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    How big do I look to other people?

    Posts: 21
    edited January 10 in Health and Weight Loss
    I look at myself daily, anx really I dont seem that fat, to myself. Im 5'8", 240lbs, large bone frame, but how.would I beBle to see myself thru.anotherz eyes...???

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    • Posts: 51 Member
      I always wonder that, too.
    • Posts: 357 Member
      At my heaviest I was almost at 160 lbs and to me I didn't look all that big, then I saw my Halloween pictures and I wanted to crawl into a hole. Those pictures were all the motivation I needed.
    • Posts: 5 Member
      when i first started losing weight i didnt think i looked as big as i did i just found a pic from a month before i lost the 80 lbs i did and now i see it i was huge and i didnt see it nether did my friend its hard when you see yourself everyday take a pic and then look at it a month or two later see if that would work i knw when i look at old pics that's when i really see the real me
    • Posts: 11 Member
      I always wondered that too. It's interesting how it works. I look at myself in the mirror and go 'oh, you don't look that bad' .. but then I see a picture and I go 'holy crap!!!'

      I think that really opened my eyes .. that and sometimes people make comments about it and that gets to me too.
    • Posts: 4,131 Member
      You are going to look AMAZING at 170-180. But lose it right, don't yo-yo, ok?
    • Posts: 379 Member
      Yeah, I know the feeling. I was 220 at my heaviest and didn't think I looked too bad. I always thought "well sure, I'm pudgy, but I'm not obese!" How wrong I was. I was not only obese (by 40 pounds!), but I was severely obese. I knew I looked MUCH heavier in pictures than I did in the mirror, but I sort of ignored that.

      Even now that I'm 53 pounds lighter than that, I still don't "see" my weight loss because this is how I looked in my mind at my heaviest!
    • Posts: 740 Member
      I think you get used to your appearance, even if you don't nessecarily like it. When I was 240 I never thought I was huge. I look back at pictures and I'm like woah. Now at 200 I don't think I look huge again, but I'm sure once I reach my goal ( 160 ) I will look at 200 as huge to me. I'm 5'11'' with a large frame too, and I always used that as justification that I carried my weight well.
    • Posts: 518 Member
      My biggest was 210 (that I know of) and I am 5'5 I didn't think I was really that big till recently when I hit 70lbs lost and started looking threw old pics.
    • Posts: 151 Member
      Pictures don't lie. What you see is what others see. Pictures are my big motivator.
    • Posts: 56
      They have a website for that...I will try to find it. You can enter your height and weight and see pics of others.
    • Posts: 468 Member
      I always wondered that too. It's interesting how it works. I look at myself in the mirror and go 'oh, you don't look that bad' .. but then I see a picture and I go 'holy crap!!!'

      ^This
    • Posts: 3,624 Member
      At my heaviest I was almost 220 lbs and a size 18. I'm now 157lbs or so and a size 8. My head thinks I'm somewhere in between those and always has. I didn't see myself as heavy when I was. I thought I carried it well. I don't see myself as lean now. I still feel fatter than I am.
    • Posts: 15,694 Member
      We all get ostrich syndrome about our appearance. I honestly had no clue that I was fat. I thought I looked pretty good and "carried my weight well." It wasn't until I saw a picture of myself sitting next to someone I considered "heavy" and realizing that I didn't look to much different from them. That's when I knew I needed to make a change. Looking at old pictures now makes me cringe.

      No one in my life ever told me I was heavy. My husband said I was beautiful and sexy on a regular basis (God bless that man). But I know that my family did have concerns about my health.....it wasn't about how I looked, but more about how my weight was going to hurt me in the long run.
    • Posts: 618 Member
      I completely understand. I was looking at a picture of myself from a couple of months ago, and wondered when in the world did my head get so small! Oh wait, it isn't my head that got small, it is the rest of me that got big! So odd though, I don't see that when I look in a mirror!
    • Posts: 196 Member
      I was the same way until I saw a picture someone else took of me. I also think it's about how and where you store fat. Some people kind of got it bubbling from everywhere, others have it more tucked in and evenly spread. I pretty much kept it all compact until my face started to appear chubby. Then I knew I was in trouble.
    • Posts: 47 Member
      Video. For me I recently saw a video of me with someone that I thought was close to how I looked. When I saw the video of us near each other I could really see the difference. A video of me alone is better than a photo but not nearly as good as when I have a base to compare it to in the same video.

      A photo is no good, just not dynamic enough for this. IMHO
    • Posts: 237
      ugh.. pictures. Terrible to look at, but seeing myself as others do helped me focus on my health. Facebook tags were an eye opener - I hardly take pictures of myself so I don't own alot but friends and family do. Facebook is where they end up. My family likes it, and they know how big I am so it's no shocker, but when I see a new photo it's like seeing my huge self for the first time. Disturbing.

      That feeling I get when I see that is why I'm here - I don't want to feel like that anymore.
    • Posts: 314 Member
      I feel the same way. I still think of myself as pre-baby (he is now 5) me. I see myself in pics and think...who the hell is that???
    • Posts: 8 Member
      I have the same problem. Me in the mirror looks ok to me, but a photo of me tells the truth. So, that is how I can tell what that new outfit looks on me--by looking at a picture of me wearing it. Enlist someone else to take a pic, or set up your camera with 10 second delay to snap a shot.
    • Posts: 56
      Here it is! http://www.mybodygallery.com/

      I know a lot of us think well I look better than her but you will see a few different people at your size.
    • Posts: 457 Member
      bump..... I'd like to see that web site!
    • Posts: 42
      Try out this website. Its a bunch of pictures of other women and you can put in your height and weight and body shape and it shows you pictures of similar women. It really was a lot of help to me because I always wonder how other people see me.

      mybodygallery.com
    • Posts: 244 Member
      Seeing a picture of me next to my very fit sister did it for me. At 186 lbs I was ugly like a dump sack of potatoes. I am 144 now and have 25 pounds more to go. But thanks to strength training I am already looking svelte.
    • Posts: 345 Member
      I was over 300 pounds and didn't think I was THAT big. Until I lost 100 pounds and looked at pictures. Now I could slap myself for not noticing and doing something about it sooner.
    • Posts: 5,769 Member
      I look at myself daily, anx really I dont seem that fat, to myself. Im 5'8", 240lbs, large bone frame, but how.would I beBle to see myself thru.anotherz eyes...???

      Seriously?
    • Posts: 872 Member
      See yourself unexpectedly in a shop window! Or in fitting room mirrors :noway: I know I didn't see myself as fat as I was - now I look back and think OMG I was FAT!
    • Posts: 208
      When I look in a mirror, it always seems less harsh than in a picture. I don't know why, but it seems to be the case for me.
    • Posts: 66 Member
      I'm totally with YOU !
      sometimes I used to think "Im not that big" ... Until I saw a photo at 296 pounds!! OMG !!
      NOW, Im 193, but NOW I feel like I'm only worth the the girl at 296.
      like it doesn't matter I lost 100 pounds.
      I still feel very FAT !
      I go to the gym, and I know I lost weight, and have trimmed down, but I still feel like the FAT girl.
      I FEEL like the photo of the 296 now... sad :(
    • Posts: 18
      Here it is! http://www.mybodygallery.com/

      I know a lot of us think well I look better than her but you will see a few different people at your size.

      love this site! Really opened my eyes to what I really look like!
    • Posts: 174 Member
      Pictures was a big motivator for me. Before i got serious about changing the way I was living, I took pictures and I was at 238 pounds. But see, 238 was better than 262, which was my heaviest during my adult life. But those pictures, especially looking at it from the backview, was an eye opener and the choice was made immediately to change. I've carried a lot of fat in my midsection, so that wasn't new to me. Always had big thighs; but seeing what I could not see (my back/behind) was like whoa!! So, I think that's what others saw, but I needed to see it to really get to moving. Now I'm 30 pounds lighter (as of 1/1/13) and I don't see a huge difference from the eye, but I do see a difference...some people drop 30 pounds and it's like major; but for me, I look like I have "depuffed" (lol), which is good, so I'm just working it from here.
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