It comes and goes when you least expect it. Even though I am a little over the half way mark in weight loss, I sometimes have trouble seeing it. I take a lot of photo of my body by reflecting in the mirror so I can compare pictures. That helps me see it more than just looking in the mirror. sometimes, I catch a glimpse of a reflection in a window or mirror and feel shocked at the loss. Sometimes I fell like I am just kidding myself. It fluctuates. I try to stay in clothes that are comfortable but not too big, but feel intimidated when buying clothes, still preferring not to go into a dressing room and trying anything on. I think when i get under 200 I will start to really feel the changes and I know I will need new clothes by then!

What a great thread. I think for me, the photos really tell it all. I have a photo of me when I was thirty pounds heavier and there is a noticeable difference. I keep that photo and a photo of me when I was at my goal weight on my bathroom mirror. It motivates me to lose the weight.

I'm just now starting to notice a difference, but the people around me (co-workers, acquaintances) started really making comments when I hit the 40lb mark.

I didn't realize until I saw pictures someone took of me. I was amazed how different I looked, because I looked the same to myself in the mirror. Unfortunately, I saw those pictures after I had gained the weight back. But they helped me, anyway, because when I lost the weight a second time and couldn't tell, I was able to tell myself that my brain was at fault, not my body.

It still can be hard for me to tell now, and it's been more than a year since I lost the weight. Occasionally I'll catch myself washing my hands in the mirror and realize that the muscles in my arms are really defined now, or I'll have a brief moment where everything comes together in the mirror and I see myself as I am. Typically, though, I still have to rely on photos.

Not sure when I looked in the mirror and saw a difference, but I had several delightful reality checks:

- When my rings accidentally slid off my finger

- When I got into a loose size 18 after starting at very tight 28s

- When I glanced down at my lap and realized my thighs weren't touching

- When my collarbones became inarguably prominent

We all have our own, and I'm sure you have a few already!

I think the hardest thing is to see weight loss in ourselves because we've carried around the image of being the chubby girl or guy for so long. I've been overweight since I was a teenager, only because I had big brothers and ate like they did (duh I'm a girl and cant do that!) But I had lost down to 162 and only really started to see it around 167. When I went to buy new clothes I kept trying on the larger sizes. I had been a size 18/20 for so long I didn't think I could possibly be smaller than a 14 well I tried the 12s just to see and I thought, "huh, so this is how clothes are supposed to fit" they weren't tight in the weird places but also not loose in weird places. I felt like a woman for the first time because I had the good kind of curves.

Lots of people kept telling me how great I looked but until that moment I didn't see it. I think its because I lost weight evenly everywhere and not from certain places first. I am now back up 20lbs because I had an injury that shoved me off the wagon (honest doc had me on a high card diet to heal) and I never got back on again, that is my fault. But I now see the difference from being small to getting bigger again. It takes a lot to change the way a woman sees herself, especially if we've had a not so nice picture of ourselves in our heads. Someone basically has to throw a rock at us to get us to see how FABU we are!!

Great points

I measured today - maybe that will help. I don't have an "official" before picture - I figured my entire last 15 years was one big before pic. But there is a particularly awful set of pictures - my sister's wedding - that I can't even bear to look at. I'm thinking those will be my befores.

Maybe I'll take a picture of myself in the next couple days so I can try to see a difference.

Ya'll are right - the mental image of myself is going to take a long time to dissolve away. I have been overweight since the *moment* I hit puberty!

My self-perception shifted after losing about 15 lbs (I'm down 30 or so now). I had a massive surge in confidence and suddenly wanted to parade around scantily clad. I remember buying a pretty ahem skanky dress on a whim just because I felt like I could. When I look back to those photos I just think "what was wrong with you?" but it's hard to forget that invigorated feeling of newfound pride and joy in your own weight loss.

It's still hard now. An unflattering photo tag on Facebook or a particularly slimming mirror can throw me for a loop and make me question myself all over again. It's nice though that I no longer view myself as being fat, ever. I have fat days, face-bloat days and "god where are my ribs" days just like anyone else but I think I am officially "done" thinking "I am a fat person."