[shananigans]

I think you’ve all put some great ideas out there. Body image issues are so complicated and individual, but I think it does make some sense that the closer we get to the bodies we want to be walking around in the more we see the small imperfections that are keeping us from it. Before I just kind of felt like a blimp. Now that I’ve built some muscle up and lost some fat it’s like I can see that killer bod under that fat, and I just can’t seem to get that fat off to set it free. Very frustrating at times.

Sorry to hear you’re having a rough time with this right now. Just try to relax and keep going, that’s all any of us can really do. And do try to remember to be proud of how far you’ve come now and then!

[BreakingFree]

Originally Posted by cemetarysiren25

I actually did try going to a counselor a couple of months ago. I had seen her before, years ago. She's really nice, but I stopped going. I went in to talk about how bad my body image is, and it ended up being, "Let's pick apart Nancy's marriage". She put all these ideas in my head that there was something wrong with my marriage and I did NOT like it. So, I stopped going.

At my highest weight, I started therapy NOT to address my weight issue (I didn't even think there WAS an issue there - denial's a wonderful thing) but to deal with family issues, past and present. My therapist helped me to see over time how these family issues were deeply intertwined with my eating and being overweight. This is how therapy often works. You go in thinking that you're going to work on one specific area or issue in your life and you learn that a problem or imbalance in that one area can affect others in ways you never would have dreamed.

Good luck to you.

[Heather]

In reading all these posts it dawns on me (again) that many women who have never been overweight (to my eyes) say the same thing ("my stomach is too big" "I don't like my thighs") I never saw that in them -- to me they were thin. period.

But now I wonder if they are like siren and others are describing -- focusing often on flaws. Perhaps you are just like the other thin women now!!!

Originally Posted by cemetarysiren25

And even though I pick at my flaws, I like myself a lot better now than I did before. Wow, saying that stuff makes me feel a lot better!

yay!

give yourself permission to give yourself time to adjust to the new you. And seeing a different therapist may be a good thing!