What I think I look like vs. what I look like

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  • jessicae1aine
    jessicae1aine Posts: 885
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    Sometimes, I'm at one extreme and think I'm easily 50+ pounds more than I am. This usually only happens when I see other overweight people and I wonder if I look like them... then assume I do. But, there are other times when I'm not so fat in my head, and then I see myself and I'm like, "Awwww, dammit. :("
  • smileitfeelsgood
    smileitfeelsgood Posts: 36
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    i post a pic of me with my shirt on and off RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF MY FRIDGE!!!!

    Trust me try it, works really well at 3am when i want to go on a eating spree. hehe
  • ShellyShuey
    ShellyShuey Posts: 162
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    No need to tell me -- I just went clothes shopping and I don't know WHOSE fat gut was jiggling in the mirror... I thought I was in shape. Phhht. NOT.
  • asprague917
    asprague917 Posts: 28
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    i still think i look like i did before i got pregnant...145 fit into all my clothes, looked awesome felt great about myself.....still looked good through out my pregnancy only gained in my stomach face stayed good all my clothes still fit. now 10 months later even though i see the 145 shape in my head i see my shadow or a picture and get depressed. my mind is still skinny but my body isnt
  • RubyWare
    RubyWare Posts: 51 Member
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    I do but in opposite.

    When I see myself in the mirror I see a girl who is cute, plain and thick but not HUGE.
    When I see pictures of myself I see a mammoth with two chins, bad skin, bad hair, etc. etc. etc.

    I don't know if my internal vision is messed up or if I'm just unphotogenic.

    It's refreshing to know that I'm not the only one who thinks like this.
  • lin7604
    lin7604 Posts: 3,019 Member
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    I think I look gross and overweight in the mirror but then I'll see a pic of myself and realize I'm not all that big. I'm sure it annoys my husband because I'm constantly pointing out girls I think are WAY smaller than me and asking how much bigger I am only to have him tell me I'm smaller or the same size. Always a fat girl at heart :tongue:
    totally this! i think it's just b/c everyone holds their weight different and even though you may be the same size or smaller you don't look it or feel like you look it b/c you hold your weight in a different area on your body, etc. you always will look at the other and think, man if i could have my core look like that, etc but then realize they have bigger hips or butt then you, etc....
  • jjdig
    jjdig Posts: 45 Member
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    I think this is a pretty common thing for girls, anyway! I read somewhere that we always think we look odd in photos because it's the reverse image of what we see in the mirror... yet it's what everybody sees except us!
    But, yes - I tend to think I'm OK until I see a reflection or a photo. I think the picture on the refrigerator is a GREAT idea. Of course, it might scare the rest of the people in my house, though! :)
  • AZKristi
    AZKristi Posts: 1,801 Member
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    I think it is mentally healthy to be confident in your body and simultaneously know that losing weight would be beneficial to your physical health. You still look really good in your heavier picture so it is a question of what weight is healthy for you and which body shape you prefer. Go easy on yourself and just commit to making nutritionally sound choices and being active.
  • sugboog29
    sugboog29 Posts: 630 Member
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    Before I started my weight loss journey I thought I looked good...thought I had a good shape! THEN one day my eyes were opened and I REALLY saw myself for the first time in years. It was then and there I made the decision to get with it and get in shape and get healthy. Now...almost 50 pounds lighter I see myself as fat. I know I still have 30ish pounds to lose but I am nothing like what I was. If anything I am harder on myself now than I was at my heaviest!! Odd I know...but that's me!
  • mandorla
    mandorla Posts: 81 Member
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    My fat self thinks she's skinnier than she is and is shocked when she sees pictures. I'm afraid that when I loose weight I'll still have a distorted image, only in revers. I'm afraid I'll look in the mirror and still see myself as 250 lbs.
  • bunchesonothing
    bunchesonothing Posts: 1,015 Member
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    How you look is more than just your weight! <3 You all seemed to glow when you initially thought you looked good. You looked good then and you look good now. :)
  • cakeordeath
    cakeordeath Posts: 229 Member
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    I do but in opposite.

    When I see myself in the mirror I see a girl who is cute, plain and thick but not HUGE.
    When I see pictures of myself I see a mammoth with two chins, bad skin, bad hair, etc. etc. etc.

    I don't know if my internal vision is messed up or if I'm just unphotogenic.
    i do the same thing, i always though it was becasue i focused on what i liked about myself... and when i see me in a picture i see everything i wasn't looking at before.
  • lin7604
    lin7604 Posts: 3,019 Member
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    that was so me too. i thought i looked fine. even though hubby kept telling me i was gaining and i should do something about it. I hit my highest weight last nov and realized i was at the boarder of being overweight for my height. That was a eye opener, then i really looked at my mirror refection on day and was shocked at myself. how did i let myself slide like that and think i looked fine? i can't believe i got there and now i am getting so close to goal. I still look some days and think : whoa" i need more work on this...
  • melbot24
    melbot24 Posts: 347 Member
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    Before I started my weight loss journey I thought I looked good...thought I had a good shape! THEN one day my eyes were opened and I REALLY saw myself for the first time in years. It was then and there I made the decision to get with it and get in shape and get healthy. Now...almost 50 pounds lighter I see myself as fat. I know I still have 30ish pounds to lose but I am nothing like what I was. If anything I am harder on myself now than I was at my heaviest!! Odd I know...but that's me!

    The same thing happened to me.
    I went from not being aware at all, living confidently in my ignorance to being hyper aware of what I look like, how big I am and extremely less confident.

    I know it should be the other way around. More weight loss = more confidence, right?
    Wrong.

    It really stinks =\
  • ashleen7
    ashleen7 Posts: 258 Member
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    My whole vision of myself is distorted, when I was 40lbs heavier I totally had "faborexia" thought I was fabulous in the mirror but my gosh the shock of seeing the true me in a picture was unreal. Now in the mirror I feel I look huge but in pics it's a far smaller version of my mirror image. Hopefully when I reach goal weight my head will be sorted!
  • ang3h
    ang3h Posts: 185 Member
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    When I look in the mirror I see so many flaws.. lots of jiggle, flab, fat.. and when I see pictures of myself I think wow, I'm not that bad at all. I don't know if I'm just photogenic or great at working my angles or what.. lol.. so I don't know which to believe and thus continue to struggle with my body image :/
  • happypath101
    happypath101 Posts: 534
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    There's a strange oxymoron that goes sort of like this for me:

    * The heavier I am the more time I spend telling myself how cute I am, how curves are sexy, how it's "not that bad".
    * The slimmer I am the more time I spend bemoaning what's not perfect about me.

    It's almost as if the more work I put into it, the higher my expectations - realistic or not. I definately have a fat mirror - I look way heavier in my head than in most pictures.
  • beachlover317
    beachlover317 Posts: 2,848 Member
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    I totally know this feeling. Think I look good and then someone takes a picture! Or I can wear clothes 3 sizes smaller - some four sizes smaller - but I look in the mirror and see the same old sized me! A friend on MFP told me that it usually takes about a year before you really see yourself as you are. Kinda discouraging.:cry:
  • Sarabeth1980
    Sarabeth1980 Posts: 62 Member
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    I took "before" photos the other days and went, "huh, well I don't look as bad as I feel..." Still want to lose 15lbs of fat though :) But God forbid I look down while sitting at my desk or feel my rolls touching. GAH
  • Alex_is_Hawks
    Alex_is_Hawks Posts: 3,499 Member
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    when I look in the mirror or at pictures of myself. All I see is ugly. That's it, that's all.

    Ugly, fat and disgusting.

    I've had many people tell me that I'm cute, pretty, beautiful and even gorgeous and I'm really trying to learn to take a compliment with grace and at face value.

    But I really do not see what they see.

    At all.

    Ever.

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