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

fronc

This isn't just me wahoooo!

I'm not quite at my goal weight, as I reached it, then decided I still wasn't quite happy.

I think it's such a mental thing - we've spent so long thinking of ourselves as the fat friend and feeling self-conscious in everything and it totally takes a while to figure out that we're different people now.

I am still pretty obsessive about the scale - if I don't weigh in for a whole week I freak out that I have no idea if I'm losing or not! But it's gonna get better for all of us!

lolainlondon

I think it's familiarity. Friends I see every day have noticed my weight loss less than those I see infrequently, because the change is gradual. I think if we all avoided mirrors and shiny surfaces for a few weeks/months we would see the difference more too. That's why I think before and after pictures help - we can't say what's different now from last week, but we can see how different we look from 3/6/9 months ago.

My big one is the clothing sizes. I have schooled myself to pick up my new size, but I'm still always a little convinced the shop assistant is looking at the sizes I've picked up and thinking I'm deluded. I guess over time it will go away, but it is quite crazy. I spent a lot of time this summer wondering if outsize styles were in and that was why things were fitting me.

Shausil82

I still feel fat. My highest weight was 240 (which was when I was in high school). I got down to 180-190 for a few years. Then up, then down. When I started losing weight this year, I was 190. When I started here I was 185. I'm 159.5 right now and I still feel like I did when I was 200 pounds. I'm less than 15 pounds away from my ultimate goal, and still feels like it's impossible to get down to a healthy weight. But I keep trying. I've come so far, I can't quit.

Pidders89

I feel the same. i know i have lost weight but mentally i still feel the same about myself

xxx

sc1572

yep! sometimes i feel like the more i lose, the bigger i feel. we all have good and bad days...hang in there!

Manysongs

Yes!! Even though I've dropped 59 lbs and 4 dress sizes my mind still sees me as fat! I sometimes look in the mirror and feel like I haven't made any changes at all.
Recently I found some before pictures and took some pics of myself now. I can finally see a difference! I have to keep looking at them especially when I get that "nothings changed feeling". It really helps! Hopefully my mental picuture will catch up with my actual progress soon. Good luck to you!

bflicker11

YES!!!! I do still feel fat. I still have a bit more to lose but not too much. I always go for the higher sized pants because I forget that I'm now a size 12. When an attractive fit man flirts, I think, "I guess he likes fat chicks." My brain will eventually catch up. I hope!!!

MrsT99

My big one is the clothing sizes. I have schooled myself to pick up my new size, but I'm still always a little convinced the shop assistant is looking at the sizes I've picked up and thinking I'm deluded

I have had exactly the same thoughts cross my mind when heading to pay several times now.

I'm not so bad in clothes nowadays but looking in the mirror in my underwear I still feel pretty big and want to get off the last few

(Edited as I put cross my minds - I don't have a split personality)

forsophia2009

I feel the same way though granted I still have a very long journey ahead of me. But my loss is so slow that I get used to my new size before moving in to another so it doesn't feel like I have lost much. Looking at before and after comparison pictures really helps!

adrian_indy

Yes and no. While I do get more confident when I am thinner, I am still a little self conscience about things. Growing up chubby made my learn to make people laugh and be self deprecating. How you feel about yourself is tied to directly to your mental state as well as your physical shape.

shakybabe

I feel thinner.. I'm in size 16 and recently managed to get 14's on I was thrilled but surprised as I'm still 11 st so still classed as 'overweight'.. I didn't expect to be able to even get that size trousers up at this weight!

RisyaLifsheTova

Clearly youre not alone!!! Which isn't a bad thing. I'm down 99.8lbs.....I think our minds are so use to seeing what we use to be. That it makes it harder for us to see what we truely look like. I every so often have to do a photo next to an older photo to see the results. I currently have 62 more pounds to go. But I know that even when I get to that weight. I will still at times feel as though I haven't lost a thing.

Ugh.

jcstanton

I did a 5K in May a couple of weeks after I started my journey. I plan to do the same 5K this coming May to see how much time I can shave off. It helps me to look back and say, I would NEVER have been able to do this well a year ago. I am definitely better off now. Also, taking before and after pics every so often, helps keep things in perspective. If you are at your halfway point, I would say it's time for an after photo. Compare it to a photo of yourself before you lost the weight, and keep them posted side by side on your refrigerator or mirror to remind yourself that you're NOT the same person you were.

Maryfullofgrace

Yup, still feel like the largest one in the group. Still feel like people are scrutinizing my food choices. It's going to take a while. I still don't even look at myself in the mirror much in the morning, and don't even own a full-length mirror because of my "old weight".

IMDABOMBthe0wife0DABEAST

Everyone is different, but we all have that image in our head that we want to acheive. I have lost 125lbs and I still have that fat image rumbling around that I can not seam to shake. I have gone from a 26 to 10 in pants, and 3xl to M in shirts. I still go for the clothing that covers rather than showing the curves. I hope that at some point I too will realize I am not that girl that was fat and called names in school. I am me( new and improved)

MereMe

Without a doubt! I took a new headshot for my profile pic (down 45+ from when the original one was taken in 6/2010) and every time I log on here I stare at that new picture. My brain tells me I must be holding my head funny and that's why the double chin is missing. My glasses must be low on my nose and that's why they look so huge. Inside, I reallly do KNOW that my double chin is gone and my face is thinner - thus huge glasses - but my brain just is not relaying that information at first glance. I can feel that my waist is smaller, but in the mirror it's as huge as it was when I was 9 months pregnant.

I wrote a blog on this same issue a few weeks back because it has really unnerved me!
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/MereMe/view/a-third-of-the-way-down-but-i-just-cannot-see-it-163008

I am so glad y'all share this issue! I was beginning to wonder about my sanity!

mariec25

I have been thinking about this all day so I'm glad to see a post about it. I am still very overweight, but today I hit a dream goal of mine, the weight I was when I met my husband and that I knew I felt happy about my body at. However, today I still see someone who is 40lbs heavier and I weighed myself over and over again this morning, I can't see the difference and so disappointed that I don't feel the way I felt about myself a few years ago. I think its because there is gradual change and I am aware of what a healthy weight should be so I still have a way to go. I'm sure this will change as we get used to our new body shapes and I can't wait to see what losing more pounds will do. Congratulations and a HUGE well done to everyone who has lost so much weight already, its onwards and downwards for me!

directorj

Great responses! So I was reading about being the "fat friend" issue. This is so true since I have always been the person who was fat and the "fattest" person in the room. Now I feel a little bit normal but still have the mentality. It's kind of cool since I don't even look my weight and I had people guessing. All the responses were around 180lbs even though I'm still around 195lbs.

Misiaxcore

I still feel like I look like I did before I lost weight, even though pictures and clothes tell me otherwise!

quickfin

I've always felt this way and have yo yo'd my way from 280 to 175 to 260 to 180 to 250 to ... ugh this is the last time...maybe I'll feel thin one day...

KyleB65

Too funny, I know exactly what you are talking about!

I have lost a little over 60 lbs yet I still see the Pilsbury Dough Boy in the mirror!

My wife is bugging me to buy new clothes. I keep saying I do not want to buy anything new until I get to my target weight. But, the reality is I expect to wake up one morning at my old weight where I will need my clothes!

xSophia19

in 11 months, ive lost 39lbs, and ive dropped 2 dress sizes. and yes i still feel incredibly fat! i look in the mirror and alls i see is fat on my stomach and on my thighs! =(

i dont feel like ive lost a single lb! i still feel 230lbs heavy! =/

Trechechus

Totally! I think it's partially because we see ourselves every day, so the slow process isn't as obvious as it would be to someone who sees us only a few times a year or something like that.
Or, sometimes I have to opposite problem. I feel really awesome and I'm like, "Woohoo I feel skinny today!" and then I see a mirror and go "... hmmmm..."

Cassycat

I really dont think i feel mentally fat, although other people seem to think I do.

Example:
I'm at work yesterday and a girl offers me some of her onion rings, I say, "Oh god no, I wish I could have those"
She says, "You act like youre SOOOO fat. You can have some onion rings"

I say, I WAS fat. I refuse to get that way again

MeganSWoods

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.

That's exactly how I feel-- I think some of it is that we're so tall. Now that I'm thin(ner), I thought I would feel smaller, but I still am towering over people. I feel like I want to shrink away, but I'm trying to learn to be confident and embrace my height.

dennydifferent

58lb and 4 dress sizes down, I look in the mirror and see nothing different. I look down at my body and see nothing different. I have more energy, and when I took a photo a few days ago the difference was striking, but still. The woman in the mirror, and the body I look at, is as fat as ever.

Sad, isn't it? I wonder why we do this.

bee_grrl

I do. It's a mental thing. I went from a size 22 to a 12 in 5 months and loss 35lbs as well and I still feel like I'm a size 22. It's annoying!

grobbygru

Interesting to me the amount of male respondants to this.

Anyways............a big yes from me - and it has happened at other times I have lost weight too.
Example; I was on holidays recently and had to buy some PJs - I instantly went for size 18 - had to take them back the next day and get a 16 and in reality the 14 would of been fine. :-(
I had a woman say to me yesterday 'oh I didn't recognise you' - my instant thought is 'have I coloured my hair or something?' and then it sinks in. (I am only half way there too)
I am hoping the thoughts go away - I love this half and half picture idea and I made one last night.
One thing that really cememts it in my mind is thinking about the actual physical weight I was carrying - ie yesterday I had to lift a 20 litre drum then I thought 'wow I was hauling that around on my behind every day before I lost this amount'

W0zzie

Mostly the confidence gained far outweighs any doubts. Having said that it's sort of weird - I look down at the bod and thing heh Nothing much has change but look in the mirror and/or the belt around my middle and think - ahh yes it has mate!

shanighias

THAT HAPPENS ALWAYS AND I GET BACK WHERE I STARTED