Facebook Fright
 

So.....a friend tagged a photo of me on fb. It was taken a few weeks ago at a night out. I actually felt I was looking "not too bad":o that night...you know the script - hair done, nice make-up, nice-ish clothes (for a fat chick) I'm so ashamed of myself right now. I look like I've been blown up with a bicycle pump. SAD, SAD, SAD. A good visual aid though to continue with my efforts.....

When that happens, I promptly untag and don't think anything of it. Cameras always add weight. They can get you at a bad angle... the flash will flatten everything out and make anyone look bigger. You've lost 15 lb and you are doing great. Keep up the great work and don't sweat the facebook photos!!

I do what Sabri711 did, I untag myself. LOL In the past, when someone took a pic of me, I told them flat out, you better not tag me on fb. I hate that! LOL Don't let it get you down, use it as fuel! You will do great! :)

I never allowed pics below the neck until this summer. We've been hiking all summer and DH posts the pics on Facebook all the time. I go in and tag them myself so that I have access to them. The first pic of me shocked the heck out of me. We don't have half/full length mirrors in my house and as I've said no pics below the neck. OMG I looked like humpty dumpty. It doesn't help that I have no hair!

But the super cool thing is, I can see the difference with each hike. The first one I was wearing big bulky clothes which made me look several sizes bigger and I was using a cane...can see it right in the pic. This last one, OMG I had a waist and of course I've been cane free for over a month now. Yeah catch me at an odd angle and I look like Humpty but a smaller version than at the beginning of the summer.

So yeah it can be embarrassing but then again, even though I don't know any of DH's friends they all get to see me transforming...I'm ok with that. It's a weight loss journal of my journey. Keep dancing! it will keep coming off. You are doing great :D

I hear ya. The horror of seeing yourself in an unflattering picture can really light a fire. I actually have my FB settings to where no one except myself can tag me in a photo. It's a security thing so people don't tag me in one of those viral viruses that go around and so that I know what pictures are being posted of me.

I have a friend that's a 3rd grade teacher and someone posted a picture of her way back in college at a party where her boyfriend (now DH) is grabbing her boob and they're obviously drinking. Uhmmm yeah, not something she wanted plastered on FB! And of course that event was way before FB existed!

I have my settings that way as well. I am a nurse and I can't have photos of my night out for everyone to see. If I feel that the picture is not bad then I tag myself.

I've come to grips with the fact that I will always look at myself , especially in photos, with an extra-critical eye. So now I'm just focusing on feeling the way I want to. I will always be able to find ugliness in myself, I think it is my curse, but if I feel good about who I am and how I look, then I can get past that.

Untag & move on. (I've done that so many times, it ain't even funny anymore. )

I'm not so bad right now, but last summer? OMG, I practically killed one of my best friends because she didn't want to remove a pic that was HORRIBLE of me (but really GRAND of her, of course!) a SWIMSUIT PIC NONETHELESS!!! - after a few "testy" emails back & forth she finally relented & deleted the pic.

Course - THIS YEAR is different. Now SHE has gained a great deal of weight and I have LOST some weight, and now SHE'S THE ONE who doesn't want "unflattering pics" on the Facebook.

Yeah, I'm feeling a little "told-ya-so" smug right now. :s:

My stepson posted a bathing suit pic of me. I'm never happy with pictures of myself, but I have to say I saw the rest of the pictures and if one was going to be posted, this was it. For one thing, it's a pretty distant shot, so you can't see much. But there was still part of me thinking, a bathing suit shot? Really?

That never worked for me, because when my weight is up, the first place it shows is in my face. My face blows up like a balloon and my eyes start to look like slits.

I do like the comparison to Humpty Dumpty though. That's cute!

Carol

I dont UNTAG myself. Instead I used it as a motivation, so the next time I get tagged on any pics, JAWS WILL DROP. LOL

I don't think anyone, especially a relative or best friend, should ever post a pic of you on FB without your permission. I have a niece who does that, and I no longer let her take pictures of me.

Carol

I agree. A few years ago I did a 5k race and a friend of mine took pics of me (she was in it also, this was her first one and she was excited so she wanted lots of pics). I told her the night before that I would not be in any pics but she took them of me anyway (butt shot of me running, side shot of me crossing the finish line, me all sweaty) and then tagged me! I had a fit!!! I had signed up for the race months before and by the race day looked so fat and gross ( in fact the night before i had pigged out on mcdonald's) i don't know how i ever ran the next day. anyway when i saw the pics i demanded she take them down and she accused me of being a "drama queen" and that "they weren't even bad pics". To me they were. She finally took them down but i still can't believe she would do that when i had made a big deal about not doing it.

To the original poster.. untag! I hate almost all pics of myself and luckily you can untag whatever ones you don't like...

I hate this too! I detag myself in a panic that people who haven't seen me in awhile will see them... therefore seeing how big I've gotten! Hopefully we can look at this pictures later as "before" shots!

30 years ago I dated a guy when I was slim and trim. Years later I was always afraid I would run into him and he would see how fat I got, even though I was curious to see how he looked. A couple years ago I saw him....he had gained a lot, too! We had a nice little reunion and neither mentioned the weight gain!

Carol

Ack. This sort of happened to me today. My best friend came to visit me last October, and posted a ton of pictures on his blog. I made it into one or two of them, but I've not looked at them in ages.

I just did right now. Yeesh, I looked terrible. I mean, really, really, really terrible. I cringed. Of course, I also know I look better than that now, so there's that, but. . .man, what a blow to the ego!

This is why I take pictures. That way I'm not in them. No in all seriousness I either stand behind people OR I give the photographer the look. You know- that scary glare. And then tell them that if they tag me they're dead. I hope that one day I'll be able to be in pictures and the first thing I notice won't be "omg am I really THAT fat?". Photos, if not taken in the right light and angle makes me look absolutely horrid. DX

So much of this rings true for me! I think I look good until I see that picture! UGH! At my heaviest, I refused to be in any pictures at all. I think I may have lost a friendship in part because of that... but then she must not have been much of a friend to begin with.

I also untag and move on. Occasionally, like after a particularly fun weekend, I might set my "tag" settings so that only I can see tagged photos. That's just in case an interesting one slips in to the mix, so I can "screen" what gets out there.

I look forward to the day that I don't mind my picture being taken, and I don't feel like I have to hide behind someone else in order to hide my fat rolls, while I pray I look thinner in the picture.

I always worry about running into people I know too.. but I guess you're righht! I shouldn't worry so much :o

I have tagged pictures of me hidden. (Cue Carly Simon music here... :lol: )

Seriously though, I know just how you feel. :hug:

Ryler, I love your avatar! Is that from one of those websites where you can put your picture in and see how you would look at a different weight? You have done great with your weight loss, by the way!

Carol

I have a slightly different view on this - I used to get really upset, untag, etc. Now I have finally been able to accept that people are just trying to capture moments, not make me feel terrible. And in all honesty, it's not like my friends are looking at me seeing a size 8, and on facebook I suddenly have a different body. Sure, some pics are a bit more unflattering than others, but the camera doesn't add 100 pounds. I have also kept my facebook to people that actually love and care about me, so I know they're not trying to deliberately annoy me.

It motivates me like none other, actually, because I'm sick of being left out of special moments and/or untagging like a fiend because I've not been taking care of my body like I should.

This is reason #94583967348 why I don't have a facebook account. Never mind how I look, I don't want pictures of me on the internet, attached to my real, full name. Eek!