Mirror, Camera, or Eyes - Which is the biggest LIAR?

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shaunarlr83
shaunarlr83 Posts: 374 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I am starting to believe that the reflection I see in the mirror is alot smaller than what the world views. I have always heard that the camera adds pounds but I have had alot of pictures taken of myself lately and.....Can I really be that big????? I am barely above my "average" weight for the past 6 years. I am talking maybe 5 lbs more but I look huge in pictures!!!!! Or maybe it is all in my head??? I don't wanna see myself as overweight so when I look in the mirror maybe I don't? Does this sound crazy? I have noticed for years that everytime I look at jeans I ALWAYS grab my pre-pregnancy size, my pant size has doubled since I was 17 years old but I still grab that size first. Does anyone else view themselves differently and completely not recognize that person staring back at them from pictures???
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Replies

  • cyneaster
    cyneaster Posts: 3 Member
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    I think this happens to me too! I look fine in the mirror and pictures are inflated,
  • cddavis04
    cddavis04 Posts: 38
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    Thank you for this post I thought I was the only one. In my head I look slightly above average but in pictures I look like I need to audition for the BL. I always figured that living in Mississippi my sense of average was skewed. The scary thing is I got a mirror in my bedroom that makes me look like in pictures. I got a mirror in the bathroom I look great. I always assumed I just a little bit of a nutcase.
  • messyhare
    messyhare Posts: 366 Member
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    Can I relate to this!! I have NO IDEA what I really look like. None. what. so. ever.

    I am constantly bugging my kids & husband by pointing out someone and saying - do I look like her?? And then begging them to show me someone that I DO look like. I would just like to know what I really look like!! Sounds crazy...

    I hate the me in the mirror and question whether I really look like that, same thing with me in photo's. In my minds eye I don't look anything like I do in the mirror or pics.

    I hope someday I can really, truly see myself as I am.
  • Procrastinator
    Procrastinator Posts: 104
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    Mirrors are never exact because there are round mirrors that make you look bigger and really tall mirrors than can make you look taller/slimmer. With photos it depends on the angle its taken from. And eyes depends on who's eyes they are since everyone has different perceptions and views on things.
    Hmm..
  • MsMonny
    MsMonny Posts: 183
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    OH, I so hear you. I have a mirror in the boys bathroom that if I am close to the edge I am a majorly huge ten-tonne-tessie but when I stand in the middle of it I am fine. In my bathroom mirror I look absolutely fine. I then walk past a window in a shop, look at the reflection and nearly die on the spot - I am huge!!

    Cameras don't lie. Mirrors do and so does our brain! I actually wish I would see an obese person in the mirror because it may have spurred me on earlier to try and lose it.
  • jo_marnes
    jo_marnes Posts: 1,601 Member
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    Cameras are best! I have been shocked, surprised and wowed by photos.... in good and bad ways. Always look worse in front of a mirror through my eyes!
  • sapphirelazuli
    sapphirelazuli Posts: 95
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    I generally go by 'off-guard' photos. Ones that I haven't sucked anything in for, haha. :)
  • bel74
    bel74 Posts: 32 Member
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    Can I relate to this!! I have NO IDEA what I really look like. None. what. so. ever.

    I am constantly bugging my kids & husband by pointing out someone and saying - do I look like her?? And then begging them to show me someone that I DO look like. I would just like to know what I really look like!! Sounds crazy...

    I hate the me in the mirror and question whether I really look like that, same thing with me in photo's. In my minds eye I don't look anything like I do in the mirror or pics.

    I hope someday I can really, truly see myself as I am.


    im the same,im always pointing people out to my hubby and kids to see if i look the same!
  • binary_jester
    binary_jester Posts: 3,311 Member
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    That is one of the things that got me working out. In the mirror i looked...OK. I really think you know how to turn, etc to see yourself in the best light (complete darkness was always best for me). Then i saw a picture of myself (and i generally avoid pictures like the plague) and there was no denying it. I had even hoped they had used a fish-eye lens, but alas no. I was just fat.

    I would love to blame the camera for adding the 5 pounds, but I think it was really the nachos I had for lunch.
  • modernfemme
    modernfemme Posts: 454 Member
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    The camera adds about 10 pounds, but when you look in the mirror, you are typically looking straight on, holding yourself just right. Seeing pictures of myself others had taken, when I -wasn't- holding my gut in, where so mortifying it was one of the reasons I got my *kitten* in gear.
  • SweetPandora
    SweetPandora Posts: 660 Member
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    I think I may suffer from body dysphoria syndrome.

    I look at myself in the mirror and I see a large out of shape woman and all I see are my flaws.

    I look at photos of myself and can't believe that I'm really that size. Even at the gym I sometimes get a glimpse of myself in the mirror and have to take a second look.

    Karen
  • knittygirl52
    knittygirl52 Posts: 432 Member
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    I'm with SweetPandora. The woman in the mirror bears no resemblance to the woman in the pictures. When I was at my highest weight I was routinely shocked by photographs. Could I really be that large??? But at the other end of the spectrum, when I was at my lowest weight (after a year of Weight Watchers and actually underweight), I still saw myself as fat--I was truly in danger of edging into anorexia. And like Pandora, I would walk by a mirror or window, see my shape out of the corner of my eye and wonder who that skinny woman was! Our eyes are liars--especially in the mirror.

    I think that is why so many of us need to "know" what a healthy weight range would be and just go with that. We cannot trust ourselves.
  • CharlotteRose90
    CharlotteRose90 Posts: 20
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    I generally go by 'off-guard' photos. Ones that I haven't sucked anything in for, haha. :)

    Ha ha that's awesome! I truly never thought of that! =) I always suck in when I get a picture taken.

    On another note, i saw myself in a video on Facebook and could not believe that I was looking at myself! It was horrible! I looked humongous. So now I am avoiding camera's for awhile. My next picture will be after I have lost 20 lbs.
  • three36love
    three36love Posts: 38 Member
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    Do you wear glasses? I've found that when I wear glasses, everything looks slightly smaller, and I've stood in the mirror and admired myself thinking I look thin, and then when I put in my contacts I'm in for a huge surprise.. I look like a cow!

    So needless to say, I wear glasses most of the time. :)
  • myofibril
    myofibril Posts: 4,500 Member
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    The mirror, the camera and the eyes all lie.

    Why? Because they depend on our own perception of ourselves for accuracy. Very few people can assess themselves objectively from the svelte lady who just sees someone overweight looking back at her to the beer bellied lothario who sees a chiselled Adnonis as his reflection.

    Of all of them the camera lies the least because you can assess yourself in relation to your immediate surroundings or other people better.

    What tells the truth? The numbers. The numbers on the scale. The numbers on your BF calipers. The numbers on your measuring tape.
  • lessertess
    lessertess Posts: 855 Member
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    I would love to know what I really look like. When I look in mirrors most of the time I think I look ok. Not skinny but not obese either. Every photo I see of myself I look HUGE. In fact, look the way I THOUGHT I lookied 75 pounds agao. I just don't get it. I know what size I wear and see other women in larger sizes who I think look much smaller than I do in photos. Over Christmas, I had an Aunt who called me "skinny". I'm not even close to skinny.

    So, you can't trust the mirror, you can't trust cameras and other peoples perceptions are going to be influenced by what you used to look like or their own perceptions.......

    And I've got to say that a really really really hate the idea that the camera is the most accurate. Not only do I look obese but I always look like I lost about 25 IQ points.

    I'm trying to just go by how I feel.
  • mccorml
    mccorml Posts: 622 Member
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    my friend told me that mirrors are the actual liar because no mirror is perfectly straight he said a camera will give the best representation of what you look like the thing with cameras tho is that you can change angles :)
  • kmtetour
    kmtetour Posts: 300 Member
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    I've gotten to the point where I feel a lot better when I look at myself in the mirror... dressed at least, we won't talk about what's under the clothes. However, I had my mom take a couple of pictures of me on Christmas in a dress I thought I looked really cute in. I hate every single shot. I think I look so fat. And I look back at pictures of me from 10 or so years ago, and realize I was HOT and I didn't know it.
  • shaunarlr83
    shaunarlr83 Posts: 374 Member
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    Thanks guys for all of the responses, it has been awhile since I used this sight, i was waiting for a notice that someone responded and never seen anything lol. Well, I guess their are alot of people who feel the same way so I am glad I am not crazy lol. I have heard of skinny girls looking in the mirror and seeing herself as fat but have never heard of it the other way around. I have been studying the mirror and I will have to say it has to be the biggest liar by far. Our dresser is kinda old and I noticed when I stand in the corner and look at an object and then see its reflection in the mirror it looks really far away and alot smaller, must be why they put those warning on vehicles side mirrors huh? I made sure this time around to take before pictures, the last time I used this sight my biggest motivation was before and after pics. I hate the way I look in them but once I have changed I know I will be glad to visually see the difference. I am always asking my husband if I look like other people too lol, I love the fact that most everyone poses to look good in pics lol, I usually set the timer on the camera so I can get just the right angle and even then I usually take about 20 pictures trying to get one decent one lol. But I also realized that the camera has to right because when I take pictures of other people, they look absolutely normal, not bigger than real life. I am trying to hold off stepping on the scale for as long as I can and have been wearing only workout or baggie sweatpants, that way the next time I put on my jeans maybe I can "FEEL" the difference. Thanks again guys and good luck to us all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • shaunarlr83
    shaunarlr83 Posts: 374 Member
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    I always think I can hide very well in clothes but when I sit down I can look at my stomach and realize there is no hiding that, before I got pregnant I was a 7/9 and I never thought of myself as skinny but since I have gained weight several people have said I used to be really skinny or tiny lol, maybe that is their way of hinting to me I have really packed on the pounds lol.

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