There were pictures!
 

I'm camera phobic.

At my friend's b-day party, he insisted on getting pics taken with everyone. He's moving away, so I couldn't exactly say no. They aren't terrible - although I was obviously the largest woman in the room ( :( ).

I've been depressed all day. Then he sent me links to them and said that they turned out well. Dear lord...

I'm trying to turn this into a motivational thing. Hopefully, by the time he comes back for the summer, I'll have dropped enough that I WANT to have my picture taken.

It's just a picture...it's just a picture...it's just a picture.

Hi Altari!

We're about the same height and weight right now (I'm in GAP size 18s). I too had a wake-up call when I saw the pictures of my boyfriend and myself one of my girlfriend's weddings. *sigh* She said I was beautiful and I felt, no, "feel" like a cow. I do wear my weight well, but I don't want to have to use that excuse. I had been doing really well for a while with working out and such, but I never want to buy another 18.

You've already had great weight-loss and I hope to join your ranks in a few months. Now's a good a time as any to restart for me and a word to say that any motivation is great motivation. Good luck!

And YES, it's just a picture. I'm sure they turned out well, and even if you don't like them, at least it's something you can compare to when next summer comes around.
And I discovered that even people who weigh like 120 do NOT like their pics taken. It's not just us. I think it's this society where everyone in the picture and TV looks sooo gorgeous..so when we see ourselves, we do not like them because it's nowhere close to those "fake" photoshoots on magazines and tv.. but we ARE beautiful in our own way. So c'mon! :D :hug:

I hate having my picture taken as well. All of mine look horrible, but I use them as motivation and it works. :)

:hug: I feel ya!. I've spent so much time in beautiful tropical Jamaica and pretty much have no decent pictures of myself there, due to the fact that I don't want to be in a picture because I hate the way I look. Thats one of the main reasons I am losing weight. I'm hoping when I go back in December I'll let someone take a full body pic of myself. :p

My company made a video last spring...I told the history, shown walking in front of our building. I look huge, facial features hidden in folds of fat, belly protuding, rolls on display. I've seen pictures of myself, but I never look that bad. Worst of all, I have to display this video regularly during presentations. I had been diagnosed with medical problems several months earlier and told to lose weight. That didn't work. Seeing myself on this video did. It still causes me tremendous pain to watch...and I have to watch and watch and watch.

In six weeks I am showing it at a big formal fundraiser, in front of 200 people.

I am determined that in the future folks will be stunned to realize that I am the person in the video. (And I'm strategizing that we will remake that video in another two years and I will be wearing a size 12 when we do!)

Sometimes we need to see ourselves.

Your friend is looking at your pictures and thinking about all the good times you guys had together. He's not thinking about your size or shape. The photograph is a memory of the good times. I have photographs of me at every weight and size and I wouldn't be without them because every picture tells a story of what was going on at that time--birthday parties, anniversaries, family gatherings, funerals, picnics, Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc... Don't give up on the pictures because it's not just about you, it's about everyone else involved in what is going on at the time. And you want to be remembered as being there.

I am so sorry! Like many, I just hate getting my picture taken. Years ago when I was very heavy and pretty much unaware of it, I went to Japan to visit my brother who was teaching there. While there he took me to his boss' house for a lunch. Anyway, he took a picture of me, his boss, and his boss' wife and when I saw it I was horrified. I looked like I could swallow those people whole (think Godzilla)- I swear I was bigger than the both of them put together. I definitely was motivated after that! So I guess just try to use this as motivation and know that no one is going to be as critical as you are.

OMG, I sooooo know how you feel!

One of my very best friends in all the world came to visit me for Labor Day Weekend. We have been friends for FORTY years. Since kindergarten! - she is a tiny little thing... about 5'1" and 115 pounds. Cute as a bug, even at 45! Just cute, cute, cute.

Me... well, I'm FAT. No two ways about it! :o

Anyway, of course she wanted PICTURES of us & her trip... at first I balked... I didn't want my picture even taken, much less looked at, at this - THE HIGHEST WEIGHT OF MY LIFE. :?: But I let her talk me into it... I said "Fine, but just don't put them up on MySpace!" ....

And what did she do? Yup. Put them ALL up on MySpace! I was mortified! :stress: Not only because I looked so BLECH! - but also because I had asked her NOT to do that!.... and because, well, a picture is worth a 1000 words... :^:

I emailed her & asked her to delete TWO of those pics. Not all of them... just two specific ones that I felt were BAD pics of me. (I actually let her keep the ones of us in our swimsuits! :o ) ...she balked. She said "but you're so tan & pretty!" ... :( Yes, a tan & pretty BEACHED WHALE standing next to her itty-bitty self! We went back & forth w/the emails for a while before she FINALLY relented & deleted those two pics. She was disappointed, but I explained to her that she just DOESN'T KNOW what it's like to be so fat, because she has ALWAYS been thin, whereas I have always struggled with my weight almost all my life.

When I look at pics of myself NOW at 188... & pics of me 3 years ago at 138...yeah, I tend to get a little nauseous. So I'd rather just NOT see the pics... it's bad enough looking at my chub in the mirror every day... "nothing to see here... move along" :D

I am with evryone here, i hate hate HATE getting my picture taken. My mother is always telling me that when i pass away my kids are never going to be able to show their great grand children what i looked like. I am terrified of the camera because what i see in that picture is not what i see in the mirror. All i can say is "do i reallly look like that" i guess i do. I can not wait to be able to get my picture taken without worrying how it will look. :?:

Thanks all for the replies.

I've gotten over the massive depression. I was able to use it to motivate me to be really on plan yesterday...but I was off today. Fried shrimp {I kinda think they were worth it} and ginger ale for an upset stomach.

Anyway, they aren't horrid. I think a lot of it was a comparison to the literally anorexic girl who were there. She's a little shorter than I am, but a size 0...I felt like a beluga whale!

It's just a picture. It's just a picture. And, don't forget, you are your own worst critic. :hug:

I relate to your story. Happened to me too, just this week. I was at a fundraiser and people were saying how good I looked and how I needed to be in a picture. I was put in a photo with two petite women and i was standing nearer to the camera than them. The photo was pretty horrific- I took up half the picture with the other two women taking up very little space in the rest of the photo. Anyway, I was aghast at how bad I looked. Although I have to say it is progress to get my picture taken at all.

Here's another funny picture story. I had a head shot done for a photo id and the digital camera's dimensions were off. It shot the picture making everything wider rather than taller. I looked like a character from Shrek. My face looked flat and stretched out. Two years later I am still using the id. No wonder I am afraid of cameras.

:hug:

I think we all have had this happen to us before. I know mine happened to me my senior year of high school, and i didn't know i had gotten that big until i saw my senior pictures it was bad, and standing next to my size six twin sister didn't help matter.

It'll all be gravy.

Aw, your goal may legitimately be lower, but at 151 there is no way you're horrific! Bad photos suck.

Oh, I feel your pain. I will do just about anything to get out of having my pic taken. Once, my SiL even called me an a**h**** out loud because I excused myself from a group that she was going to take a picture of. The others present (all family) were stunned that she was so nasty. Of course, the laugh's on her - I will lose weight, while she's stuck being who she is! :)

On the other hand, my daughter recently framed two pictures in her room, both with me in them. And while I look pretty awful in both, I don't mind. One is a group shot of the two of us, plus a group of her friends on an outing into NYC to celebrate her 16th birthday. I know in my heart that when she looks at it she doesn't think "Chubby Mom", but thinks of the great day we had. (I've recently learned that one of the friends has the same pic framed and displayed in his dorm room! :eek: )

The other pic is of my husband, son, daughter & me. She framed that one because she loves that we're all laughing in it. It's not a great pic of any of us, but we look like we're having such fun! Goes to show that beauty really is in the eye of the beholder and we are far, far harder on ourselves than others usually are.

I hated having my picture taken at my highest weight. I was always behind the camera instead of in front. I do have just a couple so i know what i looked like. But now i like to have my picture taken. I don't always like how i look. I still have fat rolls i have to hide. Even at 145 i have fat rolls. Actually, even at 134 i had fat rolls to hide. I have got to tone up i think. But it does get better and you do have good times to look back on and also pictures that will show how far you have come!!! So, don't shy away from the camera..just use it to your advantage.

i can relate too. i remember looking at my pics from vacation this year and I looked so huge. Plus my one son was looking at old photo albums one day last month and he said I looked different. I was thin in those pictures. I knew it was time to lose the weight.

LOL...You know I had to search for a "before" picture of myself. I hadn't had a picture taken of myself for a couple of years, probably at around 270. I finally found one taken at Christmas 08 that I was unaware that was being taken. It was in a CD my Brother in Law had sent in a Thank you card. Actually the picture was of my SIL but I just happen to be in it...:( It's a side shot of me standing at the refrigerator, of all places, with a stick of BUTTER in my hand...LOL (granted I was cooking Christmas dinner for the extended family...but geesh!) Oh boy, was I in tears.