Not catching up mentally.....

bnelly55

Since Oct 14th I've lost 50 lbs. People are starting to notice it, but I still feel 50 lbs heavier. Is this normal? Of course I feel great and its awesome being able to fit into my old clothes, but I look at pics of myself and I don't see what everyone else does. Has anyone been through this?

Sublog

Yes. It's normal for your self image to lag behind your physical image by several months while your losing weight.

bnelly55

Thanks for the response. By the way, congrats on your weight loss!!!!

TMLPatrick

Yeah, it took me a long time to feel thinner, myself.... and when I've gained a bunch of it back.... it took a while before I realized what I was doing.

kr3851

I still see how much I have left, rather than acknowledging what I've done....

jenna715

I've only lost 20 lbs and I still feel the same as before until I go shopping and can fit into a 7 or 9 instead of 11 or 13. I went wedding dress shopping the other day and picked out mostly A line dresses to try on, but I tried on a mermaid style (more fitted) and it actually looked good! Since I'm still in the process of losing I guess I haven't told myself "you made it", and don't feel very accomplished yet. I wonder how I'll feel after I can tell myself I've reached my goal... I hope some day I can be truly happy with my body, I'm sure once I get to my goal weight I'll be unhappy with problem areas still and end up obsessed with toning work outs.

lrd2010

I've only lost 20 lbs and I still feel the same as before until I go shopping and can fit into a 7 or 9 instead of 11 or 13. I went wedding dress shopping the other day and picked out mostly A line dresses to try on, but I tried on a mermaid style (more fitted) and it actually looked good! Since I'm still in the process of losing I guess I haven't told myself "you made it", and don't feel very accomplished yet. I wonder how I'll feel after I can tell myself I've reached my goal... I hope some day I can be truly happy with my body, I'm sure once I get to my goal weight I'll be unhappy with problem areas still and end up obsessed with toning work outs.

I hear this!

I'm still about 28 pounds from goal and can't quite work out what I'm supposed to be buying to suit me!

I have this hideous self image that I'm walking round like a reject from the Ricki Lake show!

mabelebam

Yes I definitely felt that way...the scale was showing a difference but I just couldn't see a difference in my body. I felt better physically but I'd convinced myself mentally that I'm still that same obese person even after losing 30lbs. But then I dug out some old clothes in my old size (UK20) and they started falling off, and I started to believe that I had lost weight and sort of caught up mentally.

And just recently I went shopping with some friends and was able to fit into clothes that I would have never worn 30lbs ago, and I guess now I'm slowly beginning to realise that there is a difference after all. Sometimes its because we were 'conditioned' to think that nothing would change, and that we would be stuck in the same body forever...but that's not true at all! Hope you'll realise that you are making a difference!!

castadiva

I still see how much I have left, rather than acknowledging what I've done....

Me too, which really hits hard some days. It's hard not to see what's still to go as an insurmountable obstacle sometimes.

runrogrun

I am the same. I am now a couple of pounds below what I always considered to be my dream weight (I am 133 pounds now, I always wanted to be 137 pounds when I was bigger) but still I don't feel slim. Everyone tells me I look slim but when I look in the mirror I really can't see any difference. Either I was in denial before or I am in denial now!
I can see how people get addicted to losing 'just a couple more pounds' as even when you do lose weight mentally you don't feel like you have. I have now moved my goal down to 128 pounds and I will stop there but I wonder whether I will ever feel 'thin' ! I feel healthier and have moe energy (and am fitter) so it has been all worth it, but I just expected to feel thin by now!

LoreleiWalks

Totally normal. After losing 50 pounds years ago, I had gone down 5 clothing sizes. I am a clearance-rack shopper, and I'd always pick up jeans, a dress, whatever, thinking "yup, that's my size" when it was almost always my OLD size once I peeked at the tag. My brain just didn't catch up to my being smaller. Very weird. It took maybe 5 or 6 months for me to really "see." Congrats on the weight loss. That is awesome!