...but funny thing is-I considered myself overweight back then.
I was always on a diet, always hated shopping, always had trouble finding clothes that fit me ( big hips). But now, when I look at my old pictures I could cry....I was so beautiful, I just didn't see it. Yes, I had big hips, but those were lovely curvy hips. And I had such skinny arms, and a flat tummy, and such a lovely face.
I see beauty, when I look at those pics!
When I looked at them back then, I saw FAT!
It's unbelievable, how my perception of "me" has been twisted!
I wasted so much energy, I was so unhappy, struggled all the time, didn't enjoy food as much as I could...

And I can not believe it's really 10 years ago! When I wrote the title for this post, I first wrote ...5 years ago, then thought, no...must be 6 already...but then did some calculating...my,my, how time flies!!!)

Oh my gosh I know! I'm only 21, so ten years ago I was 11 but I wish I looked the way I did when I was 14. Back then I wasn't even concerned about my body until I was with my cousin, who was about a size 2, and I was a size 6. She was trying on pants I couldn't even dream of fitting into, and I hadn't even realized that I could have been smaller than I was. After that I became VERY self-conscious about my size 6 self.

Now though... size 6 is my goal! I can't believe I was so self conscious when I was simply curvier than my cousin and there's nothing I'll ever be able to do about that. I have curvy hips and a bit of a butt, as well as big boobs. I'm never going to be a size 2, and I don't want to! But a size 6 sure would be lovely.

I understand the sentiment completely. My original goal weight was what I weighed when I met my husband 7.5 years ago. That was still 25 pounds over a healthy weight according to BMI charts. Hindsight is amazing. I look at pictures from then and compare my thoughts of how I looked then to how I currently think I looked back then. If only we knew right.

I totally agree, one of my co workers and I were just talking about that.. i thought I was a cow in highschool and I was 140... now I would love to look like that again.. but the sad thing is my own family was telling me that i needed to lose weight.. seems like a lot of people feel that way!

A little over 8 years ago, I was 114 lbs. I'm 5'8" so that's pretty darn thin. I wore a size 4 or 6 pants. All I could see at that time was the pudge! I'd almost kill to even be 160 now!!

Hindsight is 20/20. And, what can and will happen when you get to your goal weigh, most likely, is that you will still things you won't like and will want to change. It's human nature, but try to tame it learn to love the new you too. And the bigger you. And the olde you. Because you only get to live this life once and you are all you got, so better to love it than despise it!

I read somewhere that sizes have changed since then. A size 10 now is much bigger than a size 10 then for example. They want us to feel like we're in smaller sizes even though we're just as big. Marketing I guess.

This makes sense to me as I remember being in 14/16s 20 years ago at 145, and I don't think that would be the case now.

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Word. I think this gets clearer as you get older. I'm 53 and am just getting back to the weight I was when I was 40. I wasn't happy with myself then and pretty much gave up on trying to lose any more, which led to me gaining more. This time around, I'm hoping to quash the negative self-talk and just be happy about feeling better. I'm never going to be tall, or small-waisted, or cute. But I can be healthier and fitter than I was.

Yeah, I don't. I was over 300 pounds 10 years ago. So, I would not give anything to be that size again. Like Kelly Clarkson said, "NEVER AGAIN!"

Sizes have definitely changed a lot over the years. I remember wearing size 8's and 9's in high school when I weighed a few pounds more than I do now. Now I wear 0's and 2's and 3's??? Do we really need to have sizes that begin with triple zero's? I wish they would just standardize the whole thing according to measurement. It might feel wonderful to squeeze into a small size but wouldn't you rather be able to get the same size everywhere without so much guessing?

No way would I want to weigh what I did 10 years ago. After giving birth to 2 kids in a short span I weighed over 200 lbs and kept it on for several years afterwards...Kind of a bonus prize.

If I can lose 50 pounds this year I still won't be where I was 10 years ago.
But it sure would make a big difference in the way I look and feel.

Too bad I didn't maintain my skinny-weight over the years. That was a huge mistake on my part.

You better believe, once I get to my goal, I will maintain my weight!

Absolutely. I have a photo from 10 years ago. It was our 25th anniversary. I weighed about 140 lbs. The last 10 years were the most difficult of my life and I ate my way through them. I turned to food for comfort as a stress reliever, boredom buster, and all around friend. My "friendship" cost me 115 lbs!!

I can't turn back the clock but I have a new relationship with food. It took me a long time to put it in its proper place in my life. I had to adopt a couple of new beliefs about food. First, I had to learn and really and truthfully live the belief that "If hunger is not the problem, food is not the answer". When I began really believing that, food lost its power over me. Second, "My body is not a garbage can". I don't have to clean my plate, eat my sons left overs, eat up the last piece of pizza, mashed potatoes, chili, etc., etc. It has been really hard to learn to throw things literally into the garbage can instead of into my mouth!

I have made healthy eating one of my new hobbies. I spend a lot of time reading and researching and my eating habits continue to evolve. I have lost the weight so far by calorie counting. It has worked extremely well. The latest tweak to my diet has been to eliminate bread as I am becoming convinced that wheat and simple carbs are not that great for me.

It is amazing to me that at 56 yrs I can make such profound changes in my life. It is exciting and I look forward to improved health and mobility in the future.

This thread reminded me of the Sunscreen song!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTJ7AzBIJoI

At 21 now, I feel a bit sad I spent all my teens years obsessing over how fat I was, when I wasn't in the slightest. Children can be really cruel to themselves.

When I look at pictures of myself when I was so so thin and thought I was fat and ugly, I just think "Were you insane! You looked amazing!" I was so thin I don't even want to ever be that size again! I am very pear shaped, so while I was a size 4 on the bottom, I had to wear girls tops (I am also long legged, so my torso is very short). Then when I went up to 135, I was a little more proportionate, so I was pretty much an even size 6, I felt like the fattest girl on earth. Now, 135 is my goal weight!
I also agree about the sizes change. I have some old (4 or so years old) size 12s that I can barely button, but new size 12s are getting baggy!

10 years ago I was 18 and around 110 lb wearing a size 2 and I hated my body. I always thought I was FAT because my sisters were sizes double 0 (yes, size 00). I know it will be almost impossible for me to be a size 2 again. I am in between sizes right now but I'll be happy settling with a size 4.