To those that kicked butt and lost the weight...

Losingthedamnweight
Losingthedamnweight Posts: 536 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Now that you've lost the weight, how do you feel seeing old pictures of your fat self? What goes through your mind?
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  • Unknown
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  • LeeAnne210
    LeeAnne210 Posts: 40
    I get the same expression you have on your profile picture. :laugh:

    Seriously though I threw all my photos away. I hate photos of myself. I look wrong in all of them (not just talking about weight here). There are very few "okay" ones that I keep. But that's from recently. :wink:
  • RUNNING_AMOK_1958
    RUNNING_AMOK_1958 Posts: 268 Member
    How proud I am of myself.
  • Will_Thrust_For_Candy
    Will_Thrust_For_Candy Posts: 6,109 Member
    So many emotions, to be honest.

    Shame, embarrassment, disgust, and disbelief. But then I also feel proud, confident and strong for getting to where I am. There is also a good shot of disbelief that this is really me....that I'm not still that girl. It can be very emotional.
  • kk_140
    kk_140 Posts: 518 Member
    I was never REALLY overweight, but I do look a lot bigger 40 pounds ago in those pictures where I was almost 170 pounds at 5'4" compared to my now 5'4" and nearly 125 pounds. I do't mind seeing them, I was that size for years, I made wonderful memories at that size. The photos exist because of those wonderful memories. I guess I haven't really thought about it.
  • SunofaBeach14
    SunofaBeach14 Posts: 4,899 Member
    It's not as much how I looked as the habits it represented. I was way too sedentary and rather than wanting to go out hiking and exploring, I was chasing the next gourmet restaurant. Vacations were centered on eating and drinking and not playing. I still love food but it's not my focus anymore. I feel better and am much happier as a result.
  • RHachicho
    RHachicho Posts: 1,115 Member
    I found a pair of my old boxer shorts the other day.

    I just couldn't stop laughing.

    I ended up almost shouting where these really my pants!

    Just giggling to myself.
  • xenofell
    xenofell Posts: 2 Member
    Sadness, disgust, and shame. So much discarded potential and missed experiences. Time wasted that I will never get back.
  • lorigrocks
    lorigrocks Posts: 123 Member
    Looking back at old photos is what keeps me motivated to maintain. I never want to go back to the way I was. It makes me very proud of my accomplishments especially the muscles I have in my arms and legs which many people notice and comment on. I love what I see in the mirror now and love getting my pic taken :-)
  • Galatea_Stone
    Galatea_Stone Posts: 2,037 Member
    I didn't let people take many photos of me, and the ones I did allow have been cropped to just my face or I was sitting in such a way that a table or group of people was hiding most of me.

    I made it a habit of being the one with the camera in my hand. I kind of wish I had more before photos.
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,724 Member
    Big smile either way. I set out to accomplish a goal and I did it. That feels good
  • randomtai
    randomtai Posts: 9,003 Member
    I didn't let people take many photos of me, and the ones I did allow have been cropped to just my face or I was sitting in such a way that a table or group of people was hiding most of me.

    I made it a habit of being the one with the camera in my hand. I kind of wish I had more before photos.

    This for me as well... not many before photos were taken. I was usually the photographer.
  • _HeartsOnFire_
    _HeartsOnFire_ Posts: 5,304 Member
    So many emotions, to be honest.

    Shame, embarrassment, disgust, and disbelief. But then I also feel proud, confident and strong for getting to where I am. There is also a good shot of disbelief that this is really me....that I'm not still that girl. It can be very emotional.

    I agree with all of This. I still have a little ways to go, but definitely getting there.
  • drewmmm
    drewmmm Posts: 130 Member
    I just LOVE fat pics of myself! I am only sorry I don't have more of them so I can use them as before pictures for my success story!
  • DamePiglet
    DamePiglet Posts: 3,730 Member
    Meh. I think "I look different now."

    I had a different lifestyle then. I'm not angry with myself over "letting myself go".
  • marekdds
    marekdds Posts: 2,233 Member
    I agree with others. I use them as motivation to never go back. Primary thought "OMG I was fat, .WTF was I thinking!"
  • RHachicho
    RHachicho Posts: 1,115 Member
    Meh. I think "I look different now."

    I had a different lifestyle then. I'm not angry with myself over "letting myself go".

    Oh oh me too. I ate some damn good food and enjoyed myself I regret nothing!

    Honestly sometimes I think who bother even trying to bee too skinny you just love food too damn much. Why not just let go a bit and work your *kitten* off in the gym. Hell if I end up looking like this guy I wont really be too dissapointed.

    http://worldfitnessnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/muscles-and-fat.jpg
  • Chevy_Quest
    Chevy_Quest Posts: 2,012 Member
    Someone I know who was really heavy all his life until his sixties then he agressively lost about 80 lbs and looked great. He told me:

    "I wish that I had started doing this 20 years ago... I will never get those years back and I use that feeling as motivation for me to keep at it now"
  • MaDwItNeWfLaVa
    MaDwItNeWfLaVa Posts: 78 Member
    I feel incredible about it. It lets me know all the hard work has actually payed off. As some people said, it is emotional to look at them. But for me its happy emotional. Its just deff.something positive to look at to me. Thats why you should take lots of pics and measurements. I would have never realized I lost 50 pounds and over 10 inches without them.
  • splitdog79
    splitdog79 Posts: 106 Member
    I guess the proper phrase would be "Haunting shame and self-loathing." Shame and self-loathing because I hated who I was and everything about my life up until about two years ago, and haunted because I know statistically that despite my best efforts I've got an 85%+ chance of going back to that.
  • lacroyx
    lacroyx Posts: 5,754 Member
    When I see old pictures of me, a very tiny part of me regrets I spent most of my 20's being that way. I was never then nor now a emotional eater. I ate and drank what I wanted and was sitting on my butt playing video games, barely being active. I also didn't hide from pictures either. Now that I lost some weight, I am much more active and have tons more energy, I enjoy looking at old pictures and at times have a hard time believing I can do the things I do now that I couldn't before.
  • vismal
    vismal Posts: 2,463 Member
    I don't really identify with my former obese self. I see old pictures and it's almost like I remember that guy as someone I knew or like I watched his life unfold on TV. This is only visually I should add. I fully identify with all my life experiences that occurred during that time period but when I see a picture it's hard for my brain to register that it was me. Weird I know...
  • Calliope610
    Calliope610 Posts: 3,783 Member
    When I see the pictures of my fatter self, the one thought that pops into my mind is "why was I "ok" with being so fat for so long?" I think with regret of all those wasted years I spent being fat.
  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
    When I see old pictures, I mostly just feel sad that I didn't lose weight sooner. But, I realize I just wasn't ready back then.
  • juliemouse83
    juliemouse83 Posts: 6,663 Member
    I wish I had taken more before pictures. I rarely got in front of a camera, and am sorry that I didn't. I look at the ones I do have and think about how far I've come. Initially it was about losing the extra weight, and now it is about how far I can push myself, and that makes me proud of myself.
  • Supertact
    Supertact Posts: 466 Member
    I just think it's a different person.
  • andeey
    andeey Posts: 709 Member
    I am still losing, but when I look back at older pictures, I wonder what sort of zombie land I lived in that I couldn't *see* it ... I mean, I knew I was fat but your mind does this weird thing where you sort of black out about it and it doesn't seem as bad as it really is until you compare the two together and then you're like, WTF? How could I have not noticed that? It's like an awakening.

    And honestly, I really, really, really (that's a lot of them for emphasis) wonder how my husband ever got past that to want to be with me. Talk about self loathing ... it makes me love him all the more because he met me when I was fat. I got fatter. He still loved me. I've lost some weight. He still loves me. I have no bloody idea what he saw in me and so I do have regrets that I shorted both us of a lot of healthy and happy activities from the past.

    All I can do now is try and make up for it and embrace that I finally woke up.
  • mackmama11
    mackmama11 Posts: 15 Member
    love love love this. This is how I felt!
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,740 Member
    A mix of things. Mostly, I see old photos that are just head and shoulders and I marvel at how I look exactly the same 128 lb lighter, just a bit older and without a hint of double chin now.

    BUT--when I see *full body* shots from my heaviest weights, I'm kind of stunned. I never felt quite that big, and I never fully realized how bad my belly rolls and back fat looked to others...especially in a couple of seated photos, I am almost unrecognizable to myself because it shows so much of my fat in an undeniable way. At 300 lb, my mind's eye had me clocked at maybe like 230 lb...I didn't think I looked as big as I did. So it's a shock to see the reality.

    I kind of deal with the same thing now. I'm in the higher 170s currently, wearing a size 12, and I still imagine myself to be at least around a size 16/18 so when I see pictures I often have thoughts like "nah, that's just a flattering pic" or "why do my forearms look so tiny". It's a mindf*** much of the time.
  • mackmama11
    mackmama11 Posts: 15 Member
    [When I see old pictures, I mostly just feel sad that I didn't lose weight sooner. But, I realize I just wasn't ready back then.]

    love love love this. This is how I felt!

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