Why is the mirror always so much more complimentary than other reflections
 

I remember when I was heavier and even now sometimes, i looked in the mirror and thought i looked good/fine....and then walked out the door and caught a glimpse of myself in a window or some reflection and was completely annihilated. it destroys my mood then the entire day!

So which is the true reflection and that do the reflections differ....

Am i alone in this?

Reflections differ depending on the shape of the glass/mirror. If you ever get a cheap full length mirror, one of the ones that you can bed a bit you'll be able to demonstrate this principle to yourself exactly. When you bend the top and bottom away you you look very short, squat and fat, when you bend the top and bottom towards you youlook taller and slimmer. It's the same principle as those fun houses at the carnival with the crazy mirrors but to a lesser degree, the surfaces are just curved. Most glass (mirrors, windows, whatever) aren't perfectly flat and straight, so it's not usually your mind playing tricks on you. That's why so many people here swear by pictures and not so much by what they think they see in the mirror.

Haha - this post did make me laugh... I used to see the reflection of my hands and fingers in the car window while I was passenging, and think: "Oh my, those look like SAUSAGES!" But they didn't look like that to me.

Unfortunately, they actually DID look like sausages, and I just didn't think so! :lol3:

Heather :D

Um, where can I get that mirror????
LOL.

I've often wondered the same thing in regards to photos and real life. Photos seem to capture all the fatness and excess, but in real life I swear I have a waist and nice this, that and the other and then I see a photo and it's like, WOW, is that how I 'really' look? =(

As for mirrors, I definitely think many dressing room mirrors are slimming, but hopefully not so with my heavier home ones.

With me it isn't mirror vs. other reflecting body, it's mirror vs. photograph. I look at myself in a mirror and I think I look ok, but then I happen to see a photograph of myself and I think, OMG I look like Jabba the Hutt :eek:

I think another factor is we are MOVING in mirrors - smiling, twisting, sucking in, tilting to the angles we look the best. Hands on hips, smile, tilt head up, turn slightly at the waist...and....looks good!

Haha, so true. Photos are still life and not necessarily in the most flattering poses. =)

I totally agree with both mirrors vs other reflections and mirror vs pictures. When I look in the mirror I think I'm starting to look thinner, but then when I take a picture to document it (I like to see the progress in full-length pictures) I think WHOA! My mind must be messing with me when I look in the mirror.

Same with other reflections, like the glass windows of stores... I catch a glimpse and think is that REALLY what I look like? Yuck.