for those of you who have lots a significant amount

I dunno if I qualify as "lost a significant amount", but I definitely still feel big. Like, I know rationally I've made progress, but it still feels like I haven't gone anywhere. When I was wearing a 14, I thought I'd feel good at a 10. Now I'm at a 6 and I think I'll feel thin at a 4 or 2.

As it turns out, adjusting my self-image is even harder than losing weight. Who knew?

For me, it's been a gradual process, but only really in the last few months. I've ben maintaining since last November, so I would say not until several months after I reached my goal. And, it still comes and goes. Some days I still feel really big, especially if I'm bloated. Some days I still want to lose more weight, even though there are parts of my body that are looking a bit too skinny for my taste.

It's not just the fact that your head needs to get used to what you look like, but also the fact that the body you end up with at goal is not necessarily going to be your ideal. I would quite happily lose a few pounds from around my belly/back and thighs, but I would actually like to gain a bit on my boobs/chest/ribs, and I'd like my face to stay as it is now. So, I have to compromise, and learn a bit of self acceptance. So, be prepared for that part to mess with your head too!

But yeah - as for actually seeing myself as the size I am, it was definitely some time after starting to maintain that it started kicking in, and it's still only sometimes. I still sometimes feel like the fat friend, even though I'm now thinner than the majority of my friends!

I felt I wasn't "Fat" around an 8. I felt I looked decent around a 6. I felt I looked hot around a 4. I got to a smaller 4 for a while and 2 in some cases, but I've gained a bit back so now I'm more solid 4. Working my way back.

It took a while for my mind to catch up with my body. But now it is becoming more about fitness and less about weight loss. I am starting to focus on being healthy instead of being thin and while the weight is still coming off I have trouble with the compliments and the "wow how the heck are you doing it." I worry about boring people even when they are interested in the hows. lol. Some days I still feel like the "big girl" and I think our minds have a way of doing that to somehow remind us that this is a lifelong journey and not a passing interest. Congrats on the weight loss!

I have lost a total of 72.2 pounds so far and gone from a size 18 pant/XL shirt to a size 8 pant/ medium shirt. I still don't like myself in pictures but I have started to accept that I am skinnier in my own brain. It took me a while. People call me tiny now. I am 5' 8" and currently weigh 150.8 pounds and want to get down to 140 pounds.

Well keep in mind that a size 14 or 12 is not a thin size for most women. So it makes sense that you don't feel thin at this size, because though you have lost a lot of weight, you are still likely overweight.

I've gone from a 22W to a size 8. I feel normal but not thin. I will not feel thin probably ever - unless I have a tummy tuck to get rid of the loose skin on my stomach. For me, the flat stomach would make me feel thin!

I am almost always shocked when I see myself in the mirror. I was a size 32/34 and am now a loose 16. I think there's a lot of mental stuff involved with being comfortable in the smaller sizes. I still have the imaginary fat bubble around my body where I think my body size is still at.

It took so long for me to get my mind out of 'fat mode' even now I look at myself without a mirror & see myself as fat still, even though my boss said you are tiny no way you are a size 12.

I think it's cause we didn't see ourselves as fat before it, otherwise we would have done something sooner right? So when we have lost the weight it's taken our minds a long time to catch up. It's been almost 2 years now for me & I still struggle with my mind.

Take a look in the mirror, fully naked, then say to yourself.... "damn I lost a lot of weight, look how thin I am" it does get easier.

For me, I still do not see a thin person and I probably never will. It is hard to get past the image for me. I went from a tight size 24W to an 8 and 6 in some brands.

When size 11 pants were loose on me I was like whoa, so at size 8 or 9 I'd say.

I still have moments when I don't feel like a size 1/2 I still feel like a 20, but I have had to take a lot of photo's and compare them, I do this a lot, it's the only way I can wrap my head around it. Some days I feel smaller but not a 1/2.

I started out pushing a 16 (which means I wore a 14, but should have bought 16's). I didn't feel thin until size 8. The day I bought a 6 I had a party in the dressing room. The day I ordered a 4 in Old Navy Jeans online because they didn't have a 6 and they fit, I almost flew through the roof.

Now I don't feel good unless my jeans are a 4 or 6 and my dress pants are a 6 or 8. I bought a size 4 skirt from Limited this weekend and was so excited. I have 3lbs to go until I hit my "vanity" weight of 145, again after gaining back 12. I'll be a BMI of 20 at that point but it's really hard to maintain...when I start to have to get 8's in jeans I really know I need to start watching again...

Well, for me some days I feel really "thin" other days I feel disgusting and huge... Its part of being a woman, no? :laugh:

Honestly, For me it still has not entirely set in that I have lost so much, so when I go to the store and the size 2 fits, I get confused/excited and cant believe it. It is hard to say when I started feeling "normal;" because honestly, until it was pointed out to me that 255 meant I was "morbidly obese" I never really saw myself that way when I was bigger. Now that dieting and losing weight and fitness has become such a big part of my life, I examine myself day in and day out, and seem to come up short more often than not. :ohwell: But I do have just as many good days as bad, and I think that over time I will start seeing who I am now in the mirror, instead of that middle-of-the-road version of myself that I see these days... :drinker:

My jeans range from US size 0-4 and I still often see myself as weighing what I did before I lost weight, or at least being much bigger than I know I am.