100 Pound Down and I feel like I have accomplished nothing

Hey MaryJane,

I don't know how to make you feel better about it but from someone who's travelled your path, I assure you, you've done great work. My suggestion to you would be to just stay the course, because in your head, you know you're doing well. You KNOW it, I can tell from what you read. But you don't FEEL it yet. Give yourself time.

In the meantime, try doing some things you know you couldn't have done before. Pay attention to those small non-scale victories, and just try to be positive. Hang on, good times are coming your way!

-David / BootJockey
-257 pounds

Like many of you, I too am having the same issues. Actually, if it's possible I'm pretty sure I'm more judgmental of my body now than I was before. Some days I literally feel like I haven't even lost a pound. I guess it just takes time for your mind to catch up?

I've lost right around 100lbs and feel the same way... I'm surrounded by people that have quick loses from fad diets so I feel like losing weight slowly, for me it's been over a couple years, isn't something I can feel proud of. I'm more critical of my body now, less comfortable in it I guess... I'm glad to hear that others are going through the same thing, I just hope our minds catch up eventually

Hi...first, let me say congratulations on such a huge accomplishment. Losing 100 pounds is no easy feat....I have been there and felt the same way you are describing. On one hand I was happy the weight was moving in a positive direction, but on the other hand, I was not truly registering my new body profile when I was looking in the mirror. To top it all off, I also went shopping and though I could easily fit into "normal" sized clothing...it just felt like everything I tried on either made me "see" myself as still really heavy or I just wasn't comfortable with how much of my new body silhouette the smaller size was showing. After all, I was a very large person 100 pounds heavier and I wore a lot of over sized clothing to just balloon over my very round figure....so trying on smaller clothing meant actually getting my head and my eyes used to seeing my smaller frame in clothing that actually fit, and not just hid, my body. I had a lot of stress over trying on smaller clothing and thinking I still had weight to lose...all I saw was a still overweight body.

Someone here mentioned losing 100 pounds is like losing an entire person...it is true...and psychologically, for me, that 100 pounds protected me from having to socialize, wear normal clothing etc....it served to insulate me from the world...like a constant companion. Losing the 100 pounds felt like losing another person...literally...my protection/insulation from the world was gone...I had no more excuses...I had to get out and socialize, stop hiding behind that 100 pounds and actually care about wearing more fitting clothes. But I didn't give up...I continued to lose the rest of the weight and working out to help maintain the weight loss and re-sculpt my figure.

What I discovered during the six years I kept the weight off is that transitioning from carrying around such a large amount of extra weight to a much smaller body doesn't happen over night...it is a huge emotional journey and a continuing physical one. Emotionally I had to start dealing with all the things I used my extra weight to avoid dealing with...including how much I had hated looking at myself in a mirror...I had to teach myself how to look in that mirror and not judge myself based on all these old negative feelings and perceptions I had about being overweight and I had to stop judging myself by all those negative voices from each person who thought it was ok to torment a "fat" person. I'm not talking about loving myself...that came at a much slower rate...I just had to teach myself HOW to truly see the person in the mirror without hate and disgust in my heart. It took time, but eventually I started to see the smaller me and I became far less judgmental about it; buying clothes became far more enjoyable.

One other thing I remember from that time period...even though it may have taken a long time to lose all that weight it still took a much longer time for my body to really start showing the results of working out on a regular basis. The human body is just so incredibly amazing...think of it...we are able to over load it with all this extra weight and it still has the remarkable ability to recover from all the abuse we put it through...our bodies are innately far more forgiving of what we have done to them than we are to ourselves emotionally. Trust in your body...it will eventually catch up with all that weight loss and you WILL see those changes.

Sorry this turned into such a long-winded reply...as they say, take what is useful to you and throw the rest away.

When you are feeling as though nothing has changed...you are not required to feel anything...just breathe,be kind to yourself, keep moving forward and it will come to you. Just keep in mind...the vision that you had when you started on this journey to take better care of yourself may never manifest in the way you'd hoped....just keep that space open because something more wonderful is there...taking the time to discover that is part of this amazing journey. Life changes and shifts so very much and in so many beautiful ways...if we just relax and let it.

Congratulations again and thank you for being so honest with sharing your experience and for being an inspiration to others.

Geeze, now I feel guilty for celebrating the loss of 10 pounds! Arg! I am envious! You look great...sorry you aren't feeling it!

Find 'before' pictures. Heck look at your driver's license! That usually really helps.

It takes time for your brain to catch up with the incredible shrinking you ^_^ I know exactly how you feel but maybe trying to change your perspective on it. Instead see how far you've come instead of how far you have left to go. Give it time and your brain will catch up. You look great and congrats to you for making the changes you needed too. You're an inspiration to us all.

So this week marked my weight loss to 100 pounds. I have not been this weight since High School. This is the not the first time that I have lost a large amount of weight (last time was 60 pounds through a series of master cleanse and a bunch of random "diets") its just the second time that I have done it steadily and healthy like a normal person should. I have learned a lot more, taken classes, taken college courses, and participated in weight training believing that the more I learn the less likely I will have a relapse this time.

Anyway I see people on here get so excited when they lose like 30 pounds but I feel as if I weigh 250 (Don't know why it is that number) and have not made much progress. To make matters worse I tried to go on a "shopping spree" at the mall yesterday and all the clothes that were available were either juniors, size small, or size xxl. This made me feel like total crap and that I still have a long way to go. I still wear the clothes that I wore when I was 270 or clothes that were too small for me at the time and now are a bit baggy or moderately fit.

It took a skype session with my twin yesterday to see that I had lost a lot of weight. My question is, did anyone else feel this way when they lost a significant amount of weight? I feel like I am going through a series of "been there done that" so I am less enthused, is there a way that I can shake it off?

First of congratulations you look very fit now. Secondly I have taken the liberty to bold your accomplishments and I have to add you have probably been logging and if not that you have obviously become calorie aware. You are healthier and have stayed dedicated to making the right changes.

Now as for advice I would look at what I put in italics. Now take those clothes and give them away or throw them away. Save maybe one pair of pants and maybe one shirt to show off what is ridiculously too big for you now or to remind you of where you came from, but keep that packed away somewhere. Don't wear those clothes anymore you need to be done with that, I think to move on.

I wish I could tell you what to do to have your brain catch up with the new you, but I haven't figured that out for me yet and I am still losing. By the time I catch up with this me I will be a different me to catch up with, so I am trying not to even think about that much at this point. But, in 50 pounds I will have to start that process of catching up.