The Inescapable Truth Of The Camera

i agree with that the camara shows you what you really look like, i used to love having my photo taken and was very photogenic until i put on weight then i satrted to try and hide fron th camara, so yes thats one of my main things to change i want to be the old me not afraid to have my picture taken x x my worost ever picture was 26 months ago i was pregnant and i looked so fat and had a double chin i made no effort to look good just kinda upsets me when i see it x

Tired of yo-yoing. Deep down I always knew I felt better when I was thinner.And also I really wanted to play and keep up with my grandchildren.

When I ready this I wondered if I wrote it a while back and forgot about it. Your post sums up my trigger and my feelings better than I could have. I felt exactly the same. I didn't like what I saw in the mirror but my brain sugar coated it somehow and I didn't look as fat as I was. It was a picture, or a video in my case, that flipped the switch. Spring break 2012 I took my family to Disney World. One evening while swimming at the resort pool, my daughter asked me to take part in a kereoke song with her. How could I turn her down. I watched the video when we returned, and I didn't recognize the man singing with my daughter. I looked terrible. 50 lbs and several months later, I am almost at my ideal body weight of 175. Thanks for your post. It is always a good reminder for me.

Definitely!!! Like you, I would acknowledge that I was 'a bit chunky' but I always though I 'carried my weight well'...not at all helped by people (who meant well) saying 'ooooh you can't weight that much you don't look like you do" and my boyfriend saying he loves my body just the way it is (sweet, but I AM unhealthy and fat!!). I took a picture of myself in my underwear last September and wow I looked 6 months pregnant! (I posted it up here with my current after pics but it was removed as the underwear is considered obscene!!). So yes, the camera does not lie. It's when change happens when you have the light bulb moment when you realise you've been in denial and kidding yourself!! Depression and despair may hit first, but then the desire to do something about it!!

I can definitely relate to what you are saying that is for sure!

I think my trigger was being almost 26yrs old, but feeling to be around 40-50! I was tired all the time, my joints and body hurt! I hated the way I looked so much, and now almost 4 weeks into the journey I have gained so much confidence and shown myself that I am capable of so much more than what I ever thought I was!

Buying a size 13/14 pants and seeing the scale say 172.

While I can relate to the camera thing, it wasn't necessarily my trigger. I do want to look and feel better, and I did make a decision to come out from behind the camera, mainly because I love the few pictures I have of my grandmothers. I had a little series of aha moments last fall. My knees are bad, so I knew losing weight would help me get around better. I had three grandparents who lived into their 80's. I was 48 when my two remaining grandparents died, so I was to an age that people would say, "you have grandparents?" I figure my odds for longevity are good, and I want to be in the best health. My maternal grandma was in a wheelchair in spite of having both knees replaced, simply because she was too heavy. I begged her to walk, to go walking with me, to walk the halls in her building. But she refused. I don't want to be that grandma.

I have avoided cameras most of my life, even when I was young and very thin. I'm just not photogenic.

I'd put on about 60 of the 128 I lost the year I turned 40. Getting close to that halfway back back to having the weight off scared me. I stopped drinking Coke cold turkey in November. I also started eating better and working out.

In the vein of the original post, I have recently posted some pictures here and on Facebook. My Facebook friends have been very supportive of this weight loss journey, so I took a picture of myself and my husband, who is also losing, and posted it, along with pictures of us in October and December. I'm going to take a picture the first of each month and post it until we're at goal. I'm hoping for around my birthday in September. I'm down 38 total, 25 since I joined MFP. My husband is down about 17. He doesn't have as much to lose, but I want to lose another 57.