Do you still feel "fat" mentally after a lot of weight loss?

I don't have to feel fat mentally after 59 pounds (38 on MFP). I know I'm still fat, but I know I am working towards a day that I won't be. Being fat is not a feeling. You either are or you aren't. I guess it could be a feeling, but feelings are just that feelings.

I still feel ridiculously fat, although I'm down 35lbs. I still have work to do and just about at the halfway mark. When I look in the mirror I feel that it's not me and I didn't lose anything. I swear each time I go shopping for new clothes I go straight to the big sizes XL / XXL section when I know I fit a Medium. Just yesterday my friend asked me what size I wear and she was going to pick up a shirt for me. I hesitated and said Large because I felt that a medium would be too small.

Anyone feel the same?

It takes a while for the mind to catch up with the body. Even when you reach your goal. I have been mostly over weight and obese most of my life and it took me about a year after achieving my goal to finally accept the new me. It is a weird concept, feeling like an impostor in your own body, but it does happen to all of us to some extent, especially if we were over weight a long time.

Yes. My clothes are all too big, the scale tells me I've lost weight, and people ask me about it but when I look in the mirror I can't tell any difference.

Yes. There are times when I look at pictures and I can't see my weight loss.

Yes, but I am still fat...but I do not believe I look any different...I did a before and after picture shot of just my face and saw the weight loss for the first time....and yes I never realize I am 6 sizes smaller in jeans until I put them on!

I feel the same way. It's getting used to your body that takes a while. I"m finally starting to come out of my shell but, yes, I still feel 50lbs heavier.

I think it goes away eventually, or at least it gets better and comes and goes in waves. I feel pretty good about myself most days. I do notice when i start to slack off, even if I haven't gained or I've gained very little, I immediately feel fatter. That might be a good thing though. I do still have a tendency to go for the bigger sizes, but I usually reach for the mediums now instead of the larges (when most of the time a small is what I need).

I hope it goes away eventually because I am in my 18th month of my lifestyle change and still see the "old" Jessica in the mirror. It is crazy. Even doing laundry, I have moments where I pull something out and have a minor panic that the item shrunk. I know that I am literally half the person I used to be but I just don't feel it yet. If someone stares, then I automatically feel like they are looking at me as the fat girl...

Yesss!!! I go through waves of it often!!

I've lost 80 and still cant get pass it. I feel fat all the time (Mainly bc i have excess skin) I dont know when my mind will catch up. I certainly dont feel skinny at all but i have people telling me all the time that i am skinny and that i look good at the weight i am now and i dont need to lose anymore. I wanna say to them, have you seen my naked? HAAHAA!

This might seem ridiculous, but I sort of had the opposite problem while I was gaining weight. I kept feeling like I was still the same lower weight, even after a 60lb gain. Now that I'm trying to get back down to a healthy BMI it feels really discouraging to see the loss on the scale and then to see myself in the mirror. When I look in the mirror I can see the loss, but as that's what my mind thought I already looked like it feels like I'm not making any progress at all. Then I start to think, well if I think I look like this, and that's how I thought I looked, then how I look now is probably how I look in my photographs of me heavier.

A good way I've found to remind myself of my progress is to hug my husband. I can tell that his arms can reach around me more than they could before. Also, it's nice to have a hug just for the hug.

I have the opposite problem. I mentally see myself as much thinner than I actually am! What brings back reality is seeing pictures which I'm sure would work in reverse too! Just recently I was tagged in a FB picture standing next to a good friend of mine that I actually thought was bigger than me and she looked half my size. Then my daughter posted Thanksgiving pictures and there was one of my butt that was twice as wide as I had imagined. So here I am back tracking calories and exercising for the upthing time! Try, try again right?

Yes, I do. I've lost 30 lbs so far but was down 50lbs, then re-gained :grumble: , which makes it even harder when I see myself in the mirror. There was a time I was seeing that thinner me and felt happy with myself and what I accomplished. Now I see the heavier me and all I see are the disappointments with what I had let happen again. UGH It's hard to take compliments too, especially from my husband because I don't see what he sees.

I have the opposite problem. I mentally see myself as much thinner than I actually am! What brings back reality is seeing pictures which I'm sure would work in reverse too! Just recently I was tagged in a FB picture standing next to a good friend of mine that I actually thought was bigger than me and she looked half my size. Then my daughter posted Thanksgiving pictures and there was one of my butt that was twice as wide as I had imagined. So here I am back tracking calories and exercising for the upthing time! Try, try again right?

OMG, that happened to me too! I took a formal photo of my husband and I on a cruise and once I saw it printed I realized how much I gained back! In my eyes, I looked like Jabba the Hut!