ORSewmama, thanks so much for responding. Our starting weight is similar...it's so encouraging to see other people who were around my weight who are losing it. I can remember being 160 and thinking I was just the fattest person in the whole world and here I am 120 pounds heavier than that? That's a LOT of weight to lose. I'm glad to know it can be done!
And at least I wasn't in the paper! Just on facebook. I didn't ask them to take it down but I untagged myself faster than you can say "google."
LOL! The only saving grace was that my name wasn't in the paper under the photo!! Although my distinctive purse I was carrying - totally gave me away to anyone who knew me. But like you said, that's how I looked.
And here's another dirty secret - I went and drug out the jeans I was wearing in that pic in the paper (which I saved on my computer to motivate me should I ever need it that badly) - and put them on again today just to verify. They're huge!
It's taken me awhile to lose this much, but I can feel my attitudes and habits changing - you can so do this!
Nicole,
When you are serious about losing weight, there are some tools that you can learn to make it easier. The Beck Diet Solution books are not a diet but a primer on how to go about losing weight. I recommend it for newbies.
There is also an entire thread on 3FC that uses the Beck solution. Once you get the hang of losing weight, you will not want to go back to your old ways ... you will be too happy with your progress. Good luck and we will be looking for your posts.
Last edited by Cglasscock1; 07-19-2010 at 06:22 PM.
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This thread just inspired me to go take a look at my facebook photos. Even the ones after losing 50 pounds are pretty horrific. Definitely a lot of motivation material there. Once I get to goal I'm going to be posting a lot of photos to make up for them and show off I think!
Thanks so much for all the advice and encouragement. I'm taking notes!
Zing! I'm right there with you- I can't remember the last time I saw a picture of myself and thought oh, that's a good one. I have maybe three pictures of myself with my daughter - and she's 4.5. I'm so embarrassed to be in pictures that I've edited myself out of her life. That is NUTS. We spend every minute of every day together but if, God forbid, something happened to me...would she even remember me? She certainly wouldn't have any pictures to go by. One of my BIG GOALS is to feel up to having FAMILY portraits done at Christmas. We always have the best Christmas card pics...of our daughter and dog. But the parents are never in them. I am really really jealous of people who don't have to think about this kind of stuff!
Thanks so much for all the advice and encouragement. I'm taking notes!
Zing! I'm right there with you- I can't remember the last time I saw a picture of myself and thought oh, that's a good one. I have maybe three pictures of myself with my daughter - and she's 4.5. I'm so embarrassed to be in pictures that I've edited myself out of her life. That is NUTS. We spend every minute of every day together but if, God forbid, something happened to me...would she even remember me? She certainly wouldn't have any pictures to go by. One of my BIG GOALS is to feel up to having FAMILY portraits done at Christmas. We always have the best Christmas card pics...of our daughter and dog. But the parents are never in them. I am really really jealous of people who don't have to think about this kind of stuff!
OMG I could have written this exact post! I am camera phobic.. refuse to have my pic taken. I have exactly zero pics of myself with my 2.5 yo, and one pic of me and ds7 (and even THAT was for a photo collage for Father's Day for my dad bc he begged for it.. ) ridiculous. I too look forawrd to the day that I feel comfortable (or at least not panic-stricken ) of having family portraits done.
It's so weird bc obviously that's how I truly look, but I just cannot see it. It's like I have body dysmorphia, in reverse. Now I can see the girth and the rolls, but my face doesn't look nearly so fat in the mirror as in photos. ?
I've never been very photogenic, maybe that's part of the problem. And I'm too self-critical.
I understand where you are coming from because i had the same thing happen. I didn't recognize myself at all in a picture. That was the breaking point for myself.
Just remember to take it 1 day at a time, 1 pound at a time. You can do this!
One thing I do have to my advantage - I actually really REALLY like fruit and vegetables. I tend to like healthier, whole foods. I am just very very LAZY and fall into the convenience trap (which is also the expensive trap) quite a lot. Give me a lightly braised endive and I'm in heaven. Hook me up with a baked apple with a little cinnamon and I'm thrilled. Oatmeal, the real kind, might be my favorite food. I love trying new fruits and vegetables and I especially love finding them locally. I get excited when I find a farmer's market and it's not for the scones and butter! I just so often fall back on...oh well, it's just so much easier to drive through. LAZY. I have to kick LAZY in the rear.
This whole thread has hit a nerve or two. Pictures always get me when I'm heavy. I can go by day to day with my head in the sand regarding how I look and then BLAM I see a photo and it hits me. I too don't like seeing photos of myself, but the irony is that people see me every day. The only thing that not having photos of myself does is help me to stay in denial.
Recently I've felt pretty good about my body after losing 47 pounds until I took the dreaded photos. I'm not getting as thin as I thought I was. I want to keep my curves, but I'm not happy with my body at this size! Why should I settle?
I too like vegetables and fruits and I didn't even like most of the fatty cr*p I was shoving into my mouth. But I also was overeating the "good" stuff too. My pantry had very little "junk" in it. Unfortunately, far too often I would use the excuse that I was too tired or busy to cook for myself. Heck, I'm starting to use that excuse again even though what I allow myself to get is different. Still more calories than what I would be making at home!
I really wish you the best of luck. I know you can do this!
I don't think I've quite become camera phobic, but I do try and make sure it's from the waist up. Even then I still tend to get annoyed easily. Had a really nasty girl at university who retagged me in photos I had untagged myself from after telling her I didn't like them!
While I've not had many opportunities to be photographed this year, when I have seen them I've been annoyed because I can feel and see differences, but I still look massive on film!
I'm graduating in a couple of months so I really want to look great for some photos so they can go in the local paper (they always do that around here). I won't be at goal or anything, but it's a big enough deal to me that I want people to be reading the paper and go "Wow, Zing looks really good these days! So much for the fat girl from school!"
I hadn't even thought until this thread that that's how people see me. A very sobering thought, and makes me very determined to change. You've really hit a nerve Nicole I think, as Renwomin was saying. But that's a good thing!
UGH...I know right?
I went on vacation with my boyfriend last month, and not only was it a HUGE deal for me to get a bathing suit (i went swimming in the ocean in my clothes before I finally bought a suit, three days into our vacation).
THEN my boyfriend wants to take some pictures of me walking down to the water and everything like that. Oh my god. I was 50 feet away from him and you could STILL see the ripples and mountains and valleys of cellulite in my thunder thighs. I wanted to throw up or cry. Now, the camera was on the sports setting accidentally, which captures motion in perfectly sharp detail... lol. So I didn't even have the benefit of blur.
There are hardly any pictures of me in our family photo albums between about 9th grade and now. I've shied away from the camera my whole life for exactly the same reason--it shows me in fine detail and vivid color the thing which I put so much energy into ignoring and denying--my big fat butt. LOL.
But, it's very true that everyone else sees us this way all day long, it's just a culture shock to have to look at unflattering pictures of yourself. There's no denying that!
I sympathize heartily. I've gained about 20 pounds just in the past couple of months and I'm sooo miserable. It's definitely time to put the foot down. I know I can do it, in fact just being back on the wagon this week has shown results and shown me that the thought of eating the odd deep fried item makes me nauseous!
I am totally with you on all of this. It sucks, and we all hate it, but the only thing to do is make this what you're doing now. Weight loss has to change your life, and kind of absorb your life i think, at least for a little while. I told myself today, loss doesn't come from motivation or having that magic moment (I have wished for this for years, and had many a magic moment, and regained again and again--though the moment of clarity does really really help you settle your priorities down right!), it comes from sticking to it and following a routine. That's the hardest part for me, sticking to the routine and telling myself no when I WANT a Wendy's cheeseburger soooo bad I can't stand it. It's hard for me to tell myself that the cheeseburger has to wait, but it's easier when i tell myself I just have to wait til tomorrow. When tomorrow comes, I tell myself I just have to wait one more day, and so on and so forth. But the trick is, not the bend to the will of the cheeseburger That cheeseburger is worthless compared to our health, our happiness, our self-esteem, our quality of life. The toughest and most important thing for me is keeping weight loss in perspective, as my forefront concern for the time being.
We all deserve this, it's the best gift we can give ourselves. It's hard, and it's white-knuckle for awhile, but I know at least in my case, I soon begin to realize how rewarding it is to stick with it, and these food addictions and compulsive binges that rule my life when I'm off the wagon will fade away as I zoom out and get my life back in the right perspective.
The support here on 3FC is one of your best tools. Whenever I come here diligently, I lose weight. Hopefully here you can find the understanding and the laughter and the perspective that you need on this long, beautiful, rewarding journey.
I wish you luck and resolve! PM me if you ever need to vent. Haha.
Thats what got me too. I was looking at pictures on Facebook after a friend's bday party. I was shocked at pictures of myself. Someone even left a comment that it was a really good picture of all three of us girls. I didn't see that....I was too mortified by how I looked. It was a real kick for me to move in the right direction.
You found a great place to get started and lots of support from people going through the same things. I've been here for a month and it's been fantastic.
I think I may have found a method that works for me. Every time I take a trip overseas (which is not as often as I'd like) I kick a bad habit or start a good one. For example, when I studied in Mexico briefly, I quit smoking. My whole environment was changed, and I didn't know where to get cigarettes since they didn't have typical grocery stores in the small town we were in.
Then when I went to London, I started exercising. You kind of have to walk a lot if you're taking the tube as the main method of transportation. I lost 8 pounds there and vowed to make walking a new habit when I returned home. So far, so good. Changing your environment has proven to be very helpful, probably because I live alone and it's easy to hide all my bad habits and deeds from everyone.
OMG! I just asked someone to take down a pic of me on facebook! It was one of those tagged ones. I felt stupid even doing it, but the thought of people I hadn't seen in years seeing a picture of me like that-ahhh! (I am really selective about the ones I post.) However, she refused. She tried saying I looked good, blah blah blah! But, hey, it was some motivation. I joined this forum the same day!
She tried saying I looked good, blah blah blah! But, hey, it was some motivation. I joined this forum the same day!
[rant]Why do people think it's a compliment to reassure you that you look good in a picture you hate? Whenever someone says "God, I look terrible in this picture!", the proper response it "You're right, you do, you look much prettier than that, usually". I mean, they can see the picture. If they hate what they see, telling them "oh no, that's as good as you ever look" IS NOT BEING NICE. [/rant]
My husband took a picture of me and my daughter hiking. Tilley hat, walking stick, hiking boots, and almost 300 pounds of ME. /shudder
I almost asked him to take it down from Facebook. But he's SO proud of me, and the fact that I'm moving, grooving, and losing. And it's actually a good "active" picture of me. So I'm letting it stay. I'm thinking that next year, we can do an "after" picture and compare the two!
Your words really touched me. Your current weight was my highest and we are the same height. I know how you (may) feel, I could not stand photos of myself, and honestly I still can't.
You can walk away, feeling better and getting smaller is way better than a Burger King comma. (exhausted feeling after a king size #2)
You are worth the change and you can have healthy food that taste amazing. I can not wait to read more from you.
I understand where you are coming from because i had the same thing happen. I didn't recognize myself at all in a picture. That was the breaking point for myself. 
That cheeseburger is worthless compared to our health, our happiness, our self-esteem, our quality of life. The toughest and most important thing for me is keeping weight loss in perspective, as my forefront concern for the time being. 
