For Successful Losers: Do You Still See Yourself as Fat?

I don't know that i 'see' myself as fat, but I still objectively see myself as overweight (still looking to lose about 15 pounds).

What still gets me is that I'll pick up a shirt or sweater and think 'there's no way that'll fit'; but not only does it fit, it LOOKS right! It's those moments that help keep me motivated for the home stretch!

I've lost 98 lbs and maintained that for a year. I'm around 136 at 5'4" and am told I'm skinny by everyone around me. I was always overweight and when I graduated high school 5 years ago I was around 178-180 lbs at 5'4".. My highest weight was 234 pounds in March 2012.. I still see myself as fat and am in awe and wonder and also confused when I go clothes shopping and am buying smalls/mediums tops and size 6 jeans. I feel that I should still be in Large/XL clothes and I feel like the sales clerks are judging me when I purchase my small clothes like "you can NOT fit in that, what are you thinking??"
So I definitely have not adjusted my mindset to my "new body".. Plus seeing the excess skin/stretchmarks/extra flub in my problem areas does not make me feel skinny either.

Sometimes I do.

bump

some days i see a difference. most days i dont. i still have 50 more to go. maybe thats why. but other people are seeing me different then i am seeing myself, thats for sure.

well, when I lost 50 lbs a few years ago (I've put 20 of that back on :grumble: due to not staying the course), it was very hard for me to look in the mirror and not see the fat girl I once was. It was even hard for me to not shop in the plus size section of the store. I always found myself starting there until I realized that my size wasn't there. I'm sure that once I get back down and ultimately to my goal size, I'll still see the fat girl somewhat. It's how I am, I guess.

Even though my clothes are getting smaller, I am always going to be the fat girl. But I'm OK with that because the fat girl has a ROCKING personality - outgoing, supportive, friendly, and has very little that she fears.

So maybe I will look different to people, but I will be just me

I never realized how big I was. Now I look at pictures and see that my weight was more of an issue than I let myself believe. I guess that is a strange way of seeing that you had a problem. Now I do see myself as big because now that I realized the issue, I don't know if it will go away.

Does that make sense? The brain works in odd ways.

No.
I see myself as overweight and not in the shape I want to be. I have already passed my original goal (I lost 20 lbs before I started on MFP) of 65 lbs, and my secondary goal of 80 lbs. I am now on my way (weigh?) to my third (and final?) goal of 116 lbs - which would be 1/3 of my starting body weight.
Mainly I realize just how fat (not big boned, or heavy) I was before I started on this Saga, and a realization of where my body should be. Sometimes I do get down if the weight doesn't come off during a week - you know - work out every day, eat at your macros each day, and weight stays the same or goes up - but then the next week doing handstands (yes, I can do that now) when the scale drops 4 lbs.
But everytime I feel like that I pull out an old picture and look in the mirror with it to see the changes, or do 20 pushups (when I started I could do 2-3).
While I still track everything, I also look at weightloss and working out/getting stronger as another part of the great saga that is life - and I still live - you can bet I will have fun and not over worry about what I will eat and drink this Sunday as the Broncos trounce peter the cheater and the seachickens!

Yes, because I still have the "same" look to my body just smaller. Until I tone up, I'm sure that feeling will always be there

I know in my head that there is a huge difference in the way I look and that I am a "successful loser." But when I see myself I still see someone who is disgusting and fat.

I look the same to myself in the mirror no matter what I weigh. I can see the difference in pants sizes though!

I haven't reached my goal yet. I actually still have another 20 pounds or so to go before I get there. I think from about my highest weight I've lost about 50 (I lost 33 since I started using MFP), but when I look in the mirror, it doesn't look to me like I've lost anything. I really have to look at my face to notice differences.

I don't look at myself as fat but when I look in the mirror, I'm either really hard on myself because I notice the flaws that I do have, or other times I don't recognize myself and can't believe how far I've come. When I look at old pictures, that's when it really hits me. The biggest eye-opener lately has been when I buy clothes. I've never been able to fit into a small and now that I can, it's mind blowing to me.

Interesting, I still have a lot of size medium and small clothes, I just could never see myself as a "fat for life" person, especially since I always exercised, now I won't be. I don't think I will have any problem seeing myself as a thin person when I get there, just as I have no problem thinking of myself as a non-smoker, not an ex-smoker, it has been many years. It was some book I read back when I quit smoking, and basically it said calling yourself an ex-anything sets you up to "fall off the wagon". If you can teach your brain to think "I am a thin and healthy person", it would be easier to stay that way. I tried it with smoking, and even if I bring it up in an example like this, to me is like I never smoked, like I am just not that person anymore.

I have the opposite problem, Big lady who sees herself as lean, guess thats why its taken so long to do something

This is so true for me. I haven't officially lost anything yet, but I've always liked my body & how I look in clothes, even at a size 16/18. Sometimes I think this positive self-image was a bit of a detriment because it kept me from being motivated to change something, but hopefully it continues to be positive when I lose weight & hopefully I love my body at whatever size I end up.