Feeling pretty good...and then...the dreaded facebook photos

sarat1987
sarat1987 Posts: 14 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
UGH, Was feeling pretty positive about things. Went out Saturday night for my friends hen party (was driving, so no alcohol.... which I was pretty proud of!) and felt pretty good about myself. Fast forward to today - pictures go up on facebook and I have PLUMMETED back down to earth. It makes me cringe to think I walked about thinking I looked good...When I really really didn't.

I always feel like my face is puffy - could this be too much sodium? Or just too much weight in general.

So hard to stick to healthy eating when it doesn't seem to make a difference! However, I'm not super strict and that's probably my issue. I spend alot of time thinking about what I should be eating etc, and sometimes cheat myself I guess.

This stuff is hard work!

Replies

  • tcatcarson
    tcatcarson Posts: 227 Member
    Facebook pictures are hardly a reflection of what people actually look like! Usually too bright, compressed, blurry, badly shot with an inappropriate wide angle lens to get everyone in. Don't look to them as a measure of success.
  • Skinny_minny_mo
    Skinny_minny_mo Posts: 1,272 Member
    i have these moments

    and then it's UNTAG, UNTAG! :wink:

    I say turn it around and use it as motivation!
  • ashleeliza
    ashleeliza Posts: 93
    I've felt exactly like this before! However, I don't think you should compare your photos to what you actually looked like. I think photos just on a night out always make someone look worse than they actually are. Also some people aren't as photogenic, I have beautiful friends and their photos dont do them justice as they can't take a good photo. So please don't be too disheartened!
  • andiechick
    andiechick Posts: 916 Member
    I agree, the pictures that usually appear on Facebook are not always 'real', even when we are sober on a night out, we're often caught at unflattering angles. Don't stress about it ;0)
  • Kirsty300
    Kirsty300 Posts: 8
    That's a horrible feeling, I'm sorry, but you are working at changing yourself - so shrug them off.
  • KravMark
    KravMark Posts: 308 Member
    I wouldnt worry about it. Sometimes its our perception of our photos that is scewed. You look great, no worries :)
  • stubbseyt
    stubbseyt Posts: 84 Member
    you know what we have all had that! i have my Facebook set to only show me pics i am tagged in and not my other friends, i know friends of friends see them but still, its at least something!!

    don't worry i am sure you looked really nice, a picture is just a frozen moment and i don't know about you but i always have them where i am pulling a really weird face, or worse there is one of me dancing... jeez, arms all over the place and i was pretty trollied so just think it could be worse!!!

    focus on where your going and how much better its all going to be
  • ManEnMotion
    ManEnMotion Posts: 73 Member
    I'm a photographer and hate getting my photo taken. There are not bit many photos of me on Facebook that I like. I swear my friends are deliberately try to snap bad photos of me eating.

    Forget about Facebook. Workout and be happy. When you are happy with weight go hire a photographer and do a 60 min shoot.
  • Patovader
    Patovader Posts: 439 Member
    I know the feeling, I used to hide from the camera when it was out! You look great in your photo and your confidence will return.

    A :)
  • divacat80
    divacat80 Posts: 299 Member
    I always look bigger in pictures than i look in the mirror! And it's so discouraging :(
    Still, aim for health. It won't matter what you see in the mirrors or in pictures when you are in a healthy weight and in a healthy fat percentage. It really won't, why? Because our self-image and the way others see us it's always going to be tainted by fashionable ideals. And these days, we will always be far from perfect.

    Focus on health and on being the best version of yourself you can be.

    You know what I do? I take a look at old highschool pictures. I used to think i was so hideous back then! And I was so teased by both peers and adults about my appearance that I wanted to dissappear from the face of the Earth. Today, I look at those pictures and I realise I didn't look as bad as I used to think, and that I wasted precious time from my youth that will never come back. So when I see current pictures that I don't like I just try not to give it much thought. If I can improve my looks in a reasonable way then I do it. If I can't then... I just ignore my negative feelings.
    20 years from now I'll be wishing I had my current age and looks.

    I also try to think about those who were born with anomalies, and how I'm luckier than many of them for having the looks I have (and I was born with a cleft palate and lip cleft, but I think I do look better than many with my condition).

    You're young, enjoy life and see your body as a cocoon for your soul. Life is over before we know it so we'd better enjoy ourselves.

    Also... Nighttime pictures always make people look worse! That and... ID photos!

    Ignore them I'm sure you looked so pretty!
  • mogletdeluxe
    mogletdeluxe Posts: 623 Member
    Oh God, I hear you loud and clear. All fun fun fun on the night out (although you're quietly aware of the flashes), and then the dreaded notifications the next day. I wasn't above bribery to get friends to not only detag, but delete the offending photos.

    Night out photos, regardless of alcohol comsumption, are generally pretty awful. Harsh flash, mid-dance, sweaty hair, unfortunate angles...disaster, really.

    But! Use these photos if you need to - we're our own worst enemies; might as well use that to our advantage.

    I'm sure they're not as bad as you think, as is always the way - but if you must feel bad about them, use them to spur you on. Imagine them as progress pictures in the making :)
  • msbunnie68
    msbunnie68 Posts: 1,894 Member
    The thing with facebook photos is this: the person who posts them generally only post the pics THEY look good or goofy or funny in and they don't really give a rat's bum about how anyone else looks. Such is a fact of facebook life. The pics you would have posted would have you looking fine, and if your friends were caught with a bad angle on their face/butt/thighs then ooopsy too bad.
  • elebel82
    elebel82 Posts: 69 Member
    You know, I had the exact same thing this week, lost 9kg (2 before I started tracking here), fit back into a dress I loved but didn't -quite- fit when I bought it, felt fabulous... and then the facebook photos... oh god, I don't see all those chins in the mirror. Hell, my face looked fatter than normal, I'm sure of it. I comfort myself that I surely looked better than normal because I was more confident... and also I was out with work peeps who see me daily anyways... but still!

    I'm choosing to use it as motivation to keep going, rather than giving up. I don't love how I look, so I'm going to keep going until I do!
  • Tinytaru
    Tinytaru Posts: 185 Member
    oh I hate facebook pictures! or pictures of me in general xD
    but everytime I take a pic of me and think "oh that looks ok, new fb profile pic" it will look terrible on fb!
  • sarat1987
    sarat1987 Posts: 14 Member
    Thanks all! I went on a de-tagging mission and feel alot better.

    If I can't see them then they don't exist!

    And yeah, maybe I'll take a peek at them when i'm lacking motivation! :)

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