Do you see a difference in your body/body image?

collegegirl713
collegegirl713 Posts: 189 Member
in Motivation and Support
Hello everyone, I was wondering if/when you saw a difference in your body. Maybe one day you caught a reflection of yourself and you went "Whoa." I have lost 46 lbs and I still don't see REAL difference. I joke that I am uniformly fat and lost it the same way, so not one part of my body is "gone" but I did catch a glimpse of myself the other day in a full length mirror. Whoa!

I can't wait to hear some of your stories!

Replies

  • shortdub
    shortdub Posts: 10 Member
    i lost all of my pregnancy weight which was 30 pounds. i haven't been this small in ages. it amazes me how small i look. and i don't like how i look naked. the babies really did a number on me. being this small is exacerbating that. plus, my friend has made me feel kind of uncomfortable about my size. i really want to look better to feel better as far as image wise. now when i put on undergarments, everything fits too big, i don't have the double chin anymore, and i notice how small i am when i look in the mirror. i didn't notice it until others pointed it out.
  • MissySpring
    MissySpring Posts: 442 Member
    My mind is still catching up with the newer size. If I feel my arms, I can recognize they are smaller but I don't see it when I look in the mirror. Even in photos, I don't see a significant change. I know I am smaller because I've had to purchase new clothes. I think for some, it takes awhile for our "inner" image to match up to the outside.
  • Indiri13
    Indiri13 Posts: 104 Member
    It wasn't what I saw in the mirror that gave me that moment, it was looking at older pictures of me. I saw a picture from 2 years ago (and the slightly-exaggerated size of my butt, that picture was REALLY unflattering) and was shocked that it was even me. I started looking through those and realized that I have changed a lot but since the changes had been a little at a time I hadn't realized how far I'd come.

    Since you've lost 46 pounds you've definitely changed. Go hunting for the old photos and compare them to the "now" you.
  • phocid
    phocid Posts: 85 Member
    I definitely do a double take when I catch a glimpse of myself in a window reflection or something similar as I walk by, but when it's just me and the bathroom mirror, my critical eye gets to work...
  • candybutterflybabe
    candybutterflybabe Posts: 4
    Some people will always try to pull people down, maybe they don't know how to compliment or are hiding their own insecurities. One thing is for sure, these people are not friends! When you need picking up and motivating, yoyr friends are the ones who make you smile. I've never been that big but hate to look at myself in the mirror. It's only when I look at old pictures that I think "I wish I still looked like that! ". You've done really well to lose so much baby weight, give yourself credit. If stretchmarks are an issue, I call mine my war wounds. Without those I wouldn't have my beautiful boy so they're worth it! Good luck x
  • collegegirl713
    collegegirl713 Posts: 189 Member
    Some people will always try to pull people down, maybe they don't know how to compliment or are hiding their own insecurities. One thing is for sure, these people are not friends! When you need picking up and motivating, yoyr friends are the ones who make you smile. I've never been that big but hate to look at myself in the mirror. It's only when I look at old pictures that I think "I wish I still looked like that! ". You've done really well to lose so much baby weight, give yourself credit. If stretchmarks are an issue, I call mine my war wounds. Without those I wouldn't have my beautiful boy so they're worth it! Good luck x

    I do have some stretch marks and I call them my Tiger Strips! Ha, ha!! Thanks! I took before photos and go "Oh, yeah", but then I really look at myself and go "nah".
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I look completely different at 180 vs 220...I look fit and healthy again.
  • GiveMeCoffee
    GiveMeCoffee Posts: 3,556 Member
    I didn't notice much of a change until after I had lost about 45-50 lbs, now I can see drastic changes from how I looked a year ago.
  • WeepingAngel81
    WeepingAngel81 Posts: 2,232 Member
    I haven't lost a ton of weight, but I have lost inches. I don;t have a full lenght mirror in my house and when I buy clothes I tend to get stuff that wears me lol

    I finally bought some stuff that fits me well enough that it's not tight but you can tell I've lost. I was at Zumba last week and caught a glance of myself and thought "wow! I look different!" It was kind of a good feeling :)
  • sfbaumgarten
    sfbaumgarten Posts: 912 Member
    As stupid as is sounds after losing about 75 lbs, it's like my brain just doesn't always register the difference when I look in the mirror. If I look at a before/after pic or compare my clothing sizes, I can definitely see the difference... It's weird. I guess I just assume this is because it was such a gradual change for me.
  • meganjcallaghan
    meganjcallaghan Posts: 949 Member
    I'm about 20 pounds away from being half of my original weight and I only really started to notice the difference about 20 pounds ago (so, at a loss of about 110 ish). As far as body image is concerned, I had a better one when I was fatter, to be honest. I mean, I was fat. If some guy came along and was interested, he'd see that and he'd know what he's getting into because it's obvious. NOW I might seem on the outside like a person that a fella might find attractive because I'm a more "normal" size, but if somebody came along who thought that at this point I'd just feel like a trickster, hiding the nightmare that lies beneath :P
  • pawnstarNate
    pawnstarNate Posts: 1,728 Member
    I didn't lose as much as a lot of you (36lbs) but, I did it in about 3 months. My family at home didn't really notice. I definitely felt lighter and noticed a little but, it was the people that hadn't seen me in those three months that were like "wow!, you've lost some weight!!"...since, I've bulked some lean muscle, the cut those fat pounds back down to my original goal. Now maintaining. Thinking about bulking again this spring though.

    edit for correction: my wife started noticing when other women did. lol
  • lucypeaks
    lucypeaks Posts: 96 Member
    I have lost over 50lbs in the last year, dropped from nearly 180lbs to about 125lbs. It took me ages to see the change in my body, it was mainly through clothes being too baggy that I truly noticed. My self confidence is not as it should be and I am very hard on myself. So many people were kind and complimentary about my weight loss, but a few so-called 'friends' have stopped talking to me since I have lost weight and more importantly, become fit and healthy. Sad but true!
  • gramarye
    gramarye Posts: 586 Member
    I still feel like I look the same overall, because I am losing in a decently uniform fashion. If I'm naked, I can see the spots where fat has disappeared, or slight concaves where before I was only convex, if that make sense.
  • jamiebxo
    jamiebxo Posts: 116
    It depends. Some days I look at myself and think "wow, you look so much better, you've really lost a lot of weight" and I'll feel so confident, other days I think I look pretty much the same if not worse than before or I'll start focusing on the fact my stomach still isn't completely flat and will worry over that and all my insecurities will come flooding back. I spend far too much time analysing my appearance in general, probably moreso than when I was bigger actually! I do have more confident days than I did when I was bigger but, still. I don't think my mind has fully caught up yet.
  • Schlackity
    Schlackity Posts: 268 Member
    It's weird, but when I look at myself in my bathroom mirror, I don't see much of a change, other than more hanging flab than before. However, when I use the fitting room mirror at Sears, I see much more of a difference (thinking about buying that mirror and carrying it around with me!).

    To other people, I have lost a lot of weight, and I guess if I'm just looking at the number, 82 lbs IS a lot of weight, but I don't feel like I look much smaller and I definitely don't think I look thin by any stretch of the imagination. I have 36 lbs to go before I reach my first goal, and I have started walking around with that number written on my palm with a Sharpie marker so I remember to stay on track (holidays were bad news for me). With that said, after another 36 lbs come off, I don't know how I'll feel about my appearance. I would need to lose a total of 140 lbs to have what's considered a normal BMI, but I feel like that might be overdoing it. I will have to wait and see how things are as the scale numbers go lower and the muscle builds up.

    I know it takes time for your mind's image of your body to catch up with the real image of your body, so I'm hoping that some day, I can look in the mirror and be really happy with what I see.
  • meganjcallaghan
    meganjcallaghan Posts: 949 Member
    It's weird, but when I look at myself in my bathroom mirror, I don't see much of a change, other than more hanging flab than before. However, when I use the fitting room mirror at Sears, I see much more of a difference (thinking about buying that mirror and carrying it around with me!).

    To other people, I have lost a lot of weight, and I guess if I'm just looking at the number, 82 lbs IS a lot of weight, but I don't feel like I look much smaller and I definitely don't think I look thin by any stretch of the imagination. I have 36 lbs to go before I reach my first goal, and I have started walking around with that number written on my palm with a Sharpie marker so I remember to stay on track (holidays were bad news for me). With that said, after another 36 lbs come off, I don't know how I'll feel about my appearance. I would need to lose a total of 140 lbs to have what's considered a normal BMI, but I feel like that might be overdoing it. I will have to wait and see how things are as the scale numbers go lower and the muscle builds up.

    I know it takes time for your mind's image of your body to catch up with the real image of your body, so I'm hoping that some day, I can look in the mirror and be really happy with what I see.

    Get out of my head!! lol
  • collegegirl713
    collegegirl713 Posts: 189 Member
    I have lost over 50lbs in the last year, dropped from nearly 180lbs to about 125lbs. It took me ages to see the change in my body, it was mainly through clothes being too baggy that I truly noticed. My self confidence is not as it should be and I am very hard on myself. So many people were kind and complimentary about my weight loss, but a few so-called 'friends' have stopped talking to me since I have lost weight and more importantly, become fit and healthy. Sad but true!

    I know what you mean! My sister is somewhat angry at me because "weightloss is easy for me" and "I have forgotten losing weight is hard"...ummmm...yeah, she doesn't realized I deal with the same issues she does (as probably everyone here), I am just more dedicated and focused.

    Congrats on the 50 lbs lost!! That is awesome!
  • sumeetg37
    sumeetg37 Posts: 108 Member
    I'm tall and carry all of my weight in my belly. The first time I really noticed a change was around 25lbs lost I was on the treadmill and looked over in the mirror and realized I no longer looked like a pregnant giraffe....
  • collegegirl713
    collegegirl713 Posts: 189 Member
    I'm tall and carry all of my weight in my belly. The first time I really noticed a change was around 25lbs lost I was on the treadmill and looked over in the mirror and realized I no longer looked like a pregnant giraffe....

    I love it!

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