I can't wait to see what I really look like.

I just wanted to say congrats on all the weight loss...and I think wether you lose 25 lbs or 200 lbs....everyone has an identity crisis...haha...i know 25 lbs isn't a lot..but on my body frame it was especially once I toned up. There are times I'd walk by my reflection and not even realize it was me...or catch my reflection and think...wow..I almost would call myself skinny...of course I don't because I'm so hard on myself.....Not going to the xl section immediately, spending 10 times longer to try on 1 pair of pants because I start at 14, then go to 12, then down to 10 because I'm still in denial I can sometimes fit a size 10....it's a long process but so worth it in the end...and I'd rather have that frustration then the crying frustration I used to feel when I would pull out summer clothes and cry because they were too small..... Good luck on the rest of your journey....

Wow, I feel the exact same way. :happy: I don't have 100 to lose but I do have 70 total. I've never been thin so, in part, I am doing this to see what I really look like. It's crazy isn't it? I don't even know what shape I'm supposed to be, or if I have cheekbones. I'm halfway done and I've already noticed things that I haven't before. I actually have a long neck! My mom has one but I never saw mine because of all the fat that hung out around my neck. Now that most of it's gone, it's quite suprising!

I've even taken pictures with people who, right after the picture is taken and they see it, to stop making that face...or stop doing that thing with your neck. It's quite funny really! :laugh: I tell them I'm not doing anything but they don't believe me.

On the other hand, my sister is having a hard time becoming comfortable with how different I look. She says she wants me to be healthier but she says it won't be the same anymore, that I won't be me. My reply is, well maybe I'll be more like me. Maybe I'll be the real me. After all, no one want to be identified by their weight.

I'm male so my perspective might be different.

I've never really thought about this...I used to be fit, and used to have hair...LOL...but my face never really got "fat" aside from a slight double chin. So, I'll look mostly the same but with more chiseled features, and without the big belly.

Actually what I get is that I look exactly like I did in high school, because I was around this weight in my senior year, so basically it's like rolling the clock back, but either way you look back and think "geez, that was me"....or at least I do

I can't wait to see what I look like this time around either.

I lost 86 lbs 10 years ago and got down to 145 and was fairly thin......so I guess I kinda already know sorta what I might look like.....but I was bigger this time when I started my weight loss journey and thus have more to lose, and I have had 2 kids so there will be more loose skin around my stomach, so that does worry me a bit, but I am still excited non the less.

I am planning on doing more weight training this time so even when I get to where I was 10 years ago I'll hopefully be more toned overall and hopefully in better shape.

so far I've lost 66 lbs and I want to lose 99 more.

I really can't wait either! That what pushes me to eat right or exercise when I don't want to, the success of achieving my goal. I've lost 24 so far, but I haven't went down in size and I still look the same kinda...so I really can't wait for that to start kicking in.

I really can't wait either! That what pushes me to eat right or exercise when I don't want to, the success of achieving my goal. I've lost 24 so far, but I haven't went down in size and I still look the same kinda...so I really can't wait for that to start kicking in.

For those that have lost 100+ lbs, I applaud you and appreciate you sharing your before and after pics. It gives someone like me much to hope for. Please don't any of you take this the wrong way, but I think every one I've seen the person looks like a whole different person in the new pics (and SO much younger too!). Some of them are so unrecognizeable, I'm amazed that it is the same person even sometimes.

I can't help but think...what am I going to look like? WHO am I going to look like? Are people going to start acting differently towards me because I look so different? I've never known what it is like to be at a healthy weight and I know by this time next year I will have accomplished that. I can't wait to see my own transformation. For those of you who have had such a dramatic transformation, have any of you had an identity crisis?

ah YES! Still having one,:laugh: I don't know if everyone does but I've seen/heard many ppl share it occurs with them. I don't know the key to stopping it to share with you yet. When I hear from someone what works, you'll be the 2nd to know, right after me.

I think lots of photos, particularly pinned to the mirrow you use most often can help loads, learning to ACCEPT compliments instead of blowing them off, if you don't believe it yet, ALLOW the giver to give the gift anyhow. They are telling the truth and it is a gift they are giving, if we learn to accept it we then learn to take it in internally. Collages work great I'm finding, starting to cut OK, I'm tearing them out in excitement, when I find phrases in mags like "Train Hard-You're a Winner!" I yank it out, "Grab Life" "You Matter" etc etc., anything that hits a spot in your mind or heart, tear it out and start placing them around your house where you'll see them every single day. Even a poster board is perfect!

What we say about ourself is very important, if we say negatives, even little ones, they keep us down, instead of a 'gee I wish I would have lost 2 more lbs. this week' could be changed to OMG, I am doing so great, I'm so proud of myself! If we learn to BE HERE NOW in our lives we can learn to beat down the negatives so they begin to not crop up but positives crop up first instead.

Any of this make sense for you? I do hope so, you're pretty special to me and I want you to see yourself as BEAUTIFUL right now Diane, a beautiful heart, a beautiful smile, a lovely personality, a great sense of humor, you are beautiful from the inside out, it is beginning to manifest itself outwardly now. You've always been beautiful on the outside Diane. But the world doesn't help us in seeing that, it wants us all cookie cutter shaped. I don't know about you, but I'm not a cookie cut that wants to be stuck in a drawer most of the year. lol

Another way I am learning more about myself is posting when others succeed, are having bits of trouble, etc. noticing others around us on their/our journeys is vital to learning more about ourselves. I am finding this is working without ever having given thought to it. I simply am who I am and then to find out you can reap beautiful positive benifits from kindness is a pretty neat reward in itself.

Watch your finger, your toes, your nose, all the changes, your body knows what it's doing and where it is going!! You hair will change and shine far more, your face will change, you skin is loving this healthy food. Think on how far you've come in endurance with working out since day 1!!

We're amazing creatures and God make each of us so individual, never compare yourself, you're becoming beautiful exactly as you're intended.

I too was there 200 lbs ago wondering OMG, what will I look like, will I look like I did before I gained? Will I be a different person, will ppl still be nice to me, what about the ppl that weren't nice to me, how will I handle that. Questions many of us larger folks have/had, it's like a puzzle and we have some of the pieces and we are seeing glimmers of the beauty, and some of the pieces haven't arrived yet. That can sometimes leave us a wee bit frustrated, but if we concentrate on the pieces we do have, and what we are doing positive in our lives to put more pieces together....ahhhh then it takes away some of the anxiety and brings on more of the excitement.

Thinking positive thoughts for you on your journey:flowerforyou:

Ah, what was the question again?:blushing: :smokin:

Love you Diane xo
Becca

I have been wondering the same thing I started at 371.6 and I want to get to 140-160lbs That is a whole adult male. I am worried about extra skin and not knowing myself and other people treating me differently especially the ones that I know.

at my highest i was 360 and i'm terrified of extra skin too. i'm down to 284 right now and thus far things seem to be sucking back in.

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