Do you still feel "fat" mentally after a lot of weight loss?

directorj

I still feel ridiculously fat, although I'm down 35lbs. I still have work to do and just about at the halfway mark. When I look in the mirror I feel that it's not me and I didn't lose anything. I swear each time I go shopping for new clothes I go straight to the big sizes XL / XXL section when I know I fit a Medium. Just yesterday my friend asked me what size I wear and she was going to pick up a shirt for me. I hesitated and said Large because I felt that a medium would be too small.

Anyone feel the same?

bigdawg025

Most days I don't feel fat... but every once in awhile I do. It takes awhile... it goes away eventually.

NinjaMonkey201

YES!!!
I've lost 53 lbs and it doesn't feel like I've lost anything. I didn't "mentally" realize I lost weight until I did a before and after picture. Then my jaw dropped and it put everything in perspective. Our minds can be silly at times. :-)

ebaymommy

Yes, absolutely. I've been at my current weight for just over a year now and I still struggle with this. Just this summer I had a waitress in a restaurant call me a skinny girl and my first thought was to look behind me and see if there was a skinny girl standing there. I think it takes the brain a long time to catch up.....especially if you've been overweight for a long time. For me this is the first time in my entire life that I've been really fit/toned and at the right weight, so the years of hating myself and feeling fat just don't drop off right away.

CoryIda

I don't feel fat anymore, but I have a lot of the same self-confidence issues I did when I was obese. My brain hasn't caught up with my body. I think it's probably fairly common, but it stinks. It isn't that I feel fat, but the feelings of being ugly, frumpy, awkward, etc. remain despite the fact that I've shed an entire person worth of weight.

UsedToBeHusky

I've lost 70+ and I'm STILL not happy when I look in the mirror. But all things considered, I'm only half way to my goal.

BobbyDaniel

Even though I've bought a lot of medium shirts as of late that fit pretty well I still automatically go to the larges first and will usually order a large shirt when I register for a race still. I guess not wearing a medium shirt since I was in 9th grade makes it hard to think that way after 25 years.

jenny8902

Sometimes I worry that once I reach my goal weight I will still feel fat. I wish I could see myself from someone else's eyes just once. a before and after picture is a really good idea to put things in perspective. great job on losing 35 lbs you're doing amazing

michelleb148

I totally feel the same way. Even though the scale and the measuring tape show changes, I just still feel the same. I spend so long battling my self image of being "fat" that it is hard to be comfortable with the idea of being smaller. I feel as if one day I'll wake up and be somehow be my big self again.

Just keep at it. With success comes confidence and sooner or later you'll be flaunting (and rightfully so) that you have come so far!

Classalete

I wouldn't say I feel 'fat'...but I'm always seeking improvement and hardly seem satisfied with the progress I make.

pink_and_shiny

Abso-freakin'-lutely.

I've lost about 35 pounds and gone from a 16 to a 10, I still often feel the same size. Just the other day I saw a girl from high school (whom I hadn't seen in 9 years) and she said I was skinny and asked what I was doing. I couldn't (and still can't) believe that I look that different, that I've made that much of a change in myself since then.

This fitness stuff has SO much to do with our mental state and how we perceive ourselves, it is astounding. Sometimes it seems like simply being happy with what I've got going on will show a dip in the scale.

bregalad5

I'm at around 55 pounds lost, and sometimes I look in the mirror, pinch my stomach and say "I'll never lose this" This actually happened to me today... I've lost 55 but my brain still tries to tell me I can't do it, which is just wrong.

Figuringoutme

116 pounds down and I still feel like the same old me

b0t23

25 pounds down just since sep 1 and I still see that I have a belly.
hopefully when I hit my target weight I will feel better about it.

pink_and_shiny

Abso-freakin'-lutely.

I've lost about 35 pounds and gone from a 16 to a 10, I still often feel the same size. Just the other day I saw a girl from high school (whom I hadn't seen in 9 years) and she said I was skinny and asked what I was doing. I couldn't (and still can't) believe that I look that different, that I've made that much of a change in myself since then.

This fitness stuff has SO much to do with our mental state and how we perceive ourselves, it is astounding. Sometimes it seems like simply being happy with what I've got going on will show a dip in the scale.

Articeluvsmemphis

well, I'm still fat so do I count? :laugh: anyway, this is the first time I've ever tracked my weight loss so diligently and I notice all the changes in my body from the start till now. For every compliment I get about my weight loss I soak it up because I know I've worked hard. So once I do reach my final goal I don't think I'll have that problem of feeling fat because I know I'm not and worked my butt off not to be that way. pat yourself on the back or the "brain" and see you've done so well, and you no longer look like your former self

nancymmorris

I have lost 40 lbs and went from a size 14 to a size 4. When I look in the mirror I still see the size 14 body. I don't know what to do to change it.

KimertRuns13_1

I struggle daily with seeing my success. there are days that i do feel fat but mostly because I know I still have weight to lose and rather than seeing how much I have lost some days I focus more on what is still left to lose.

bethdris

I still expect to walk by a mirror and see the "fat girl" I used to be...someday I may get past it, we'll see!!

kiwi1855

All. The. Time.

My mother is fairly thin, and whenever I used to hug her, back when I was 290lbs, I felt like I would crush her.

I'm now 182lbs, and just as thin as she is... and I still think I'm going to crush her. She did illustrate the fact that I'm a bit smaller now, as she wants the jeans I'm currently wearing once they are too big for me.

I understand completely - it's just something that we all have to work on and gain confidence in.

spennato

Although I have dropped over 100 lbs, My pants have gone from a 46 to a 34........I still feel fat!!!! Hopefully once I drop these last 16 lbs I will have a different view. What I do is look at pictures from my heaviest weight, that always makes me feel like all this work is definitely worth it!:bigsmile:

Lyadeia

Yeah, I have total body dysmorphia...

Doesn't seem to matter how much weight I lose, I'm always chunky in my mind. When my profile picture was taken (this was a couple years ago when I was about 20 pounds lighter than now) I commented on how my belly was fat and poofy. I wish I was joking...and I wish my belly was that "fat and poofy" now. :ohwell:

JoyceJoanne

My counselor said to take photos throughout your weightloss journey. Post them (along with before pics) where you can see them daily. Your brain will eventually see the "fat person" evolve into the thinner version and will adapt. She says it will take time, but doing this will do the trick.
Good luck.

Annakersey7212

not anymore, but i used too think so frequently. it goes away after time!

Sublog

During my 15 month weight loss journey, I've found that my self image lagged behind my physical image 3 months or so. I won't stop until i achieve the body of my dreams.

Levedi

Oh yeah. I think that's a big part of why I regained the 50lbs I lost on WW. i still felt like a fat person disguised in a skinnier body so giving up on the healthy eating felt like going back to my real self. I had to adjust my thinking about myself before I could tackle the weight loss again. Some days I feel like I'm making progress. Other days i feel like a giant slug. For me it's really important to keep focused on being healthy, rather than on being skinny. Skinny thinking leads to failure in my experience. Healthy thinking leads to progress.

Jenn_W

I still do daily. I too wear a medium but reach for something bigger.

Best thing for me to to show myself the before and current pictures.

lolollama

I do!

Every time I look in the mirror I see myself about 20kg(44lbs) heavier than I am!

For some reason I find that If i take a photo of myself I can see the difference but the mirror plays tricks with my mind!

Sometimes I have to go back and look at my before photos to realise how much weight I have lost.

emilysebastian

Not only do I often feel this way (except right after a workout... then when I look in the mirror I'm magically transformed to a hot hard-body vixen), but I'm completely out of whack vs people around me that are the same size. Example--my MIL is actually a size larger in pants than me, but I can't see that when I look in the mirror (EVEN with her right next to me)... somehow, my brain inflates my legs or something!!! Or, I think to myself, if I'm a size Small top, then half the population must be an XS or their shirts must need to be taken-in, because everyone is still smaller than me!
I hope it doesn't take another 29 years to reverse this thinking :ohwell:

MzBug

I am a little more than half way to goal, and still "see" a fat woman in the mirror. I catch a glimps in the mirror and don't recognize myself. My brain knows I am 83 pounds smaller, my eyes just don't see it. Maybe when I drop the remaining 60 pounds my eyes will catch up.

wongwl

It's important to not allow your value to be dictated by others.
The fat mentality can be a subconscious defense mechanism activated
against critics, existing; or would be critics.

Somehow, you want to allow yourself to judge yourself first before anybody does.
This is perfectly understandable when you have pretty much been living behind the
perceptions of others. I had an issue with my weight for a long time. Been skinny and chubby
over and over again over my entire life. I would say that I sway to and forth pretty often over the recent years.

People can make unkind remarks and say the darn-est things.
I have had people who didn't believe in some of the things I said because they
didn't believe that then, the physically "fat" person could be capable of such things.
Honestly, all those comments and conversation topics then were so juvenile and
superficial but it affected me and I knew that they were shallow.

I knew that they judging from their perceived judgements and frankly, I was rather pissed.
I told myself that no one deserves to be put down or to feel any lesser than the skinny person
next to them. I didn't want to conform and be just another skinny person at the same time
because I didn't think that just by being thin, I would have a sky-high self esteem.

I wanted to live the life I wanted.
Look and feel good and not need to be bothered by insensitive people.

As such, I have lost 10kg since over the past few months with a lot of exercise.
I still snack a lot and eat a lot of unhealthy food, but I try to keep track and balance it out with
loads of water coupled with gym 3--4 times a week.

I can say that I'm very satisfied and confident now.
More so because I didn't cave in the the society demands of being stick-thin.
I didn't starve myself to achieve a physique for others.
I got back in shape to feel good. It was for myself and that was the huge difference.

Don't punish yourself for something that isn't even your fault.
The society and people have formed a consensus of the ideal physique of the human,
but you shouldn't undermine your looks and self esteem based on that scale.
Learn to feel good about yourself and everything will fall in place.