"fat" picture - motivating or de-motivating?

AlisonMulhare
AlisonMulhare Posts: 28 Member
in Getting Started
Here's a question for you all - do you find it more motivating or de-motivating to have a "fat" picture of yourself on display? I'm debating adding some to my profile......

Replies

  • evivahealth
    evivahealth Posts: 571 Member
    Totally motivating! I find it a fantastic way to measure success when I see photos where I've clearly lost weight. Who doesn't love a good before and after pic?
  • 50extra
    50extra Posts: 751 Member
    100% motivating for me. At the start it did nothing, but after a couple months when I put my fat picture next to my current picture, it finally allowed me to see what the scale was telling me. I look in the mirror every single day so any changes are hard to notice. Now I see what can happen with a couple months of hard work and motivation, and it makes me want to put in the effort again so that I can see what happens in a couple months from now.

    For me the number on the scale and the way clothes fit isn't enough, I need physically see proof as to what is happening to validate the work that I put in.
  • ReaderGirl3
    ReaderGirl3 Posts: 868 Member
    edited May 2016
    AlisonMulhare wrote: »
    Here's a question for you all - do you find it more motivating or de-motivating to have a "fat" picture of yourself on display? I'm debating adding some to my profile......

    I took several 'before' pictures on my old phone and then only saved one. Now several years later I'm so mad at myself for not having saved the rest, because even 3 years into maintenance I still look at that one before picture regularly to remind myself of where I've been.

    I actually think it's been more of a help in maintenance, than it was in the weight loss phase. Maintenance is where it gets really easy to lose focus and start justifying poor choices, so when that starts happening I look at that picture to remind me that I do need to stay focused for the next 40-50 years. Also, the further along in maintenance I go, the more I forget what I actually looked like back then, which also feeds into the losing focus aspect.

    And yes, I have that one picture loaded into my MFP profile picture area :)
  • seanafvet
    seanafvet Posts: 57 Member
    motivating so you can see the progress you are making along the journey.
  • MommyL2015
    MommyL2015 Posts: 1,411 Member
    Very, very motivating. It lets me vividly remember how miserable I was and how badly I wanted to be where I am today. I won't ever let myself forget that.
  • AlisonMulhare
    AlisonMulhare Posts: 28 Member
    WOW @evelynwhitelaw and @ReaderGirl3 - you're before and after pics are amazing!! Well done!!! I've added some pics to my profile - I hope mine will show such great success one day!


    @50extra - I've read your story and I really like your plan around losing. You're doing great so far - keep up the good work. I started on the 8th Jan 2016 and I'm at 15lbs - it's slowed down but I'm in it for the long haul - not a quick win so I'm still keeping going.
  • 50extra
    50extra Posts: 751 Member
    15 pounds since the start of the year is a real nice loss and at an extremely sustainable rate. Good job.
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,148 Member
    I don't find it motivating. I do have before/during pictures that helped me when I thought I wan't getting on as I should.
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
    I think it CAN be motivating for people depending on how they view it.

    I think for most people it's motivating if it's a "look how far I've come" but I think it can potentially be demotivating if it's something that stems from self hate/shame.
  • Quasita
    Quasita Posts: 1,530 Member
    Personally, I don't post up pictures as say, my profile picture, and call them my "fat" picture because I feel like it's insulting to myself. Not in the sense that calling myself what I am, as in fat, is insulting, but the mentality behind the whole "Remember this? You don't want to be this again, do you?" that is behind the visual reminder. However, I do keep pictures of me at my biggest and at various stages, so that I can make things like this when I feel down about my progress...

    4536ofngv2ec.jpg
  • Keladelphia
    Keladelphia Posts: 820 Member
    ReaderGirl3 wrote: »
    AlisonMulhare wrote: »
    Here's a question for you all - do you find it more motivating or de-motivating to have a "fat" picture of yourself on display? I'm debating adding some to my profile......

    I took several 'before' pictures on my old phone and then only saved one. Now several years later I'm so mad at myself for not having saved the rest, because even 3 years into maintenance I still look at that one before picture regularly to remind myself of where I've been.

    I actually think it's been more of a help in maintenance, than it was in the weight loss phase. Maintenance is where it gets really easy to lose focus and start justifying poor choices, so when that starts happening I look at that picture to remind me that I do need to stay focused for the next 40-50 years. Also, the further along in maintenance I go, the more I forget what I actually looked like back then, which also feeds into the losing focus aspect.

    And yes, I have that one picture loaded into my MFP profile picture area :)

    ^^So much this. It was cool to compare to my old overweight photos when I was losing but I find it much more important now that i'm maintaining since you don't see other changes like the number on the scale happening anymore. Keeping a before and after photo here and looking at it often is a constant reminder of how much I don't want to ever lead that type of lifestyle again.
  • snowflake930
    snowflake930 Posts: 2,188 Member
    Nope, don't want to see it. No before pictures at all.
    The thought of how I was, and never wanting to go back, is all the motivation I need to keep tracking.
    I do have one pair of size 24W jeans that I kept though and every once in a while I pull them out and try them on.
    Size 8 now, and I like it much better.
  • ilex70
    ilex70 Posts: 727 Member
    Neither.

    I don't feel hate/shame about my fat pics, but I can't really relate them to where I am now either.

    For me it is clothes. That is why I have a pair of fat pants.

    There are actually some pics of me from the past summer nearby and I can't really look at them and see that I look so different, but I know I still use those same shirts, only now some of them are looking more like dresses.
  • perkymommy
    perkymommy Posts: 1,642 Member
    edited May 2016
    AlisonMulhare wrote: »
    Here's a question for you all - do you find it more motivating or de-motivating to have a "fat" picture of yourself on display? I'm debating adding some to my profile......

    Depends on the person I guess. But for me, I find it better to have pictures of myself at my thinnest weight that I want to reach. I have a couple of pics of myself on my bedroom mirror from seven years ago when I was at my goal weight :) Helps to keep me motivated to see where I want to be at and not where I was.
  • imoblivion
    imoblivion Posts: 9 Member
    edited May 2016
    I don't have a "fat" picture per se, but there a few pics when I wasn't in shape..I gauge my size by a pair of pants that I had before I had to stop working out due to injury. I jokingly call them my judgment jeans and I can see how and what is not working or what needs to be toned up by the way they fit.
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 5,154 Member
    I find them motivating, but I would not want to have one displayed where others could see it.
  • katie22mfp
    katie22mfp Posts: 386 Member
    Motivating
  • STEVE142142
    STEVE142142 Posts: 867 Member
    AlisonMulhare wrote: »
    Here's a question for you all - do you find it more motivating or de-motivating to have a "fat" picture of yourself on display? I'm debating adding some to my profile......

    To me it's totally motivating. You sometimes wonder if you can do it and then you look at what someone started with and where they are now, yeah I can do this. My biggest regret is I didn't take pictures along the journey but I do have a pair of pants that remind me of where I was and I swear I'm never going back. As long as you feel comfortable do it.
  • Noelani1503
    Noelani1503 Posts: 378 Member
    Whatever works for you. It'd be demoralizing for me. I'd rather focus on where I want to go.
  • Etsar73
    Etsar73 Posts: 260 Member
    It's a before picture from 1999 that motivates me. It's been on my fridge :smile: zq0dw5n0sbca.jpg
  • Tweaking_Time
    Tweaking_Time Posts: 733 Member
    OP - totally support doing it. I also think the before after side-by-side comparisons are awesome and really motivational.
  • DarnaDarnit
    DarnaDarnit Posts: 7 Member
    Motivating. I've keep both when trying to get in shape. An old photo of when I was in shape and what I want to get back to and a fat out of shape one of how I don't want to look.
  • GeneralEvad
    GeneralEvad Posts: 11 Member
    I personally find it motivating. Those seem to be the only pictures I have. I have 30 more pounds to go to my goal weight. So I look at those pics and it makes me want to lose more and more.
  • pebble4321
    pebble4321 Posts: 1,132 Member
    De-motivating for me.
    I'm not happy that I've put on weight again, why would I want to look at something constantly that makes me feel negative?
  • itsbasschick
    itsbasschick Posts: 1,584 Member
    everyone's different. i find it unmotivating. i'm not ashamed of myself at my heaviest weight, but i wasn't thrilled about it, either. i find motivation by working toward something i really want rather than seeing something constantly i wasn't at all happy about and that is no longer the case.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    Fat + current progress pic!! Keep it going.
  • flatcoatedR
    flatcoatedR Posts: 173 Member
    Very un - motivating. I get depressed when I see fat pictures of myself. Heck, I get deppressed looking in the mirror. Why would I want to put that on my refrigerator. Not much hope in that. I usually try to find a picture of someone's body in a catalog or magazine (of course something realistic and achievable for my body type) dressed and styled like I would like to look someday.
  • KrissaJane92
    KrissaJane92 Posts: 33 Member
    For ME, I have a fat picture and a current picture NEXT to each other and it's motivating.
  • tomteboda
    tomteboda Posts: 2,171 Member
    I hated pictures of myself at my heaviest. I still do.I didn't find pictures of myself motivating then, and I don't now. but I have really enjoyed seeing the changes by comparing the (very few) pictures of myself when I'm heavy with ones that I've taken along the way. I did, however, find older images of myself when I was much younger and thinner to help keep me from stopping.

    That said, I enjoy the memories I have with every picture, regardless of what weight I was.
  • UncaToddly
    UncaToddly Posts: 146 Member
    Tweaking_Time wrote: »
    OP - totally support doing it. I also think the before after side-by-side comparisons are awesome and really motivational.

    While I don't find them motivational (for me or otherwise), I completely agree that I love seeing them. Unless you have been with the person and know what they WERE like, it is hard to comprehend how far they have come. Even being the person it can be hard to truly visualize the difference.

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