I just experienced the mirror to pic thing today. According to my weigh-in today I hit the 25lb mark, but I don't want to record it yet because it's not my official weigh-in day. I did decide to go ahead and take progress pics, though (the underwear kind; I'll take clothing pics for y'all's purposes when I know for sure I'm at 25lbs) and when I took the picture and saw myself in the mirror, I thought I looked exactly like my previous picture. But when I finally pulled the two up side-by-side on the computer, I could see there was definitely a difference between now and my 226 picture, and there's a HUGE difference between now and the 241 picture from the beginning. I couldn't see it looking in the mirror, but the pics are where the real truth is.

Is it weird to start getting definition in your stomach without actually losing the stomach? I'm seeing lines where my abs should be (not a 6 pack or anything of course, lol) where as I didn't have that before. It's strange seeing all these new changes!

I did and I cried. I'm glad I did it though. It gave me a reality check. Plus it will give me perspective later on.

Mirrors lie. Some make you appear thinner than you are. Depends on the mirror.

If you have several mirrors in your house you can go look at yourself and you'll appear slightly different in all of them.

The camera doesn't lie.

i did! it's really shocking to see how big you are outside of your own head. i still can't believe my before pictures!

now when i see pictures of myself i can't believe how small i am, because i picture myself being much bigger.

me too - exactlyt he same experience - i figured i'd look exactly the same as my first pic, maybe a bit smaller (cause i knew the girls had shrunk - that sort of thing is a bit hard to miss). i was flabbergasted to see how much of my lower gut had vanished.

I have to agree on the camera not lying. i didn't take a picture when I started last January, but my SIL had taken a picture of me and my DD at Christmas just 2 weeks earlier and that's the one I refer to for comparison. I had 2 family weddings last spring and summer and pics from them served as progress shots for me. I actually took a couple photos at 70 pounds lost. And I had a HS class party (60th birthday party - class of '69! WooHoo!) when I had just reached 90 pounds and there are pics from the party that show me at my current weight. And new pics from Christmas 2011.

I can honestly say I never pictured myself as big as the size 24 pants that I kept as a reminder. Never. Until I lost all the weight.

Lin

I believe it is crucial for me to have a full body mirror for monitering purposes. I would lie to myself if I only looked at my face and hair everyday. BUT I also noticed that for a while I had been unconciously standing in a certain way to look slimmer to myself in the mirror. Plus, I've kind of perfected the art of wearing clothes that make me look slimmer. No one believes me when I say I'm over 200lbs and people are always asking me aftwards where I buy my clothes because I look smaller than I am. All that being said I, too, am the family photographer so I avoid pics if at all possible. The worst pictures are the ones that show how big my arms are and the loose jowl (not quite a double chin but on the way to being one). In truth I refuse to look at any pics of myself. When I look at my young slim self when I was just married it depresses me just as much as if I look at a pic of myself at my current weight! :p

re:
 

You made it through the initial shock. Given the other posts I've read by you, I think you'll be able to be just fine.

I highly recommend taking pictures of yourself as you go along. I also suggest measurements. I only wish I had taken measurements when I started, but I am now.

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Yup, I've had this going on for ages! I like to think that I totally have a 6 pack, it's just hiding :D

you mean you got a two-fer right now, eh? lol

When i manged to reach goal a few years ago i didnt take pics before and after and wished i did. i went from a uk size 20 to a 8-10. I didnt feel smaller i still felt a 20 and had no pics to show me i was smaller...i noticed when id put tge weight back on :-( now i get to look back to thin pictures and think wow i was thin then! grrr. now at a size 14 im devestated i didnt notice until i put weight back on. i want some pics now for before but dont want to see them.
So i would advise you to not let it get you down and think posotive u have had a great weight loss so far and as your journey continues you will feel great. xx

Although my latest diet plan is new, my weight loss has been going for 2 years or so. I took progress pics in discreet underwear (with the bad quality of my webcam, most of them looked like a bikini) and I posted progress pics here after my first month (I then kept on sending the pictures to my boyfriend, and getting lots of praise every time:D ). I will probably be taking new progress pics soon and sending him the first one I took when I was 22 kilos bigger to compare :3

Also, I have kept some pics taken when I was at my top weight...ugh, was I fat! The weight loss is really noticeable on my face, as I could notice looking at the different buss passes I have. Currently, I am using two that I got back in 2008 (top weight). I had to get a new one and I was surprised at how thin my face looked!

I didn't, but wish I had.

Me too.

I don't have before pics (I am sort of at my "before" point again), but can definitely relate to how this feels. In the past, after losing a good amount of weight and feeling good, I tried on clothes or caught a glance at myself and was shocked at how big I looked. The only thing that kept me from getting upset was that I would tell myself, "it's okay; I am doing something about it" (much like what threenorns has also said). Don't let it get you down; you are doing well and are well on your way to changing things!