Something i've noticed by watching How to look good naked is alot of women see themsleves as bigger than they are. I am the complete opposite. i know i'm fat but when i look in the mirror i think i look ok, i'm not that big, then i see photos of me and i look like an elephant. Because of this i tend to feel pretty happy about my body, but still know i need to lose weight to be healthy. Does anyone else get this?

Great question roobear! I tend to waiver. Sometimes, I think I look alright and then, I find out how huge I look in a picture, while when I have been skinny in the past, I felt huge, while I really wasn't. Still, at this high weight that I'm at today, I mostly feel huge and that's because I am! Make sense? It doens't to me, and I've had a tough day, so I'm having some trouble explaining it. I can't wait to hear what others feel.

yes omg I do and I always thought it was wierd.
Although when I'm in a rush, I always look bad just because I know I have no time to try loadsa outfits till I'm happy.
But ye photos make me look HUGE to what I see in the mirror, and than I have the thought of I have no idea really what I look like to other people.
Not great.
But its like the thing of when your shopping and trying on cloths they look so much better than when you get home and try them on.

I have this too and I'm a lot bigger than you! Not that I think it look thin in the mirror, but maybe it's the angle I stand at, I think I look one way and then bam , a photo comes out, and the self esteem is shot. I can't wait for a day when I can look at a picture of myself and not wince inside, or just look normal.

when i was 242 i thought i looked good, i was happy with myself, and happy with how i dressed and looked, i thought my confidence made me secxy i suppose.
but then somthing clicked!
i saw one pic where i looked like an elephant and it all changed, and now i cant really see myself as sexy when i stand next to size 12 people, only ever when im with my boyf, or out with good friends of a similar size to me.
deffinetly odd because im suppose to be happier with my size now, but i always think about people judging me!

I don't think it helps that every single mirror in the entire world makes you look different! I have 2 full length mirrors in my house, the one in my room makes me look rather slim, but then the one on the landing puts about 5lbs on! So what I tend to do now is try an outfit on, look in the landing mirror first then if I'm happy with the way I look I continue doing hair and makeup in my room, lol!!

Don't even get me started on the mirrors in clothes shops!!!

I have a good day mirror, and a bad day mirror in my house to. The one in the bathroom(think it has to do with the lighting) makes me look like a supermodel! If I'm going out, and want to feel confident, I get ready in there and avoid the other ones like the plague!

I don't have the advantage of friends a similar size to me, although my best friend is a dress size bigger than me because she is taller and has a bigger frame than me she looks thinner.

Wow its fascinating! I found some pics from about two years ago when I was at my lowest weight and I remember looking at those pics thinking 'eeeugh fat' and last night I saw them I was amazed because I looked great! I'm totally using it as my inspiration.

I know what you mean roobear. I look in the mirror and think - "hmm not bad" then I catch a glimpse sideways and decide otherwise!!!

I totally agree! I have brought clothes that I should be arrested for because I don't think "I look that bad" I excitedly try them on in front of the bedroom mirror and see how wedged into them I am..my stomach hanging over the top just looks HUGE right in front of the mirror..

So I go back to jeans and a swamping t-shirt envying those who always look so pretty despite being as big or bigger than me.. I look at them and think "there is no way I could wear that and look as good as you.."

A few days pass and I am back to buying clothes I should be arrested for.. Its a vicious circle I tell you! LOL

I recently found some pictures from back when I was 18, i was 9st (my goal weight) and I was so skinny, I miss those days when i used to walk to school and it was all the exercise i needed to keep my weight down. I might get into that this summer if i go home i'll walk to school and back everyday, lol.

In college, I read a study that found that average weight and slender women who had good self-esteem were the most accurate in assessing body size, while overweight women with good self-esteem tended underestimate their body size.

The why's suggested were that it was a coping mechanism or because fat is considered such a negative, they were unable to look at someone else as postively as they could themselves thus when looking at "fat" people to compare themselves to the negative image of the other person affected where they placed themselves. Another study found that overweight women held the most negative stereotypes and hatred of overweight people.

I've always underestimated my size a bit, I'd guess about only one dress size though for me I think some of it is that I'm a lot "deeper" than I am wide. I think even in photos this is obvious. I look best at the angle photographers naturally put most women in - slightly off center from head on. Even head-on isn't the shock that sideways is - Geez, I always turn sideways when I think a walkway is too narrow. That's probably not helping any, as I'm either square -- or worse, deeper than wide.

I have to say that in many ways, dieting has become emotionally easier now that I'm working from a health perspective rather than in a desperate attempt to fit in by looking "normal" (I didn't even care that much about pretty, just wanted to not look like a freak). If I had learned to do that at 10, or even at 21, maybe I could have escaped a lot of this rollercoaster-ride and probably the last 100 lbs.

It is what it is though.