The Opposite of Body Dysmorphia

ElementalEscapee

Ha, yeah! I look in the mirror sometimes and I think looking goooood and then later in a photo for example I'm HORRIFIED at what I see...or I accidentally make the fat on my arms/stomach jiggle... >:o grrrrr

TheBraveryLover

Yeah, when I was heavier, I definitely saw a slimmer build than I was. I didn't realize it until now, when looking at older pics.

shasha_84

When I was 50 lbs heavier, my mom would tell me all the time that I was getting fat and should lose weight or "do crunches".but I honestly thought she was just being rude. I thought I was fine. I didn't see myself as "that big" when I started dropping the weight I was shocked how much I was losing. Now that I look back at before pics I am horrified cause I had no idea that I looked like that. .

Pebble321

Yup, I know what you mean - I knew I had put on weight and I knew I was quite overweight, but seeing Christmas photos from 2010 really brought home to me HOW overweight I was. I think it's easy to look at yourself in a familiar environment and not really register those kgs creeping on.

I find that I'm surprised at how much smaller I am now - buts its mostly photos that make me realize it. This is a much nicer surprise!

sirihermine

I have a history of being anorexic for several years... And I would always think of myself as so much fatter than I really was.
Fast forward a few years, and I've gained a lot... Now, I look in the mirror and see "normal", not overweight allthough I know I tecnically am... Takes a picture to really show me how I look...

I guess body dysmorphia can go both ways :S

Pebble321

I just think I look healthy, not overweight like my BMI says that I am.

Woah, I can see your rib cage !! Oh wait, that's your shirt...

I'm ignoring BMI now, I'm technically still overweight but I'm healthy as can be and feeling (and in my opinion, looking) great.
PS. You look great too, we're proof that BMI is flawed!

justle

i've had this the whole time i've been overweight BUT its more like i believe i'm small UNTIL i look in the mirror and then reality hits that no i'm not a size 14 (well i am now lol)

sschmidt928

I'm with you guys. I'm getting ready to go out, feeling good, thinking I look awesome... It's not til I see myself in pics and think "Who's the fat girl? Oh, wait... ****." that I realize how big I've allowed myself to get.
I guess we see what we want to see - and we've all learned the right way to stand in the mirror. I'm happily looking forward to seeing a much skinnier person in those pics.

Kenzietea2

I've always liked the way I looked, even when I was a fatty. But yet I have also still had some issues. I sum it up to having good days and bad days and being "glass half full" type of person.

Cdcaldwe

When I was at my largest I would look around a room many times and be able to say to myself, "I am not the fattest person in here, look at that guy." Eventually that person was no longer in the room. Took me years to realize how fat I was. I use to have this roll of fat around my back that is now gone. I have looked at old pics and realize now why people don't recognize me who haven't seen me in awhile.

meerkat70

Any distorted image of the body is a form of Body Dysmorphia. It really does just mean that you don't perceive your body accurately.

I experience it with weightloss. I can't 'feel' how big my body is anymore, and don't have a remotely accurate image of it.

monkeymouse74

Yep, I suffered from body mass imagination.:blushing: I only realised how big I had become when I saw a photo of myself on holiday in Morrocco.:noway:

louisau

This thought came to me in a recent thread about body dysmorphia, and I felt like it would be inappropriate to bring it up there.

Do any other fat people look in the mirror and not see a fat person?

I am 100% serious and this is wicked not meant to be a troll post. When I look in the mirror, I don't see a fat man. I mean, I can see that huge ball of fat on my stomach, but it does not process in my self image. I look in the mirror and think, "Dang, you look good today." Rarely, my size will hit me and I will feel self-conscious, like when I was at my wife's company's Christmas party and I realized that out of 500+ people, I was the fattest in the room. I don't even hold onto that self-consciousness for long, though, before I'm back to thinking I'm all that.

Do any other fat men and women out there not see themselves as fat?

This is common with men.

We don't see what the world sees.
Our delusion runs deep.

Well said. LOL

UsedToBeHusky

I see myself as fat in the mirror, but if I imagine myself in my mind, then I totally don't. Actually, my goal is to make my self-image match what the world sees.

PrfctGdess

This is common with men.

LOL Maybe I just relate more to guys in this case, then, because this has always been me. :-) At my highest, I was well into the Obese BMI, and I'm just now at the border of Overweight/Obese. I can see the fat, but inside, I still feel like I look hot That's probably why its taken me so long to get to where I really can stick with getting healthier and pulling off the weight. But even now, as I lose I feel like I just want to make the outside match how I feel I already look :-P

So yeah, you're not alone :-)

PrfctGdess

I see myself as fat in the mirror, but if I imagine myself in my mind, then I totally don't. Actually, my goal is to make my self-image match what the world sees.

Ditto! This EXACTLY!

ninerbuff

"Bigorexia" is a term used for many body builders. They can't seem to get big enough, so they pile on with enhancement drugs, eat tons of food, work out to excess, and the rest of the time they "rest up" so they don't needlessly burn off any calories that could go to muscle growth.


A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Yooperm35

For many years, I looked in the mirror and didn't actually see that I was 'overweight'. I knew I had a few extra pounds - but it wasn't until I saw a picture of myself that I realized just how big I really was. Even then I thought to myself, "Well, the camera does add 10#" I think I never looked at my whole self in the mirror. I looked at areas, like my face, my arms, my stomach -but never really put it all together. It was a wake up call, for sure, to see that dreaded picture.

And it's funny that you say 'the opposite of body dysmorphia' because I asked a co-worker at the time, "Is it possible that I have the opposite of body dysmorphia where I don't see a fat person?" We got a laugh out of it, but deep down I knew it was true

echoica

I definitely do not see a fat person either. I know I am and I do see it in pictures though. I used to be tiny (100 lbs) so I do know what I would look like with the weight off so not sure if that has something to do with it....I basically feel like a 140 lb person in a 300 lb person's body. Like wearing a fat suit when people take pictures lol

It's very strange indeed.

Kind of the opposite effect as you have when you are anorexic (I've been there too) where you see a fat person when you are skinny!

sassylilmama

It was definitely true for me. I knew I was big and was not happy but my mind did not really see myself as big as I actually was. When I took my first undies "before" pic I was astonished.

pinstripepirate

I understand where you're coming from. I have some days where I think I look fantastic, and others where I feel like I'm really fat. But that was always the case for me, even before I started to lose weight. Now I look back at pictures of myself when I was really heavy (because I'm just "less heavy" now) and I say to myself, "wow! I can't believe that I ever thought I looked good then!" Confidence in your body image is important at any size, though. Otherwise everyone would be miserable all the time. Nobody is perfect, and if you're confident and feel good about the way you look, you're going to carry yourself much differently than if you have low self-esteem, which (in my opinion) can make you look worse.

Captain_Tightpants

Oh yeah, you're totally not alone. In the mirror no matter how hard I try, all I see is a slightly overweight guy. It's when someone snaps a photo of me that it hits home that I'm obese.

I think it's technically still "body dysmorphia"... incorrect perception... just in the less common direction.

I also think (total specualtion here), that this opposite form seems to affect men more than women. Anyone else want to chime in on that theory?

latinqueencee

I always thought " I look damn good" even when I was weighing 245. I couldnt see how fat I was in the mirror and with pics my thought was "I am not photogenic at all' Not once did I think that I was fat, even though my pant size was a 22. Now , it;s the opposite, when I look in the mirror at 171 pounds, I see a fat person. I wont take pictures, or rather, I havent taken pics because I am afraid of seeing myself big. I have issues, I know, but I'm really trying to work on them.

Going4Lean

bump

Hyperspace

I get compliments all the time on how I look when actually I am overweight. This makes me lack motivation in getting back to my goal. People say "you look great for having 5 kids" But you know what I don't want to look great for having 5 kids, I want to look great PERIOD! I

Same kind of thing here--- I look good for my age but I want to look GOOD, period. And being told I look good de-motivates me. I've got around 31% body fat and a nice little muffin top. It's not bad but I want to have under 25% fat and no muffin top. So I have to keep telling myself I'm fat fat fat, otherwise my brain doesn't get it.

As for the OP-- I think men tend to do that. My hubby thinks he looks great despite his big beer gut. He doesn't see how it's not sexy.

oouurr__aayylleeyycan

I realised the other day that I'm a skinny person in a fat persons body.

I was always naturally skinny when I was younger and then BAM! I started putting weight on. I'm now a good 3 stone over weight and yet when I look in the mirror and when I look at other people, I consider myself in the "thin" category.

Need to snap out of it and wake up!!

sprinkies

oohhh yeah when i was 40 pounds heavier i'd look at myself and think, ehhh you're a bit bigger then you were, but you're tall and it fits on your body ok! then when i'd see pics or a mirror, i'd think eeek that's just a bad angle, i don't really look like that. i started avoiding windows/mirrors so i didn't have to see my chub.

i totally get where you're coming from.

vegibowl

I've often said that my biggest dieting problem is high self esteem! When I eat, I'm happy. I don't think of myself as unattractive even though I've made it as high as 312 lbs in my life.

That's why I'm so digging MFP. I don't feel deprived at all, and I'm moving toward a place where I can feel like I'm a healthy role model for my kids.

Thanks for posting, glad to know I'm not alone.

KickassAugust

I get it.

Until a year ago didn't see myself as fat. So much so that when I started to work out my goal was to get under 200 and stop, cause I didn't see myself as fat at 199.

I get it.

Plus... someone has to tell me what on earth a TROLL POST is, please!

Hyperspace

Plus... someone has to tell me what on earth a TROLL POST is, please!

A troll post is a post a person makes to be provocative and deliberately stir up anger, indignation, etc. This is how they get their jollies. It's called a "troll" post because of the relation to trolling in fishing-- where the fisherman drags a lure behind his boat in hopes of a bite.