Do you see yourself any differently?

NJL13500
NJL13500 Posts: 433 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have lost almost 50 pounds since February (90 from my all time high in 2007). I went from a tight size 12 to a size 4. I'm so proud and excited because my hard work has paid off and I'm very close to my goal weight.

I still see myself like I was. I don't really see a difference when I look in the mirror.

Does anyone see their "old self" in the mirror? If you see the "new you", how did you make that switch in mindset?

I can't post pictures from work, but you can see my before and after pictures in my profile. Before is in the floral dress and the after is in the animal print dress (it was a costume). ;-) I can see the difference in pictures, but not day to day in the mirror. I still think of myself as the overweight girl in the room.

Replies

  • MissMormie
    MissMormie Posts: 359 Member
    Strangely enough I see myself as fatter than I was before. Maybe because I'm paying more attention to it, but those flabby arms, fat legs and bulging belly are catching my eye more than before I lost any weight.
  • AlyssaNorth
    AlyssaNorth Posts: 57 Member
    i hear you on that. i have no answers for you because im in the same boat. i was just thinking yeterday that i would probably shrik down to nothing if i didnt figure this out soon. (i still want to lose 4-5 more lbs) but once i hit that...i wouldnt be surpised if i kept going simply because in my mind im still bigger then i want...tho i will be a healthy 140 @ 5'9"
  • kiangel
    kiangel Posts: 246 Member
    I have lost 40lbs since 2010 and I still see myself the same in the mirror :( Although when I look at my old photos and compare there is a very obvious difference :)

    You have done really well congratulations
  • dougii
    dougii Posts: 679 Member
    NJL you are NOT that "overweight girl in the room" any more. I don't know how to get you all to see yourselves as you are today..... I see an entirely different peson in the mirror every day and am very happy about how I look now as opposed to before. I look at pictures from my daughter's wedding and ask myself who the fat guy is dancing the father/daughter dance with her? Maybe having gained a lot of the weight because of a severly broken leg has something to do with this....I really don't know. I do know that it is a mind set that you have to develop and I am sure that it takes some time. In reality we are still the same people that we used to be just in a different package.
  • alexp74
    alexp74 Posts: 125
    Yes and no. I look at my old FB pictures and know that's not the same guy that was there in those pictures, but at other times I still feel like the 330+ guy that I used to be.

    I can move faster and without having to catch my breath, my clothes are getting to big, I can see myself in the mirror getting smaller, people are commenting on it but sometimes I am still that big guy who needs to get smaller.

    I am at my lightest weight in 15 years but still struggle with realizing the first number in my weight is now a "2"

    Getting closer every day though, I can feel it!
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    Yes and no.

    Yes, I keep looking in the mirror and being surprised - not that I'm thinner, but that I didn't see how much thicker my body was before.

    What I really notice is how my body feels. I feel my thighs and suddenly remember how they used to feel a gazillion years ago when I was a dancer. Oh yeah! They used to be hard! Or running my hands over my ribs or hips and feel all the bones and remembering that, yeah, I always used to be able to do that.

    So what really gets me is all the little places that fat used to hide all over my body. I am continually surprised at this new body. Not so much in the mirror, but under my hands.

    And yes, now it is easy to see that I have a couple guinea pigs worth of fat nestling in my abdomen that just have to go. I hit my goal of 20 pounds and now it's obvious I should lose another 15.
  • kristen6022
    kristen6022 Posts: 1,923 Member
    I hit goal in May - 157 down from 190. I'm now 147 after a bit of a downslide. I'm in a 4/6 (smaller than I've EVER been, my normal is a size 10, at my biggest I was a very tight 14) but I don't see any difference in the mirror. The sizes on my clothes are smaller, but I still think I look about the same. I lost weight only because a friend was diagonsed with Type 2 Diabetes and it scared me straight. I never thought I was that fat. Once 10 pounds came off, I did another 10, then another 10, then it was just normal and easy.

    I'm sure we will all get to a point where we realize we are different then our before's. Good luck with those last few pounds!
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    I was also thinking that one reason for how I look at myself now is not that I see my old fat self in the mirror. It's that when I was heavier I saw my old thin self in the mirror. We tend to form body images of ourselves in adolescence. So if we were thin as teens we always see ourselves as thinner than we are. If we were obese as teens we always see ourselves as bigger.

    When I was 15 I was 5'10" and 128 pounds. No more!

    I have a dear colleague who studies weight loss and dieting. She is 4'10" and very, very, very overweight. But she sees herself as a size 2, although I know she is a size 12.
  • Bakkasan
    Bakkasan Posts: 1,027 Member
    I'm down almost 80 this year and I can't really see it unless I can't see my face. My new profile pic is from last week at a family reunion. There is the same photo in my profile from last year. So the difference is sooooooooooooo glaring but I don't see it.

    3026669_4523.jpg

    VS old me

    3026669_5774.jpg
  • amishabbie17
    amishabbie17 Posts: 69
    I have lost almost 50 pounds since February (90 from my all time high in 2007). I went from a tight size 12 to a size 4. I'm so proud and excited because my hard work has paid off and I'm very close to my goal weight.

    I still see myself like I was. I don't really see a difference when I look in the mirror.

    Does anyone see their "old self" in the mirror? If you see the "new you", how did you make that switch in mindset?

    I can't post pictures from work, but you can see my before and after pictures in my profile. Before is in the floral dress and the after is in the animal print dress (it was a costume). ;-) I can see the difference in pictures, but not day to day in the mirror. I still think of myself as the overweight girl in the room.


    Like they say yes and no....I've dropped 200 lbs since my weight loss journey a couple years ago...And everytime i enter a room i always feel like people are judging me...Or just assume they are thinking *wow that's a big girl* and other days i feel beautiful... I can see that I have lost it..I know i have lost it...but it's hard when you still feel like the same person inside along with those same feelings you had back then..kinda hard to shake it
  • amishabbie17
    amishabbie17 Posts: 69
    and FYI you are far-from overweight...You are beautiful and seem to be in great shape and have come a long way... I should probably listen to my own words ;)
  • crazyvermont
    crazyvermont Posts: 171 Member
    Most of us; but especially ladies, are our own worst critiques when evaluating how others might see us. Judging from your pictures, you can be proud of what you've accomplished and my guess is your husband beams with pride being seen with you. Best wishes in keeping up the healthy lifestyle way of life
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    I'm down almost 80 this year and I can't really see it unless I can't see my face. My new profile pic is from last week at a family reunion. There is the same photo in my profile from last year. So the difference is sooooooooooooo glaring but I don't see it.

    I do.
  • melsinct
    melsinct Posts: 3,512 Member
    I lost 30 pounds and it took about 6 months of being smaller for my mind to catch up with my body where I saw it. Give it time and be kind to yourself. Us ladies really love to beat ourselves up when it comes to appearance. :smile:
  • NJL13500
    NJL13500 Posts: 433 Member
    Thank you to everyone who responded. It is giving me a lot to think about and it's good to know that I'm not the only one who is struggling with this. I was always thin growing up and most of my adult life. I went through a period of time where I was really unhappy and "ate my feelings". It took a divorce and finding someone to support me to lose the weight and get back to where I was.
  • alexp74
    alexp74 Posts: 125
    Thank you to everyone who responded. It is giving me a lot to think about and it's good to know that I'm not the only one who is struggling with this. I was always thin growing up and most of my adult life. I went through a period of time where I was really unhappy and "ate my feelings". It took a divorce and finding someone to support me to lose the weight and get back to where I was.

    If I had a dollar for every calorie I consumed for every feeling I struggled with from 1993-2000, I'd be a billionaire!

    I have never been thin, I really don't know what I'd look like if I was but right now I am happier with myself than I have ever been.
  • jojigirl
    jojigirl Posts: 18 Member
    Hi,

    Just read this thread and am glad that a lot of us are in the same boat :) Most days I do see myself smaller in the mirror, but some days I just see the old me. Definitely a mental thing for me. What I've been enjoying most is having spontaneous non-scale victories. Just last night I was sitting in a folding chair at choir rehearsal and I looked down for some reason and saw the floor. Between my legs. The floor. I'm used to looking down and seeing belly... it was kinda cool to be looking at the floor :) I've also had to adjust the seat in my car and the steering wheel, as I seem to be farther away than I used to be. I saved a pair of jeans for my "after" picture and for the first time since I started losing weight, I took them out and put them on. It was very rewarding to see how baggy they were!! I've come a long way and I still have a long way to go, but for now I just appreciate the little things and keep on keeping on!
  • lmschmitt63
    lmschmitt63 Posts: 12 Member
    I feel the exact same way, I don't think I will ever see myself as thin. I don't often allow pictures of myself, but saw one the other day, my first thought was "is that me?" Still don't believe it, all I see in the mirror is fat
  • Anna800
    Anna800 Posts: 639 Member
    I look the same in the mirror to myself. However I've been taking pictures wearing the same old clothes and do side by side comparisons on my computer and there I can actually see a difference. I do however find it funny when I run into someone I haven't seen in awhile and I'm wearing some frumpy outfit yet they see a weight loss difference in me. I even find it humorous when people call me skinny because I'm not ready to call myself that yet.
  • katamus
    katamus Posts: 2,363 Member
    It varies day to day. I don't feel like I should look the way I do at the weight I am at. Certain pictures make me go "wow, yeah, there is a difference" but every day I look at myself and think.. I don't look the way I want to. Other people say I am skinny but I'm stuck on the fat I still have.
  • enewsome2
    enewsome2 Posts: 355 Member
    Yes, and no. It totally depends on the day.
  • The_New_Christina
    The_New_Christina Posts: 818 Member
    I've lost 22 lbs and yes I see the old 250 lb girl in the mirror sometimes :(
  • Angie_1991
    Angie_1991 Posts: 447 Member
    Everyday. I'm 5 pounds from my goal and I still see my fat self in the mirror. DISLIKE
  • pwittek10
    pwittek10 Posts: 723 Member
    I also see myself as the 264 pound women I was
    not as the 114 person I am today
    When I go shopping I always head for the plus size area first!
    I now wear a size 2 sometimes a 4!
  • sevsmom
    sevsmom Posts: 1,172 Member
    In photos it's clear. Then again, in photos I'm dressed in at least swimwear. But, when I look in the mirror, I see all the flaws even though they are smaller than they used to be. At times, I'll admire the muscles in my arms or the toned look of my belly and I've even noticed my quads looking sleeker. But, when I look at what I see in the mirror on a day to day basis, the image still produces negative feelings. Kinda sad. And, heaven knows people are always commenting on my weight loss and fitness (I think they're just being nice). . .so, hopefully my mental image will one day catch up with the reality that I've worked very hard to acheive and maintain!!
  • Clemsonlkg
    Clemsonlkg Posts: 66 Member
    I never had a weight problem until I was in my mid twenties, so my self image is one of a thin person. I was in total denial about how large I had gotten. Now my body is starting to look more like my mental self-image!

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