Body dysmorphia

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Doctorpurple
Doctorpurple Posts: 507 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I realized today that I might have a mild version of body dysmorphia. I went to the gym and after a brief workout. I weighed myself. I know I shouldn't have because I'm bloated due to my period and I usually gain 2 lbs. Sure enough, the scale was higher than usual. sigh. Oh well... Anyway one woman weighed in after me. Before weighing in, I realized that she is about the same height as me maybe even shorter but I thought she was tiny. She weighed in and to my surprise she weighed very similar to my weight. Probably just about 3 lbs less. I was surprised by this since I would never think I'm that small. I surely think I may have some form of body dysmorphia. Do you guys have any similar stories like this? I would appreciate for you guys to share.
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  • SteveK279
    SteveK279 Posts: 134 Member
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    I was the opposite, only now do I realise how huge I used to be, even in pictures
  • Doctorpurple
    Doctorpurple Posts: 507 Member
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    I was the opposite, only now do I realise how huge I used to be, even in pictures

    my husband is the same thing. He is tip toeing between the overweight-obese BMI category. He is pretty muscular but when he sees himself in the mirror he doesn't see any fat:wink: . I wish I could be like that sometimes and no be so overly critical about myself
  • rosy003
    rosy003 Posts: 251 Member
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    I noticed it a lot in college when borrowing clothes from friends- I always thought that I would be too big, or my clothes would be huge on them, but the opposite would be true. It was strange to realize that I wasn't seeing an accurate picture of myself. It has never really gone away for me- that was nearly 10 years ago now.
  • SteveK279
    SteveK279 Posts: 134 Member
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    I wish I could be like that sometimes and no be so overly critical about myself

    FWIW you look gorgeous in your pic Dr P. Absolutely nothing to worry about in the fat dept
  • 4ever420
    4ever420 Posts: 4,088 Member
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    It's weird, when I was 70 lbs heavier I never really thought I looked that big. When I saw myself in the mirror I thought I looked okay but it took seeing myself in photos to realize how big I really looked. Now that I've lost weight I feel like I look pretty much the same as when I was heavier and my friends tell me I'm crazy for not seeing the difference.
  • meeper123
    meeper123 Posts: 3,347 Member
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    Your gorgious if i looked like that i wouldnt want to change
  • sassylilmama
    sassylilmama Posts: 1,495 Member
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    It's weird, when I was 70 lbs heavier I never really thought I looked that big. When I saw myself in the mirror I thought I looked okay but it took seeing myself in photos to realize how big I really looked. Now that I've lost weight I feel like I look pretty much the same as when I was heavier and my friends tell me I'm crazy for not seeing the difference.

    This is me exactly. I feel more self conscious now than I did 70 pounds ago.
  • SoDamnHungry
    SoDamnHungry Posts: 6,998 Member
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    I have fairly bad body dysmorphia. I can't even look in a mirror without stressing about everything wrong with me. I feel fat and lumpy most of the time. My friends have suggested therapy, and I'm at the point where I think I should probably get help, because it's pretty rough.
  • EmilyEmpowered
    EmilyEmpowered Posts: 650 Member
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    I suffer from this as well as EDNOS, which I used to be in therapy for both and recently stopped. I never really realized it until after I started seeing my therapist, and she pointed it out to me. I have lost over 100 pounds but mentally, I think I stopped seeing the loss after about 50 pounds, if that makes sense. I wear a size 6, I am technically skinny fat. But I just see fat. It was so bad for a while, I could look in the mirror and feel "OK" about my size, but after I ate I would go look in the mirror again and suddenly look HUGE to myself. When my exboyfriend took away my scale, I started judging myself by the look in the mirror even more, and it got worse. I then started thinking my nose was huge, my arms were huge, my neck was fat....

    Just recently I have started to make myself look at myself naked (CRINGE) in the mirror EVERY DAY and really study myself to get a good grip on my size. Since I have started eating RIGHT, I have gained about 6 pounds, and in the mirror every pound looks like ten to *ME*. . I think many people who deal with insecurities regarding their weight do this, and it is important to work on not letting it get out of hand, it can mess with a lot of aspects of your life (Notice how I said EXBOYFRIEND above :( apparently, its hard to live with someone who has BDD)

    Sorry so long, I kinda ramble :)
  • psych0kitty
    psych0kitty Posts: 313
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    I had a therapist who specialized in eating disorders and body dysmorphia. One day she handed me a piece of paper with line drawings of women of varying sizes and told me to pick which one I thought I looked like. It turns out I choose 3 "sizes" bigger than I actually was, and there were only like 10 drawings. So yeah, I'd say I've got body dysmorphia. I think a lot of women do, though. Not sure if it ever goes away, either.
  • littlelily613
    littlelily613 Posts: 769 Member
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    As far as I know body dysmorphia is perceptions of YOUR body, not someone else's, though I might be wrong. I have body dysmorphia, though definitely not as severe as some people. And I have mellowed out a lot more since I started a medication (not for body dysmorphia, but the medication seems to mellow everything about me including that).
  • miriamwithcats
    miriamwithcats Posts: 1,120 Member
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    I worked with a women in 1976, who looked in the mirror and thought she was fat. She was 5'7" and weighed 76 pounds. That is right, seventy six pounds. She looked like a concentration camp corpse, not even a survivor. Yet she truly believed she was fat so dieted all the time. It can be a terrible disorder!
  • BorderlineAngel
    BorderlineAngel Posts: 214
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    It's weird, when I was 70 lbs heavier I never really thought I looked that big. When I saw myself in the mirror I thought I looked okay but it took seeing myself in photos to realize how big I really looked. Now that I've lost weight I feel like I look pretty much the same as when I was heavier and my friends tell me I'm crazy for not seeing the difference.

    This is me exactly. I feel more self conscious now than I did 70 pounds ago.

    Yup. I feel like I look bigger now actually
  • cschiff
    cschiff Posts: 209 Member
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    It's probably not dysmorphia-- I think it's just a LOT easier to be kind to other people than to ourselves! It sounds like you work hard at the gym and have a healthy outlook on exercise. Cut yourself some slack, girl, because I bet the other girl who weighed herself thought that YOU look fantastic!

    :) Keep up the great work
  • reddcat
    reddcat Posts: 314 Member
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    I have never realized what I look like. When I was 110, I used to wear clothes that I could still wear when I was 9 months pregnant (topped out at 190) with my son. I always thought I was fat. In college, I asked to borrow clothes from a roommate and she made fun of me because she was quite a few sizes larger than me. I was 100% sure that I was bigger than her. Now that I have supersized, I was SHOCKED to see myself in a picture that yes, I am now the chunky girl I always thought I was. But still have no idea how I really look in space. If that makes sense. Can totally relate.
  • MyProgressISYour1Proof
    MyProgressISYour1Proof Posts: 376 Member
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    I know I deal with it...I had an issue with seeing a maniac in my pants and going, " I am not that size." I had to double check the size....Being morbidly obese to now....just sucks...
  • RandiLandCHANGED
    RandiLandCHANGED Posts: 630 Member
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    I suffer from this as well as EDNOS, which I used to be in therapy for both and recently stopped. I never really realized it until after I started seeing my therapist, and she pointed it out to me. I have lost over 100 pounds but mentally, I think I stopped seeing the loss after about 50 pounds, if that makes sense. I wear a size 6, I am technically skinny fat. But I just see fat. It was so bad for a while, I could look in the mirror and feel "OK" about my size, but after I ate I would go look in the mirror again and suddenly look HUGE to myself. When my exboyfriend took away my scale, I started judging myself by the look in the mirror even more, and it got worse. I then started thinking my nose was huge, my arms were huge, my neck was fat....

    Just recently I have started to make myself look at myself naked (CRINGE) in the mirror EVERY DAY and really study myself to get a good grip on my size. Since I have started eating RIGHT, I have gained about 6 pounds, and in the mirror every pound looks like ten to *ME*. . I think many people who deal with insecurities regarding their weight do this, and it is important to work on not letting it get out of hand, it can mess with a lot of aspects of your life (Notice how I said EXBOYFRIEND above :( apparently, its hard to live with someone who has BDD)

    Sorry so long, I kinda ramble :)

    This is so very familiar to me....all of it.

    I gain a few pounds from my period and suddenly feel like all my progress is gone and that I may as well binge eat because it was all for nothing. I constantly seek feedback from people because I truly have times where I cannot tell if what I am seeing is real. Sometimes I think I look amazing and really don't. Other times I feel disgusting and people tell me I look good. I wish I had more advice but I don't even know how to deal with this myself!
  • ShmareParks
    ShmareParks Posts: 88 Member
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    By the looks of your profile pic, if I had to describe you to someone, I would certainly describe you as "tiny" or "petite." You are definitely not seeing yourself as others see you. I think many women see a fatty in the mirror, even when they are rail thin. I have experienced the same thing. When I was within my healthy weight range for my height (around 120-125 pounds), I always saw myself as a "fat person." Yet when I was underweight (109 pounds) and suffering because of it (with severe iron deficiency, achy joints, fatigued, pale), I felt like I looked "healthy and fit" even though I had no shape at all and people were worried about me. Then, when I lost my husband and very rapidly went up to 162 pounds (quite overweight for my short height) - I DIDN'T NOTICE THAT EITHER! I felt I was staying around the same! Only after seeing photos of myself and really puzzling over who it was until I realised from the clothes it was ME did I buy some scales and find out the shocking truth that I had gained over 50 pounds. To make a long story short, our self-perception can be way out of whack in either direction. It pays to try and imagine how your dear friends look to you and then give yourself the same kindness. (When I look around at my closest girlfriends, I can honestly say I find them drop-dead gorgeous, just beautiful and sexy women, inside and out, even though they aren't all "skinny".) Yes, we want to be fit and healthy on here, and achieve this and that health and body goal ... but we should also appreciate what we have. We don't want to look in the mirror and not see our existing beauty!
  • mfpcopine
    mfpcopine Posts: 3,093 Member
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    Our culture objectifies women and places so much emphasis on women's looks, it's hard not to have some body dysmorphia. It's also relative. When I'm around obese people, at 100-something pounds I feel thin. But around thin, willowy people I feel almost chunky.

    And it's not completely my imagination: When other women list their measurements, I realize that I AM pear-shaped. All I can do is try to lose some remaining vanity weight, dress for my shape and call it a day.
  • Doctorpurple
    Doctorpurple Posts: 507 Member
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    I have fairly bad body dysmorphia. I can't even look in a mirror without stressing about everything wrong with me. I feel fat and lumpy most of the time. My friends have suggested therapy, and I'm at the point where I think I should probably get help, because it's pretty rough.

    therapy would be a good idea. I currently see a clinical psychologist for any issue I have in school. Sometimes my body dysmorphia gets triggered by other people's comments about my body. People calling me chubby (indirectly). I'm very sensitive and I've been trying to not let people's negatives comments affect me so much

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