I'm amazed 45 pounds down and I still feel just as fat

Options
quiltlovinlisa
quiltlovinlisa Posts: 1,710 Member
in Motivation and Support
I can pick out individual differences. My face is definitely thinner. My clothes are smaller. I have some great muscles going on underneath it all. I can feel my ribs without any effort but even with all that, when I look at myself and get the full picture, I don't feel any different.

It seems pretty whacked in my head.

Granted, at 197, I still am obese, I still have a ways to go but I feel like I should feel different.

So the game plan, keep working, keep pushing, keep on keeping on and hopefully my head can catch up with the changes in my body. Anyone else experience this?
«1345

Replies

  • IamUndrCnstruction
    IamUndrCnstruction Posts: 691 Member
    Options
    Definitely can relate. I have only lost 23 pounds so far, so maybe there ISN'T a big difference, but when I look in the mirror, I see the same thing as when I started this. I know I have dropped a size in jeans, and am about to drop another, but....I still think I look the same.

    Something happened last night though that caught me off guard. A friend took a picture of me without my being aware (we were having a sing along with friends lol) and she posted it on FaceBook without me knowing. Well, I came across it later and for the first time in a long long time, I thought I looked more like a "normal" person than a "fat girl". Still have a looong way to go, but I do think our heads will catch up with what our bodies are really starting to look like. Keep it up!!!

    :flowerforyou:
  • quiltlovinlisa
    quiltlovinlisa Posts: 1,710 Member
    Options
    I hope our heads catch up! It's a freaky feeling, when I break it down I feel so good and then I look in the mirror and it's still me.
  • GettingMooreInShape
    GettingMooreInShape Posts: 80 Member
    Options
    Think of all the positive things you're doing for your body by losing 45 lbs! Sometimes you have to look beyond the weight. You are putting less strain on your heart, and you've proved to yourself that you CAN lose weight! Keep it up girlfriend!
  • Adrinjoesmommy
    Adrinjoesmommy Posts: 1
    Options
    I'm feeling the same way. I've lost 41 pounds and when I look in the mirror I still see the old me :(
  • dunnodunno
    dunnodunno Posts: 2,290 Member
    Options
    I've lost around 130 pounds and sometimes feel like that. What I suggest is keeping so e of your bigger clothes and trying them on to physically show you how far you've come.
  • Domane1963
    Domane1963 Posts: 85 Member
    Options
    Get someone to take some photos of you from the front, side and rear. When I'd lost my first 28lbs, although I was in a smaller size pair of jeans, I didn't feel any different. My husband commented about my smaller bottom and I laughed and said he was making it up. He insisted it was a lot smaller so I asked him to take some photos when I then compared to ones of my larger self ones and I nearly fell off my chair in shock as I really could see such a difference! Logically, my brain would expect to see differences in someone else who had lost weight, but I just couldn't relate it to me, personally until I saw the evidence!

    If you take photos as you shrink, you'll be really glad you've done it. Keep a pair of your biggest trousers too, to occasionally climb into to physically see how much smaller you are. I gave all mine to the charity shop and I do regret not keeping back just one pair.....
  • chelstakencharge
    chelstakencharge Posts: 1,021 Member
    Options
    Even after all the weight I have lost I still feel fat and still see the fat girl starring at me in the mirror everyday. Not sure that feeling will ever go away...
  • quiltlovinlisa
    quiltlovinlisa Posts: 1,710 Member
    Options
    Thank you everyone, great words of advice.

    I do physically feel better. I move better. I have greater endurance. I'm more flexible. I can definitely do exercises I couldn't do before.
  • amelia_atlantic
    amelia_atlantic Posts: 926 Member
    Options
    As others have said, you have to really think positively. Force yourself at first if you have to! Maybe make a list of 5 things you're greatful for since losing weight?

    I also recommend taking some yoga classes. It'll help you feel connected to your body (and your head and your heart).

    You have accomplished A LOT. Keep reminding yourself that!
  • Tiff050709
    Tiff050709 Posts: 497 Member
    Options
    I have lost 66lbs. I still feel the same mentally. I have dropped 4 jean sizes and I know that I look different but I still feel fat and gross. I still have a long way to go. I just hope I can start feeling better about myself.
  • DaddyDave101
    DaddyDave101 Posts: 72 Member
    Options
    Definitely can relate. I have only lost 23 pounds so far, so maybe there ISN'T a big difference, but when I look in the mirror, I see the same thing as when I started this. I know I have dropped a size in jeans, and am about to drop another, but....I still think I look the same.

    Something happened last night though that caught me off guard. A friend took a picture of me without my being aware (we were having a sing along with friends lol) and she posted it on FaceBook without me knowing. Well, I came across it later and for the first time in a long long time, I thought I looked more like a "normal" person than a "fat girl". Still have a looong way to go, but I do think our heads will catch up with what our bodies are really starting to look like. Keep it up!!!

    :flowerforyou:

    I feel this too, but put it down to me constantly looking in the mirror to see the difference. If I look everyday a few times how can I expect to see a difference...

    My partner friends telling me and the cold hard fact about clothes being baggy/the scales/ tape measure are whats keeping me going!

    Saying all of this I feel your pain... I am so commited I am passing up anything that isn't classed as good for me at the moment. I am eating sensible dont get me wrong but I think I need to realise eating something bad just like eating something good isn't going to make a difference... Its the overall calories that will!
  • Urban_Princess
    Urban_Princess Posts: 219 Member
    Options
    I totally had this moment this morning. I looked in the mirror and said "all my clothes still fit, they aren't as baggy as everyone is saying on MFP". But now I wonder if I was wearing really tight clothing all this time and now they finally fit properly. Either way, I still feel fat even after the 20lb drop. After the first ten i noticed a huge difference, but with the second 10 I don't see a difference at all.
  • bsuew
    bsuew Posts: 628 Member
    Options
    I know the feeling! I've lost 87 and I can still look at myself without clothes and think I see just as much fat as before I lost the 87. My husband tells me definately not! But, in my head and thru my eyes I see fat! I guess in my case it just flabby now instead of filled out? I have no idea if that makes any sense? I can really see a difference in my clothes having come from a 22/24 pants to a size 12/14. And from a 2xl top to a medium. I'm at 173 now and still have about 23 ish to go. 5'7.5"
    It's really nice seeing other people feel the same way I do!
  • alienrite
    alienrite Posts: 314 Member
    Options
    Keeping a pair of your pants from your heaviest weight is a smart idea. Something about the struggle to fit into clothes for so long makes having clothes start falling off helps connect emotionally to your progress. Even at (or below) my goal weight, I still feel fat sometimes. Your emotional and intellectual image of yourself follows the change and is about as slow to change as your body is to lose fat. It gets better over time...photos help a lot too.
  • DontWeightForMe
    DontWeightForMe Posts: 38 Member
    Options
    45 lb is A-mazing! I just signed up and have a lot of weight to lose.. Keep your focus on feeling better, having more energy, better skin, loser clothes...all the little things that remind you of journey you are on the that you are in the right direction. You are my inspiration that you've followed through this far. Chin up. One day at a time. Keep it up! I hope to be following in your footsteps the following months! You go girl!
  • Alidecker
    Alidecker Posts: 1,262 Member
    Options
    I agree with the advice to look at old pictures and take some new ones, it helps. I sometimes see the same fat girl in the mirror and I've lost over 100 lbs. Weight loss is definitely a mental fight.
  • justal313
    justal313 Posts: 1,375 Member
    Options
    Find an activity, that you were having problems with before. Maybe a flight of stairs that kicked your *kitten* all the time. Try it now, revel in the EASE of taking that flight of stairs or find a chair with arms you were unwilling/unable to squeeze in before and know how much you've changed.

    That will help you even more than pictures, belt holes, or numbers on a scale.

    The day before I joined this site, I went to a Patriots game and getting to my seats on the top level of the Stadium made me want to die. Just walking up ramps. This past July I ran a 10K that ended in Gillette Stadium and I ran the @#$% out of those ramps before coming out of the giant inflatable Patriots helmet and across the the 50 yard line to finish the race. I cannot convey the feeling of TRIMUPH I felt.

    This past september I did the electric run at Gillette and I didn't know we'd have to finish in the stadium running the ramps but I was hollering and whooping the entire time and the people around me must have thought I was out of my flipping mind.
  • LizLearnstoRun
    LizLearnstoRun Posts: 57 Member
    Options
    I am in a similar position I have lost 40+ pounds, avoid a scale so I don't know but I know logically I am a lot thinner than I was. Still obese technically but lots thinner. But I still think of and see the fat sad girl that is scared to meet people because of it in the mirror. I don't really know how one fixes that but I do understand the feeling.
  • SherryL0419
    SherryL0419 Posts: 44 Member
    Options
    I think for myself for so long I've had this mindset of looking in the mirror and being so unhappy with what I see that I still "see" that when I look in the mirror. But when I see a picture of myself now it will almost bring me to tears that it's really ME. So I understand where you're coming from....if you have before pictures I would recommend doing a side by side comparison. Keep up the awesome work! :flowerforyou:
  • 1JenMilam
    1JenMilam Posts: 108 Member
    Options
    I'm 116 lbs thinner and a size 4/6 but still see the size 20w/22w girl in the mirror

Categories