Not what I see in the mirror

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24

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  • diadojikohei
    diadojikohei Posts: 732 Member
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    I hate having my photo taken, but when i got my daughter to take one of me and she said, 'Oh mummy, you look really pretty', then I saw it I just cried, I said to my other half, 'Why didn't you tell me I'd got so big?'

    So 6 months later, and I got my daughter to take one his morning, and don't feel any different but the pictures are starting to head in the right direction!!!
  • sparkynazca
    sparkynazca Posts: 169 Member
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    I think it has something to do with the angle we look at ourselves in the mirror at. We generally look at ourselves from an equal level, or if we are looking downward, then we are looking from a top angle. Either way are more flattering angles than someone who catches us from underneath.

    I always think photos look worse than the mirror, as well. I know my mom does too. :)
  • mizzie1980
    mizzie1980 Posts: 379 Member
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    To compare Im 26, 2 children. Weigh 157lbs 5ft 5 BMI 26.

    I'm also 5'5" and your current weight is only 7 pounds higher than my goal. I wouldn't call that huge, by any stretch. Congrats on the upcoming wedding! I weighed about 220 at mine and still had a wonderful time, so feel good about yourself and just let yourself be excited. ^_^
  • furniem
    furniem Posts: 145 Member
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    From what I started at to what I am today I think I am looking soooooo much better in the mirror but then someone snaps a pic and BAM!! it is like "what the hell have I been doing for the last year? I dont see much change!" I know it is not true but pictures are cruel most of the time unless the angle and lighting is perfect.
    I am always up for a new friend on here so go ahead and add me if y ou want. I am on here daily and log and track everything I eat.

    Good luck! Stay strong!
  • loribenfield
    loribenfield Posts: 120 Member
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    I am with you 100%. Motivation is coming back slowly. But having a hard time with food. Dr just had me change what I am eating. This really frustrates me. I have 2 Dr's and a nutritionist telling me different things. So add that to the list of making this hard for me.:indifferent:
  • LaDonnaF
    LaDonnaF Posts: 53 Member
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    You are not alone. We're all here... struggling and triumphing on this journey to a healthier us... a healthier life. This is not just a physical battle/struggle but it is also emotional. None of us got this unhealthy overnight.... and we won't be able to get better over night either.

    Positivity I feel is a major tool for us and you should make it a weekly, daily if you can, routine to tell yourself something positive about yourself... be it looks, traits, etc. Look at yourself in a photo and say.... wow, I love my fashion sense... my hair looks great... I have a wonderful smile... etc. Don't focus on what you don't like

    :-) Adding you
  • donna_glasgow
    donna_glasgow Posts: 869 Member
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    Well pretty much as the subject say's. Am I the only person on the planet to look at them selves in the mirror and think "dam I look alright" and see them selves as dress size smaller than they actually are??
    I see photo's of my self and think WHAT THE HELL IM A MOOSE, but when I look in the mirror i look okay?
    Don't get me wrong I often have "fat" day's when I look in the mirror and my clothes look awful bulge's every where.
    Im lacking motivation at the moment big time i feel alot of my MFP pal's have dropped off the radar, the conversation's have stopped the logging has stopped.
    Tell me Im not alone :sad:

    when at my heaviest I saw myself at several sizes smaller than I actually was (when I looked in the mirror) I remember shopping for clothes and couldn't work out why the UK 10-12's wouldn't fit me, I swore they were making the clothes smaller ... then I saw a photo of myself on holiday and wonderer who that "fat" woman was in the water with my kids ... my hubby found this hysterical as he thought I was joking but I really didn't recognise myself. :(


    now at a loose UK size 12 I look at myself in the mirror and see a fat woman .... I hope the mirror lies :)
  • Allihexen
    Allihexen Posts: 111 Member
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    I see myself in mirrors as someone who has big hips yet in photos, I don't see it as much. I must be weird...
  • BarackMeLikeAHurricane
    BarackMeLikeAHurricane Posts: 3,400 Member
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    I'm the opposite. I look in the mirror and think "omg FAT FAT FAT f*cking whale" but in pictures if I don't see my face first I don't think I look fat. I think it's more of just seeing myself as still fat that distorts my perception. I was at the gym the other day and I see this girl out of the corner of my eye and think "lol someone get this girl a sandwich" but then I realized it was my reflection being bounced between several mirrors. Seeing myself from different angles changes my perception, too.
  • majope
    majope Posts: 1,325 Member
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    I've learned to look at my head in relation to the rest of my body. Since I tend to gain weight in proportion, it's easy to think I don't look that much different--the basic shape of my body is about the same, right?

    So I look at my head--does it look small in proportion to the rest of my body? Big clue right there! As I lose weight, if I can't immediately see it in the mirror, I look back at my head. Hey, it's getting bigger! I never want it to get as big, as, say, Callista Flockhart's (ever notice how the heads of painfully-thin actresses look huge? same thing--we're struggling to see their bodies as normal, so it's their heads that end up seeming weird), but eventually I hope body and head reach a pleasing proportion in relation to each other. Then I'll know it's time to stop losing weight.
  • jenns1964
    jenns1964 Posts: 384 Member
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    I actually like to look at the changes in my body now. Working out and eating better has made me a little more compact than I was when I joined MFP.. I haven't lost a lot in lbs and my but and thighs are still dimply and my arms wave back at me, but my waist is getting smaller and tighter, my face has really thinned out and my shoulders are looking more toned. . My hubby really notices the change in me. I have so much energy now and look forward to seeing my body change everyday. Thank God for my MFP family!!
  • nerdyglasses15
    nerdyglasses15 Posts: 29 Member
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    I lost 30 pounds, and although I lost 3 jeans sizes, I don't see a flipping difference in the mirror. It just pisses me off...
  • MED2012COLORADO
    MED2012COLORADO Posts: 238
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    I'm the opposite, I think I'm decent then I look in the mirror....
    Ditto
  • chunkydunk714
    chunkydunk714 Posts: 784 Member
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    I have the same thing! When I look in the mirror I think I'm okay, but as soon as I catch a photo I want to cry.

    Agreed

    OR the only other time is when Im in the dressing room at Target and I see myself thru those dumb three way mirrors.... Ugh, I can throw a brick thru one of those things!
  • grimendale
    grimendale Posts: 2,154 Member
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    I have the opposite problem: I always think I'm bigger than I am. I look at clothes that I bought recently, and I know they fit, but my first thought is always "This is way too small. There's no way I can wear this."
  • MrsDrk
    MrsDrk Posts: 153 Member
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    I completely understand! I think perhaps we stand a bit taller when looking in the mirror and at a better angle. Cameras can be soo unforgiving.
  • RandiLandCHANGED
    RandiLandCHANGED Posts: 630 Member
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    Some days I think I look awesome, other times I think I look awful. When I see a picture (which is feel is more in touch with reality than my crazy brain) I am almost always surprised and the difference. I am trying to stay away from the scale and focus more on inches to prove to myself that I am progressing...but it is still difficult.
  • ncl1313
    ncl1313 Posts: 237 Member
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    Photos always seem to get me at the WORST angles. For me, part of it has to do with posture...I'm standing up straight when I'm looking in the mirror, so everything is more stretched out. Pictures always seem to catch me sitting and/or slouching and I look like a total tub. Gravity is sort of my friend when standing...when sitting, it all scrunches around my belly and looks awful.
  • smtillman2
    smtillman2 Posts: 756 Member
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    I always think my reflection is better than my pictures as well. I don't get it.
  • IntoTheSky
    IntoTheSky Posts: 390 Member
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    I do the same. I will see me in the mirror and be all "this outfit is cuuuuuuute", then, a pic the same day will pop up and I am like "DAMN!!! Why didn't someone keep me from leaving the house like that?!?". In my head, some days I look fantastic, as long as I am dressed...... nekkid, I ALWAYS see me and wanna start scooping up krill with my baleen.

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