To FAT for pictures! ugh...

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  • Poprocket_2012
    Poprocket_2012 Posts: 142
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    Great post xxx
  • llangstraat
    llangstraat Posts: 130 Member
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    Thank you so much for sharing. This totally spoke to me and is a good reality check!
  • FrankJellyfish
    FrankJellyfish Posts: 8
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    This is a great post. Very inspiring.
  • Cara75
    Cara75 Posts: 52 Member
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    WOW, I do that very thing... my famous line is i TAKE the pictures, not be in them... The pic of me here, is about the only picture of my with my 5 year old son... OF COURSE not because i dont love him, hes my life! But because im too fat! =(

    Thank you, there will be a LOT more pics of me with my kids from now on =)
  • marsy710
    marsy710 Posts: 4
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    Tears are flowing, but I thank you so much!
  • lilmisfit
    lilmisfit Posts: 860 Member
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    Awesome post. And a must read for all of us.

    Thank you. :heart:
  • ReddySetLose
    ReddySetLose Posts: 22
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    this is a beautiful post and also an eye opener for me (who has ALWAYS hated taking pics) i'm am going to send my kids a pic of me now... thanks for posting
  • hellykill
    hellykill Posts: 59 Member
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    Tears... reality.... such a wonderful message. Truly an inspiration and a perspective I need reminded of. Daily. What's funny is I have been 130 pounds heavier and 25 pounds lighter and it's never been good enough. We are our own worst critics. Thank you for sharing this with all of us. Genius message. Thank you!!!!!!! :) I need more positive friends like you!!! The more the better!! ;)
  • kwilliams386
    kwilliams386 Posts: 156 Member
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    bump.. need to read that to my mom later..
  • jsherrell95
    jsherrell95 Posts: 2 Member
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    Wow! I am new to MFP and am so glad to have read this. I rarely have pictures taken, in fact I bet I can only find a few from 2012 in its entirely that have me in it. For me, this is truly one of those issues where I just need to "get over it" and focus on what the pictures represent! Thank you for the eye opener!
  • SkinnyMountainWitch
    SkinnyMountainWitch Posts: 10
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    Great post. It was recommend by a friend. Thanks for the reminder. :-)
  • Hearts_2015
    Hearts_2015 Posts: 12,031 Member
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    This is a GREAT read! It will make you think twice the next time you hide at parties or turn your face away in a group photo.

    http://myfriendteresablog.com/so-youre-feeling-too-fat-to-be-photographed/


    So you’re feeling too fat to be photographed . . .

    Listen. I hear you. You’re a few pounds heavier than you like (or a 100lbs heavier than you like). I completely understand how you feel. I get that same blah feeling about myself when I think about booking new head shots or long overdue pictures of me and Justin. Precious, I even picked a career that has me permanently behind the camera rather than in front of it. Seeing myself in pictures actually produces the faintest sick feeling in my stomach. Isn’t it amazing we can see the beauty in our best friends, sisters, mothers, and aunts without the slightest thought to their flaws . . . but can obsess for hours on our own imperfections? We fixate on our flaws to the point we shirk at any documentation that our round faces and curvy bodies ever walked the earth. No pictures to show how we LOVE, how we laugh, how we are treasured by our families. How is it possible that a double chin can overpower the beauty of a mother cuddling her child? How does arm fat distract from the perfect shot of a spontaneous hug? I swear y’all . . . how is it that we can put more value on a TUMMY ROLL than the captivating way you throw yourself into a roar of laughter during a shoot?

    In our warped minds pictures become frozen mirrors that we can stare at as we pick apart our features over and over again.
    I know girl. I know.

    My personal duck-and-cover (or signature “make a funny face”) approach to having pictures of myself changed completely when I had a serious car accident last year (and started over). In the flash of a second (or a flash of the text message the young woman was reading) my entire life changed. I nearly left this earth with no physical evidence of the goofy, wide open and loud love I have for my life, my husband, my family and friends. I haven’t had professional pictures done since our wedding in 2006 . . . always waiting for this elusive moment where I would be thin enough (pretty enough) to have such a permanent record of me. Because, you know, HEAVEN FORBID there be any proof that I look the way I actually look.

    So here is the harsh truth y’all. Listen good. Our vanity is no longer enough of a reason to avoid the camera. Life doesn’t wait until you “get thin” enough to capture it. Life is happening . . . it is happening right now and the only moment we are guaranteed is the one we are living. I shudder at the thought of leaving behind no pictures of my life with ME in it. My mom says of the accident she is “just glad that we’re still a whole family.” My gift to her this Christmas was a family portrait showing just that, 9 months post-accident . . . a whole family.

    Smith-19-590x392.jpg

    Do you know what my mom sees when she looks at this picture? Her beautiful family all together.
    Do you know what my husband sees? The family he gained the moment he met me (and how much he looks like my dad…)
    Do you know what my dad sees? The happy family he has worked for every day of his life.
    Do you know what my brother sees? That he got away with wearing shorts…

    Shocker: No one is looking at how fat I look.

    ;

    Can we agree to put the value of family over the value of fat? Can we just accept that the weight you’ve been trying to lose for 5 years might actually just be a part of what you look like . . . and that if this magical day does come when you’re acceptably thin you’ll STILL regret not having any pictures of you with your kids from ages 5 – 10? Can we acknowledge that the insecurities we have in our heads will never be a part of how our children, husbands, and friends see us? Can we just please let our loved ones remember the YOU they love?

    Your children want pictures with their mom.

    Your husband wants pictures with his beautiful wife.

    Your mom and dad want pictures of the happy, successful, amazing woman they raised (ok, and more pictures of the grandkids while you’re at it)

    And if you’re thinking that high school friend on Facebook will say to herself (“wow she has gained weight”) then . . . newsflash you DID. You gained weight. Shed a tear. Read a book. Drink a Sweet Tea. Watch Oprah. Whatever it takes. Accept this reality . . . YOU GAINED WEIGHT. The truth is you’ve gained a lot of other things too (a career, a family, some kids, a house, a love for travel, the ability to coordinate your separetes . . . ) and that girl from high school is going to spend a lot more time hating on those things then she ever will on your double chin.

    So you’re feeling too fat to be photographed? . . . Ok. But you’re the only one who notices. The rest of us are too caught up in loving you.
    :heart:

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