Anyone with body dysmorphia?

ArelyGiss
ArelyGiss Posts: 1 Member
in Motivation and Support

I started having body dysmorphia since I was like 10 yo, it’s something hard to live with, I was chubby, I had lost weight recently, and still, doesn’t fix my body dysmorphia, any tips? I hate hating seeing myself on mirrors or reflections, I want to love myself the way I love me on the inside

Replies

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 38,164 Community Helper

    My experience was that it takes some time for internalized body image to catch up with a significantly changed actual physical body.

    Further, for me it was an in and out kind of thing. At first my mental image was overweight me all of the time. I'd pick out clothes at the store that were way too big. On a quick, unexpected path past a mirror or reflective window, I didn't recognize myself. Even in photos, I didn't see the difference clearly.

    Gradually, sometimes those things changed. Over quite a span, the frequency of seeing myself as old-me was less, and the frequency of seeing current-me was more. There are still occasional remnants, like sometimes I look thinner in impromptu photos that other people take than I think of myself as being. (I'd note that I've been around this weight for 9+ years now. I can accept that there's still a little cognitive dissonance without negative feelings about it now.)

    Attitudinally, maybe some self-affirmations can help. Maybe repetition of things that reinforce the new, smaller dimensions may help - photos, measurements, new and flattering clothes.

    If you're like me, though, it also just takes time and patience, with whatever self-acceptance can be mustered along the way. The results are real. You know that. I think your mental image can catch up. It would be nice if it were instant, but I don't think it necessarily works that way.

    Best wishes!

  • mar_sbar
    mar_sbar Posts: 199 Member

    I still struggle with it. I was always the scrawny nerdy kid, and I think that image has stayed with me, most unfortunately. Nearly every time I look in the mirror, I don't see what others apparently see. I've worked out since my teens, driven by not wanting to look thin and weak ever again. It's an unhealthy attitude, but I'm trying to get away from it. Now that I'm dealing with a chronic elbow injury, lifting has changed in that I can't lift the same anymore.

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