No pictures please

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wallaceangela
wallaceangela Posts: 4 Member
in Motivation and Support
I absolutely hate to be in pictures. I'll think I look cute in an outfit and then boom, I'll see a picture someone took and I look fat and not at all what I thought I was looking like.

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  • Tubbs216
    Tubbs216 Posts: 6,597 Member
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    Yeah, it's grim isn't it. I hate it.
  • alyhuggan
    alyhuggan Posts: 717 Member
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    Haha I'm in the same boat
  • vaniacpmarques
    vaniacpmarques Posts: 6 Member
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    +1 here
  • North44
    North44 Posts: 359 Member
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    Me too.
  • sneaky_teaky
    sneaky_teaky Posts: 30 Member
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    I have felt that way for a long time, But looking through pictures of my childhood I noticed out of literally thousands of photos, my mom was only in a very small handful. Like I think I found 3. When I asked her about it she said the same thing, "I don't like how I look." This made me reflect on myself in the more recent years where I have become more camera shy. I hadn't thought before about how my future children would some day want to look at those pictures and would also wonder why I was missing. Plus now that I am on this weight loss journey I feel I have cheated myself by not taking any before photos, and the only pictures of me I find are like those of Yeti walking through the forest(read: Me making an escape from the photo.) So now I am making a conscious stride, no matter how I feel I look I grin and bear it. This way years down the road I can see how far I have come, and when age eats away at my youth I can keep the photos as fond memories. For instance, I thought I was big in highschool, but looking back at the photos from then I now noticed that I was not overweight, but merely more muscular than the other girls in my group of friends.

    So I guess what I am saying is don't shy away from the camera. Someone in your life might cherish that picture later. Don't let your fears and self-consciousness control you. Step forward and smile at the camera!
  • Gska17
    Gska17 Posts: 752 Member
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    Been there. It's awful!
  • Alethea02R
    Alethea02R Posts: 2 Member
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    That's exactly how I felt two weeks ago!! I wore a knee length dress for my graduation. And I did have an amazing time. But just yesterday saw the pictures on the college's website. Since I was one of the first people to walk up on to stage, they put my picture first on the slideshow. I was absolutely horrified!! I looked soooo fat. Three hours later I was in the gym. I hope I stay motivated to finally get my body back!! After becoming a mother, it has become a challenge to lose the weight. But I'm gonna try!!
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 17,959 Member
    edited May 2015
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    There is actually a psychological reason for why we don't like ourselves in pictures.

    You see yourself every day, in the mirror, walking past windows, reflected in the screen of our phone, over and over again. And, with few exceptions, we're seeing the mirror image of ourselves, and that's what we're used to and intimately familiar with.

    We aren't symetrical, and while the differences in the way we see ourselves in a mirror vs a photo can be minor, to our brains, which are so familiar with our features, those differences stand out like beacons. Think about how you can notice the most minor change in your body before it is evident to someone else, like the onset of a cold sore or a pimple. Looking at a photo of ourselves is like looking at a slightly altered, skewed vision of ourselves. Freckles are on the wrong side, slightly asymetrical eyebrows are reversed, the boob that's bigger than the other one is now on the wrong side.... And those minor differences distort our perception of the picture. To ourselves we look subtly but assuredly wrong.

    For many people, this results in a dislike of the way they look in pictures vs the mirror. For some, it's the opposite, they prefer their pictured self.

    It's actually quite fascinating.
  • Gska17
    Gska17 Posts: 752 Member
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    I've heard of that too, @Alatariel75! It's why straight-on selfies bother me. Since when was my right eye a half-inch lower? :p
  • kickassbarbie
    kickassbarbie Posts: 286 Member
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    Alatariel75 wrote: »
    There is actually a psychological reason for why we don't like ourselves in pictures.

    You see yourself every day, in the mirror, walking past windows, reflected in the screen of our phone, over and over again. And, with few exceptions, we're seeing the mirror image of ourselves, and that's what we're used to and intimately familiar with.

    We aren't symetrical, and while the differences in the way we see ourselves in a mirror vs a photo can be minor, to our brains, which are so familiar with our features, those differences stand out like beacons. Think about how you can notice the most minor change in your body before it is evident to someone else, like the onset of a cold sore or a pimple. Looking at a photo of ourselves is like looking at a slightly altered, skewed vision of ourselves. Freckles are on the wrong side, slightly asymetrical eyebrows are reversed, the boob that's bigger than the other one is now on the wrong side.... And those minor differences distort our perception of the picture. To ourselves we look subtly but assuredly wrong.

    For many people, this results in a dislike of the way they look in pictures vs the mirror. For some, it's the opposite, they prefer their pictured self.

    It's actually quite fascinating.


    Wow... that makes sense and I've never thought about it...

    I barely recognise myself in photos and hate having them taken for that reason! Photos of myself creep me out beyond belief sometimes. I've never really thought about it all being the reverse of what I'm used to seeing.


  • Alluminati
    Alluminati Posts: 6,208 Member
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    Alatariel75 wrote: »
    There is actually a psychological reason for why we don't like ourselves in pictures.

    You see yourself every day, in the mirror, walking past windows, reflected in the screen of our phone, over and over again. And, with few exceptions, we're seeing the mirror image of ourselves, and that's what we're used to and intimately familiar with.

    We aren't symetrical, and while the differences in the way we see ourselves in a mirror vs a photo can be minor, to our brains, which are so familiar with our features, those differences stand out like beacons. Think about how you can notice the most minor change in your body before it is evident to someone else, like the onset of a cold sore or a pimple. Looking at a photo of ourselves is like looking at a slightly altered, skewed vision of ourselves. Freckles are on the wrong side, slightly asymetrical eyebrows are reversed, the boob that's bigger than the other one is now on the wrong side.... And those minor differences distort our perception of the picture. To ourselves we look subtly but assuredly wrong.

    For many people, this results in a dislike of the way they look in pictures vs the mirror. For some, it's the opposite, they prefer their pictured self.

    It's actually quite fascinating.

    I like this.
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 17,959 Member
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    Here's a short vid and an explanation about it

    http://petapixel.com/2012/07/11/why-we-hate-seeing-photos-of-ourselves/

    What I think is interesting is that if you use photoshop to flip the photo of yourself, you'll like it more, but other people won't because they will have the same issue we do with the original photo.

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