How do YOU see yourself?

I only recently started seeing it in the mirror..or when I hold my pants up and see how huge they are! *shudder*

I only put up older pics of myself and I really don't allow my picture taken anymore. I need to lose this weight so I can get a family portrait done. I even refused to get in the family picture a few months ago

I have a better feeling about myself when I look in the mirror than I do when I see myself in pictures, and especially when I'm next to someone else who is smaller than I am. :grumble:

When I was 200 lbs, I felt fat physically but it really sunk in when I would shop for clothes (nothing would fit), look at myself in a full length mirror and saw pics of myself. I hated and avoided getting my picture taking all of the time after that. Now, -37 lbs later I know that I am still fat but feel much more confident in my appearance. I can see the positive changes in my figure. I also know that I am healthier as well.

When I started my journey here I was 222 lbs, and I'm about 5'7". I was probably closer to 230 or more, but started losing weight before I had the guts to step on the scale. In high school I weighed between 138 and 150, but gained weight over the years and usually fluctuated between 180 and 200 from 2003-2012. It wasn't until 2012 that I ballooned up, but I just kept seeing the same person in the mirror that I always saw - someone a little overweight that could lose a few pounds, but not fat. It wasn't until I saw a picture someone took that I realized that I was getting pretty fat and had probably gained 30-40 lbs in a very short time.

Now that I'm down to 175 lbs with a goal of 150 lbs, I unfortunately see the same person I've always seen in the mirror. I just can't see any change with my own eyes. I know it's psychological, but it's very weird. I know pants and shirts that I outgrew now fit loose. I know belts that were too small are too big now. And I know everyone is telling me I lost a lot of weight. But my own self-perception is skewed. That's why we need those tangible things I listed above, along with new pictures to compare to pictures at your heaviest, so we can overcome our skewed self-perception.

I also believe we become more obsessed with our bodies since we spend so much time tracking calories, talking nutrition and fitness, and working out. This leads us to be more self-aware of our flaws than we were before, especially since we never want to return to the same lifestyle.

For me, this is the second go around at losing a large amount of weight. When I lost it all (80 pounds) the first time, I felt it and I felt great. When I gained it all back, I saw the numbers changing but I still saw myself as 180 pounds instead of 280. But, when I hit that 280 point and had my OMG moment, now that's all I can see. I'm down to 233 again, but the mirror doesn't show me that difference. I can see it in pictures, though, which is kind of strange.

It really does make sense to me as i feel the same when i look at myself an when i go into stores with full length mirrors i look massive so i do know where you are.
I have now taken to going to the gym and i see these meat heads there and they look you up and down as thou as thou you should not be there. but i am going to do it and i will drop this weight. so don't give up you can do it.

Good luck

Dave

I see myself being overweight but feeling healthy and in shape, and that's were my conflict lies. I finally had to do a reality check when I seen a picture I took not too long ago. That picture motivated me to have my outside match my insides. Right frame of mind just wrong body.

I don't see myself as obese at all.... that is... UNTIL I see pictures of myself that someone has taken and then posted on facebook for all to see.

Funny... I don't feel over 200 lbs. When I go walking, and kick into a mild jog... I don't FEEL fat at all. I feel full of energy, and so blessed to be alive. I'm really REALLY glad I don't see myself obese, because I think if I did, I'd hit a mild case of depression and then... I'd be right back to square one... binge eating and trying to eat my problems away.

So... if this sounds dumb, I don't plan on really looking at any more pictures of me until I get under 200 lbs. I really wanna concentrate on losing it, and even though it should motivate me to see me that heavy, it just makes me sad.

I currently weigh 210lbs & I see myself as an enormous ugly over-inflated balloon, but I thought the same when I weighed 119 most of the way from being 15 to 18 years old. I really hope having been up to 214lbs that when I finally hit my goal of 126lbs - 133lbs I will see the difference, but in all honesty I think I'm still going to hate how I look. I have a photo of me, taken when I was 13, I can't have been more than about 105lbs but I think I look perfect in it, it is the last full body photo taken of me that I actually like.

I see myself as fat

Every day is different....Some days I think I don't look as heavy as I am and other days I feel huge! I just try to stay positive and now that I am finally making progress I feel even better about myself because the hard work is paying off!

Me too. Some days I feel like I look good and other days I second guess myself.

I usually think I look better in the mirror than in pictures, so there must be some distorted thinking going on there.

It depends on the day. If my self-esteem is high, I see myself as a curvy vixen. If its low, I'm a freaking fat, ugly whale-woman. I think appearance is only a perception, never reality. So I let myself off the hook most of the time.