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

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  • thisisiamj
    thisisiamj Posts: 145 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 feel exactly like this. But the pictures are reality check... and remind me I need to keep on MOVING!
  • Divamc
    Divamc Posts: 21
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    To the OP...I know exactly what you mean. I developed a deep seated hatred for the scale during my military days. Even after I got out, I would stand on the scale backwards and forbid the nurse from saying the number out loud. I knew I was a little bigger than before, but I figured I was handling it ok. I didn't think it was that noticable. I have never liked taking pictures, so there was no gauge for a long time. Even when I was diagnosed with diabetes, I thought it wasn't that bad. Reality did a running, spinning, roundhouse kick to my face on the day that I got some pictures back that I'd taken with my husband. I was in shock, cause even though I remember buying 2X-3X sizes...I didn't remember them looking like that on me. So I finally decided to do what I dreaded the most and start getting on the scale and actually look at the numbers. I took the infamous "before" picture and let it all hang out. No sucking in the gut. No flexing. Just me a camera and the ugly truth. I've lost about 30 lbs since the first picture, but I'm not satisfied with what the mirror shows or what the scale says. I take frequent progress pics so I know where I've come from to where I'm at. Maybe I'll get brave one day and post them. I think the most progress that I've made so far is being honest with myself and facing it head on.
  • zankc11
    zankc11 Posts: 7 Member
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    I'm in the same boat. I hate seeing pictures tagged on Facebook, because I realize I look a lot bigger than I thought I actually looked at the time. I always looked at old pictures as motivation for me to get back to that point, but I'm sick of living in the past. My new thing isn't to look like the version of myself from a few years ago, but to become the best possible version of my current self. :)
  • Shannon_Nicole83
    Shannon_Nicole83 Posts: 181 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.

    ^^this. All the time.
  • RavenhairedWoman
    RavenhairedWoman Posts: 661 Member
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    In my mind's eye I have always pictured myself as much thinner than I am. I have never been that thin person but I don't picture myself as a big girl. However every time I look in the mirror particularly without clothes on I am like "Wow, is that me? That can't be right." Being big doesn't feel right for me but I have let it slip to the point where I really have a long battle ahead of me. It doesn't help when you have friends who make comments like one of my friends did last night "I don't know why all of you are so obsessed with losing weight." I just laughed and told him that it was something that I wanted to do.

    I am already more confident. For the first time in my life I am acting like a grown up woman. I shop for clothes, I am starting to notice when clothes flatter me and when they look bad. Instead of just tossing on black slacks, a dull colored shirt, and a jacket to cover my flaws I am actually wearing short sleeves, trying not to wear jackets inside, and yearning for colors in my wardrobe! This is all for me and I am loving the small changes that I am already seeing. I can see who I am supposed to be and I can't wait to be that person. When I see pictures of myself I can be humbled because I haven't made as much progress toward the me I know that I can be as I think I have. But no matter, I am getting there one step at a time and soon I will be the girl I see myself as in pictures, maybe even better!
  • lin7604
    lin7604 Posts: 3,019 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:

    that is totally me too. i just see a smaller version of myself!
  • MandiLC
    MandiLC Posts: 1 Member
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    Oh, I SOOOO know what you mean! I avoid cameras at all costs - even at my wedding it was a struggle to allow people that I'd paid to photograph me! And sure enough, I'd thought I looked fairly decent and I felt good about myself until the pics came. Just when I thought it couldn't get worse, the video came. UGH! Reminded me of that Friends episode when Monica said, "The camera adds 10 pounds!" and someone replied, "and how many cameras were on you?" ;o)

    Bigger problem for me is that while I think I'm super unphotogenic, people say that I'm actually very photogenic. Scary to know that's what I look like to other people. I need to take pics of myself and hang them around the house to motivate me to get on that elliptical! ;o)
  • penrbrown
    penrbrown Posts: 2,685 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.

    ^^this. All the time.

    Wow, I had no idea so many people felt this way!

    Maybe cameras should just be banned? Because it seems to me a lot of us would feel okay with ourselves if we didn't have to see those damned pictures. Haha.
  • phizzylizzy
    phizzylizzy Posts: 94 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 :/

    Ha, working your angles! Nice. Can you or Tyra come teach me?
  • phizzylizzy
    phizzylizzy Posts: 94 Member
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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.

    I think judging by the responses to this post that you have hit it pretty right on with that paradigm.
  • phizzylizzy
    phizzylizzy Posts: 94 Member
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    I'm in the same boat. I hate seeing pictures tagged on Facebook, because I realize I look a lot bigger than I thought I actually looked at the time. I always looked at old pictures as motivation for me to get back to that point, but I'm sick of living in the past. My new thing isn't to look like the version of myself from a few years ago, but to become the best possible version of my current self. :)

    That is awesome! It is so hard to let go of the past. I keep telling myself that I'm not latched on to my high school weight or anything - I was 24 at my goal and had already gained the weight (and lost it). But those "glory days" are behind me, and good riddance because I am so much happier in my life now! I just look back because it was the one time I was successful at weight loss. I want to duplicate it, but my life is so different now, it feels impossible.
  • shorty35565
    shorty35565 Posts: 1,425 Member
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    I'm opposite. I look in the mirror and all I see is fat, even with a bmi of 21.1
    Though I am 28.4% BF, which has a lot to do with it. I feel huge sometimes tho. Bigger than I am.
  • Yanicka1
    Yanicka1 Posts: 4,564 Member
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    Most of the time I feel like I look like a whale and then I take a pic and I see a fit girl.

    11614737_2272.jpg
  • ekvaladez
    ekvaladez Posts: 28
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    feel the same...it sucks...
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
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    My theory is that our self image is pretty much fixed.... or at least changes very slowly. I spent most of the past 10 years around 140-145 pounds. My self image is still that person, and my self image was that person when I gained weight before joining here. I didn't "see" in the mirror when I gained another 15-20 pounds, because I saw my self image in the mirror.

    Now that I've lost weight, it's taking time to see the new me that's 10-15 pounds lighter than my old self image. It surprises me when I see pictures and I look slender instead of average.

    So I take a LOT of photos to help the new image sink in. :smile:
  • Mteach1
    Mteach1 Posts: 22
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    I never thought about how hard it would be to see myself after having a baby. I gained 42 lbs while pregnant and lost 35lb in 6 months, but my body is totally different. I delete all pics of me taken by others, don't put pics on Facebook, and have hardly any pics of me and my baby. Seeing pics from a summer trip looking still pregnant at 6 months post partum was awful!!! I feel like pics don't lie and even though I am 5'7", 162lbs does not sit well on my small frame
  • Shannon2714
    Shannon2714 Posts: 843 Member
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    Yes, definitely. On the days that I feel like I may look better, that it may be noticeable that I've lost weight....I will take a picture and see how I ACTUALLY look...and it's heartbreaking.

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