[southofriver]

I have the same thing. I like how I look and always think pictures of me are "bad pictures" or that I don't photograph well. However, realistically this is not the case, and I have managed to persuade myself of this by comparing myself to other girls my age and comparing my weight to the BMI charts.

Having said that, it is great that you feel good about how you look, and there is no doubt that other people are affected by that confidence. You may feel you are heavier than you want to be but that doesn;t mean you;re not an attractive person. Lots of very skinny and attractive people do not realise they are, which is such a shame. You (and I, I hope) will feel even better having lost some weight, and hopefully won't suffer that lack of self confidence.

[PhatPhoenix]

Funny thing I have noticed is it's not so much my perception of my own current size - whatever size that is - but I know how fat I am by how I perceive others. So when I lost 40lb (took me over a year - was gradual), when I looked at other people IRL or on TV, say = as my weight dropped, my perception of how big/small THEY were, was what changed. If that makes sense.

The fattest photo I have of myself I must have been a big 16, small 18. I actually got upto size 22, nearly 24 - but the photos stopped. I didn't even have a 'Before' shot, for comparison when I lost the weight as I refused to be photographed. As a re-enactor, you're photographed doing living history constantly by members of the public - but as most re-enactors are bigger than I was at my biggest - never bothered me as much! So there may be pictures of me in medieval costume all over the place! But nothing in existence of me in 'normal' clothes.

I'm a 14 at the moment, aiming to go back to a 12, and not particularly bothered beyond that, and even at this size I'm the second smallest person in a group of 30+ people. So the people I mix with all tend to be much bigger than me, but I perceive them as even bigger when I'm thinner or somewhat smaller than they are, when I'm bigger - if that makes sense! Am heavy for my measurements, so even at a small size 12, despite being average height, I'm always a few lbs overweight just don't look it.

I know at my heaviest I was in denial for a long time.