Do you still see "fat you"

WandRsmom

To those that have lost a fair amount of weight , do you "see" it clearly, the loss I mean. Or do you still see the fat version of yourself.
I have been posting alot of pictures lately b/c they help me to really look at myself. Its a strange thing, I know my size 14 clothes don't fit, I know the scale says I am down 62lbs from my highest weight, I know that I look different yet, I still see myself as an overweight person. I struggle to wear tank tops still (but I do wear them), since my arms are my "trouble area" the place I was/am most embarrassed by. I still feel like ppl are seeing me as overweight.
Sometimes I get this moment of clarity, like when I fit into size 6 jeans, GASP, but it doesn't seem to last long enough.

Any advice or experience ?. I just want to enjoy this new body I am working so hard on. I ordered a tank that says " Strong is the new Skinny" and I don't honestly know if I will wear it outside my own house .

hazyjel74

If you keep up your eating/exercise regime or whatever I don't see why you would see yourself as overweight. Know that if you keep going, one day you'll never feel like that.

20shan08

I feel the same way. I went from 255 down to 192 and I'm 5'8. i still have about 30lbs to lose but when I stand in front of the mirror naked, I still see my fat self lol. I notice lots in pictures though, and when I'm wearing clothes

p0kers0ph

I've lost 65lbs and yes, I sitll see myself the way I was back then.
It's a hard thing to change how you perceive yourself in your own head.

SportyLadyPhotographer

I still feel like that and Im just over 9stone but I cant help it

taintedbutterfly18

I am short at 5 Ft tall. I feel like this all the time! I have lost 34 lbs andI get compliments about how great I look and how "small" I am now, but I still don't feel like I am those things. I am actually still in the overweight category realistically. I have struggled my entire life with my weight from age 13 and on. Genetically, I am bigger in some areas that I don't want to be so I believe that's why I feel and see myself this way. I'm aware of my accomplishments, but when I was younger I was the "big" girl in school and I still feel like that same little girl.

peachyxoxoxo

When I was anorexic in high school I thought I looked fat. Looking back on old pictures I was actually scary skinny and bony. I have always felt bigger no matter what my weight.

LovesAdventure

Crazy thing is for me it's the opposite! I still think of myself as 130 pounds when I am really 149. Only when I see pictures does reality set in.
I was always very thin. Hundred and five pounds when I got married 25 years ago. I'm 5'4

Run4itmama

It's hard sometimes for the mind to keep up with the body!!! Geat job and congrats -- keep up the amazing work, you are definately an inspiration!

sarabluebell

i started at 350 and an now 207 and sometimes when i go shopping Ill pick up the size 16 and look at it sand say i can tell by looking at this that its too small so i get and 18 or 20 and then its too big...not sure why I do this..Im always surprise when the 14 or 16 actually fit and think to myself this brand must run big

WandRsmom

i started at 350 and an now 207 and sometimes when i go shopping Ill pick up the size 16 and look at it sand say i can tell by looking at this that its too small so i get and 18 or 20 and then its too big...not sure why I do this..Im always surprise when the 14 or 16 actually fit and think to myself this brand must run big

this. This is exactly what I meant. I had to try a 6 a three dif stores to believe it, and I still say things like "well at H&M I was an 8 or 10", or stores must be running big. I don't know why, I can't grasp the idea I , ME, who has been a 14 for around 8yrs now, IS a six. Thats not possible.


Thank you everyone, its good to not be alone in feeling this way. I know this is as much mental as it is physical and I need my mind to catch up.

EvilMomma

That was one of the things that would make me give up on losing... Here's something that I did when I was getting ready to lose weight: I drew (and I don't draw very well) my fat body (lots of blobs and globs) and wrote all the labels I could think of on it--fat, flabby, unattractive...all the ones that float in my head when I'd look in the mirror. Then I drew my curvy, not-fat self and wrote all the labels I want to have float in my head. I keep the two pictures in the back of my journal and pull them out once in a while. I've lost the 1st 20 lbs (I don't weigh in but once a week so my ticker doesn't show it); and for the first time I've lost weight, I'm seeing the loss. The two sets of labels are kinda mixed up, but I'm seeing myself more clearly...

FitRodr

I see the fat me. I'm at goal but I still see flubber. When I am folding laundry I still hold up my pants and think they must belong to someone else. It is amazing the tricks our minds play on us. Even when I get compliments I think "ugh, you haven't seen my flubber". You're not alone, I'm wondering myself how long before the fat girl is gone from my mind.

kini324

Yes, unless I am caught off guard when I glance at my legs or biceps, I still see myself as a size 16. I'm a size 6 now, but I don't believe I am. I actually think the sizing on clothes is wrong. I don't think I'll ever feel differently.

CajunNino

I still "SEE" the fat me...even after 40 lbs gone and from size 52 pants to size 46 that are loose today. I suppose because I have another 60 to lose it just seems like a drop in the bucket. We are works in progress..... I wish you well!!
:drinker:

rumpusparable

I'm sure I don't 100% see it, because. like today, I have these random and little "wow" moments... Like I can tell from pictures and looking at myself that my face is a lot thinner... but today I glanced in the mirror and had to do a double take and look harder because it hit home just how *much* thinner by face is now.

But generally speaking? I totally can tell I've lost a lot. I'm pretty vain about it, really. I like seeing myself in the wall mirrors at the gym and whenever I go to a class I spend the first few minutes before it starts checking myself out lol. Seeing before and after pics make it very clear for me, too.

missypoo1974

I've barely begun, but I am almost certain that I will feel this way. I have been large my entire life so the thought of me being smaller will probably not compute. We will see.

bethygirlie

I have lost 200 pounds since 2002 and sometimes when I look in the mirror I still see a 400 pound person. I don't know if it will ever change.

shirleygirl910

I've lost 112 so far from size 28 to 14, I don't see it either. The lady in charge of my support group says it takes your brain 3 years to catchup with the weight loss and she feels that is why alot of people gain it back and don't see it either. I now know what a person with anorxia or bolemia feels. We see all the bones and they think they're fat.

I too look at my clothes and say "this is way too small" and then I put them on and they fit fine. Why can't I see the weight loss?

nicholettebell

Yep. I still struggle with this.

PrincessNikkiBoo

I've lost three stone and I yep, I do still feel the same.

OnionMomma

About 2 years before my son was born (he's 5 now) I lost about 85 lbs and was in great shape. Yes, I felt that way. It was hard to look in the mirror and realize that yes I was that skinny.

What was even harder......see the belly and weight come back on while pregnant and still working out. I only gained around 35lbs but that was still hard to see.

Since then (he had medically issues that basically took over our lives for about 4 years) all my previous weight has come back on.

I think this time, since I know what to expect it won't be as hard to see myself as skinny.

MauC25K

Yes, unless I am caught off guard when I glance at my legs or biceps, I still see myself as a size 16. I'm a size 6 now, but I don't believe I am. I actually think the sizing on clothes is wrong. I don't think I'll ever feel differently.

Yep! Going in a store, I never have any idea what size I am. I have to force myself to try the medium and when it fits I assume they just run big. I see pictures all the time so those don't affect me. It's always the clothes sizing.

Roni_M

i started at 350 and an now 207 and sometimes when i go shopping Ill pick up the size 16 and look at it sand say i can tell by looking at this that its too small so i get and 18 or 20 and then its too big...not sure why I do this..Im always surprise when the 14 or 16 actually fit and think to myself this brand must run big

this. This is exactly what I meant. I had to try a 6 a three dif stores to believe it, and I still say things like "well at H&M I was an 8 or 10", or stores must be running big. I don't know why, I can't grasp the idea I , ME, who has been a 14 for around 8yrs now, IS a six. Thats not possible.


Thank you everyone, its good to not be alone in feeling this way. I know this is as much mental as it is physical and I need my mind to catch up.

I do this too. I ordered a company jacket and the sales lady had me try on a medium (which fit) and i stressed the whole time i waited for it to come in that the sample size was mislabeled and the jacket wasn't going to fit because in my mind that made more sense than me wearing a medium! (I started in a 3X) :laugh:

m60kaf

I find it quite odd that I sort of consider myself in the 300lb club (I am now 190), like I only have the right to talk about things from that point of view, and feel I am that big

If I am talking about fitness I feel people are looking at me like what does this 300lb guy know. I refuse to think I'm close to the friend I work out with because he 'is so much better than me'

However, If you show me half a dozen gym goers from spot on to half or a stone overweight. I know I am better than the slightly overweight fit person

I really don't know what logic is going on in my head to have these opposing views

ZiezieO

I think I must own a fun house mirror sometimes. I'll point out pictures of people that are 30 lbs heavier than I am and feel like our bodies look the same, but then someone will tell me that I look like the person that is my weight.

I feel like I don't even know my own body.

ZiezieO

P.S. WEAR YOUR NEW TANK!!! STRONG IS SEXY! And sometimes you just have to start out strong-willed

Alice_in_Wndrlnd

I have only lost 45lbs to far but I do not see any difference in the mirror.

Once before I lost 110lbs when I couldn't afford to eat much at all and didn't have a car so I had to walk everywhere and even then I would look in the mirror and see the same overweight person.

It's all about self esteem and body image. I am hoping that I will eventually get over this.

mellabyte

Always. >_< I _always_ see fatter me. (See, can't even say "fat me" because in my mind I still am because I'm not where I want to be yet.)

At 5'1" I went from 164 to 115 and I still feel and see fatter me. I an not too far from my goal, but I still see a fat cat.

It doesn't matter what people say, there's this voice in my head that still whispers and clouds my mind with preconceived images of myself. Sure, I smile and thank people for the nice comments and genuinely feel good and excited - but underneath all that is a gnawing uncertainty and repeated thoughts about how I'm not done yet. When I go shopping and I try clothes on, my boyfriend has started grabbing a size or two down from what I pick up and makes me try them all on...

But still my mind is stubborn.

Part of me is a worried that when I get to my goal - I'll still have the voices in my head.

IamL

Yes. When I look in the mirror, I feel like I don't look any different. I try on old clothes, and they are incredibly baggy, but it still doesn't register.

The other day, I wanted to try on a skirt in this one store. The lady who worked there asked if I wore a small or a medium. I just stared at her. I couldn't believe anyone could ever look at me and think I might fit in a small. I told her I wore either medium or large. She looked surprised and told me that she could tell right then that the large was going to be too big for me.