also struggling with this and notice it not so much in physical awareness of my body but more so in my approach to dating. I tend to sell myself short and just settle for less than I can get because I just don't see myself as physically being in their (the more fit bunch) "league." I wish I knew how to get out of this funk... its going to be 2 years on Jan. 16th that I officially became serious and started to lose weight and it just still seems like the lifetime of being "fluffy" is still the emotional and mental perception I have.
I lost weight; now my body image needs to!
It was a big wake-up call that I look much different than I think.
. Nonetheless, I STILL sometimes think I look like someone with "quite a bit of weight to lose" - and if I don't have quite a bit of weight to lose, then I must be just plain "normal size." 
