How long did it take for your mind to catch up to the scale?

vespiquenn
vespiquenn Posts: 1,455 Member
edited September 2015 in Health and Weight Loss
I am just curious of everyone's experience with this and the "I still look the same" mindset.

Most of us have lost weight where others notice, but we personally cannot see it. At 5'9", and almost 22lbs down, I can see differences in progress pictures easily. But in the mirror, I still see that 22lbs of fat.

I know my body dysmorphic disorder is at play after years of struggling to overcome eating disorders. But I often see others make this statement, and I'm curious what you tell yourself to overcome it. Sometimes, knowing that the weight isn't there doesn't help that self-perception.
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Replies

  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,652 Member
    It didn't take any time for me.
  • vivelajackie
    vivelajackie Posts: 321 Member
    I'm from a tight 4x to a large/xl and I still feel like I look the same A LOT of the time. Pictures prove as reminders I'm not but you know, you have what you think of a bad day and still feel like you're back at the starting weight and then some. The mental side of weight loss is a real thing.
  • onyxgirl17
    onyxgirl17 Posts: 1,722 Member
    It did take awhile. I lost weight slowly so that didn't help I guess... 22 pounds came off in 6-7 months. That's probably around the time I "started" noticing. First 3 months and 10-15 pounds down I felt like I looked exactly the same.
  • minties82
    minties82 Posts: 907 Member
    edited September 2015
    It took a good few months. I have been at it for 9 months and lost about 86lbs so far. I just came across a video I took of myself doing a workout when I was much bigger and was absolutely shocked at how I looked. That big person is not me any more, it's like looking at a stranger.

    I still have a big chunk to lose but it has really started to sink in in the last couple of months just how far I have come.

    You already look quite small to me from your profile pic, I think it can be harder to see a difference perhaps if you are tall and not very heavy to start with? I'm 4'11" and was 256lbs.
  • ki4eld
    ki4eld Posts: 1,213 Member
    I'm 5' tall and down 120lbs and I'm actually surprised when I see myself. We don't have mirrors in the house. When I catch a glimpse of myself, I don't know who it is for a moment. I still feel 300+lbs. A friend and I were discussing the concept of "mentally fat" and we both acknowledged that we still think that way. I'm nowhere as close to fit as he is. I still have 80lbs to go. He's pretty much at goal, but doesn't see how fit he really is.

    It'll happen, I hope.
  • PinkPixiexox
    PinkPixiexox Posts: 4,142 Member
    It took me around 3 and a half months to notice any changes in myself - having said that, I have been known to be overly critical of myself so my mind may have been refusing to believe it before then. All I know now is, I'm feeling really good and I'm happy with the way things are going. I hope you are too :]
  • patesq
    patesq Posts: 111 Member
    I haven't gotten there yet. I've lost 23 lbs in 8 weeks and don't see any difference. The scale shows there is. I know my heart rate is under better control. I measured my waist this morning and have lost 5 1/2 inches in a month. I don't feel any smaller.
  • lalepepper
    lalepepper Posts: 447 Member
    edited September 2015
    Still working on it. I know I'm smaller, being 104 lbs down, but things tend to stay a similar shape. Especially since I see myself in the mirror every day, there are definitely times where I feel a lot bigger than I am. I feel like I look a lot bigger than other women at a similar height/weight. Side by side progress pics help immensely - I waited for so long to take one, but it's a great tool.
  • justrollme
    justrollme Posts: 802 Member
    It took me quite awhile, and when I look around a clothing shop, I keep going to the wrong size. I haven't been size 8 in so long, it almost feels like I don't believe it quite yet. I still have a long way to go to get where I want to be, so maybe that is part of it.
  • fidangul
    fidangul Posts: 673 Member
    I've been refusing to buy new clothes because I still felt the same even after 4months and a loss of 22.5kgs. However my husband and mother were like "your clothes are dropping off you, you need to treat yourself". So when I did go shopping this past week I couldn't believe the variety of clothes I was able to get into in the 'regular' rails. But I still have a long way to go. So I don't know what I'll feel or see when and if I reach my target.
  • ponycyndi
    ponycyndi Posts: 858 Member
    Since I look at myself in the mirror every day, I wasn't seeing the difference. Looking at pictures didn't really help me either. But getting out my old clothes did.

    I put on a shirt that used to be tight, elastic all stretched out, and it was so huge, the neck hole no longer covered my boobs.

    My pants that didn't button because they were so tight, are 5 sizes too big.

    So I keep a few things from my heaviest weight, just so I can look at them and remind myself how far I have come.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
    ive lost 70 and dont SEE it.

    in pictures and clothes i do, but not in the mirror. ive just have to come to terms with that LOL
  • TOneHundredForty
    TOneHundredForty Posts: 18 Member
    I've lost almost 40 pounds and I still really have to really look at the mirror to see a difference.
  • Stacescotty
    Stacescotty Posts: 29 Member
    I've lost 51lbs in the last 5 months and often don't see a difference but I agree with those who seen the difference in their clothes not fitting. -- 5'10" and 175, down from 226. 15 more lbs to go (at least).
  • owensy12
    owensy12 Posts: 88 Member
    I still don't see it. I've lost 33lbs and gone from an XL to a Medium, and 36" waist to a 32". I can tell in the clothes I buy, but when I look in the mirror I still think i'm overweight. I've also had an issue with my torso (stomach and chest), and until that is gone (or more flat), then I won't be happy with how I look.
  • MollyJE19
    MollyJE19 Posts: 67 Member
    I've lost 17 lbs. so far and I didn't really notice until 5 lbs. ago when my clothes began to feel comfortable instead of tight, and when I looked in the mirror I could see that they fit so much better, especially the tops. But I don't really feel it, it just feels like my clothes somehow changed, not me.
  • 717Shelly
    717Shelly Posts: 14 Member
    I've been wondering the same thing. I am down 75lbs. It feels weird when everyone else comments on my weight loss when I look in the mirror and see no change.
  • Annr
    Annr Posts: 2,765 Member
    a great article on body image:
    http://www.doorway-to-self-esteem.com/body-image.html
  • Annr
    Annr Posts: 2,765 Member
    It talks about your body image having an exterior and an interior. So you exterior body image says you are 5'2" that is factual. You can't dispute that. No one with say that isn't true...but your interior body image is more deeper. You can lose weight and still think you are fat. Its a matter is disconnecting your interior body image from your exterior. Its a nice article I came across last night. Just a tool to help how we see ourselves. I found it quite interesting :-)
  • BurnWithBarn2015
    BurnWithBarn2015 Posts: 1,026 Member
    edited September 2015
    I just wrote something about that myself this morning on my FB page funny

    I dont have a problem with how i see myself but after losing almost 110 pounds in 11 months my mind still seem to need time to catch up.

    95069916.png
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    I don't see it until I see 'before' pictures (there are really not many of them. I was hiding). But I still don't see myself as thin, honestly. I see the clothes I'm wearing and look at them and tell myself that there is no way I fit in those tiny things, but yes, I do.

    I can definitely see the difference on your pictures, by the way... heck you look perfect to me and I don't see where you even want to lose 13 pounds from.
  • Annr
    Annr Posts: 2,765 Member
    change your mind....change your body.....yep this weight journey is mostly mental..... If you just do the physical work (lose the weight) and not do your homework to lose it in your brain, it just comes back on.
  • BurnWithBarn2015
    BurnWithBarn2015 Posts: 1,026 Member
    edited September 2015
    Annr wrote: »
    change your mind....change your body.....yep this weight journey is mostly mental..... If you just do the physical work (lose the weight) and not do your homework to lose it in your brain, it just comes back on.

    lol it only comes back on when you eat surplus calories
    Sorry,,,that is science


    95069916.png



  • Annr
    Annr Posts: 2,765 Member
    edited September 2015
    all you that have lost alot of weight....(((((AWESOMME SAUCE to you all by the way)))))) do you still wear some of the same clothes? I know that the weight loss group I am in, we are always trading clothes here and there to support each other, and not wear baggy clothes. I think its important to look at your body in a full length mirror. Nude. Just so you imprint in your mind the real you. Its a powerful thing!
  • BurnWithBarn2015
    BurnWithBarn2015 Posts: 1,026 Member
    edited September 2015
    Nope i dont wear anything "old"

    I wear new clothes that fit and i wait some time everytime to buy new sizes
    I know what i lost and see the huge body change i went through

    It is just that at the store i cant get used to picking the right size etc.

    But will get there
    It seems i think about 2 sizes bigger But coming from a 28 to now 10 to 8, that isnt that bad lol

    95069916.png

  • Lourdesong
    Lourdesong Posts: 1,492 Member
    We went to the movies recently and when it got out of course everyone rushes to the restroom, including me.

    When a sink frees up so I can wash my hands I'm faced with a huge mirror in front of me with about 5 other women washing their hands at the sinks around me. I was stunned to see myself in the mirror lined up besides what I'd consider average normal sized women, and seeing I'm the smallest woman in the line up.

    That really weirded me out, and given that I'm around 170lbs I think my perception of average and normal sized must be really off due to me once being in the high 280's. Any woman under 225 appears slim to me, and apparently I still assume I'm larger than them without a mirror to contradict my assumption.

    Brain weirdness.
  • Annr
    Annr Posts: 2,765 Member
    Good deal Burn...Numbers on clothes are just that...numbers....every clothes designer makes their sizes special, so I don't take the numbers to heart, but its nice to go into a new size. Do you remember that commerical about jeans and they had sizes labled "Beautiful", "Sassy", Equisite" and so on. That would be wonderful if the commercial world would do that.
  • vespiquenn
    vespiquenn Posts: 1,455 Member
    Annr wrote: »
    all you that have lost alot of weight....(((((AWESOMME SAUCE to you all by the way)))))) do you still wear some of the same clothes? I know that the weight loss group I am in, we are always trading clothes here and there to support each other, and not wear baggy clothes. I think its important to look at your body in a full length mirror. Nude. Just so you imprint in your mind the real you. Its a powerful thing!

    I wear a lot of the same clothes, except pants, because I can't buy a whole new wardrobe right now. Maybe when I hit goal.

    But that's kind of the problem I was pointing out. We could stand nude in front of a mirror, completely aware of all that we have done to become healthy, but still see ourselves as larger.

    I just hope the body dysmorphia goes away on its own eventually.
  • tinger12
    tinger12 Posts: 62 Member
    I am not quite to the 10% body weight lost and when I look in the mirror I see the same big (ok HUGE) person I always do. But my clothes and my hips and knees say otherwise.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    I think I'm always behind. 92 pounds down and the first sixty, I saw little change. Now, I see some change, but not 92 pounds of change.

    I think my mind will catch up when I stop losing. It's always playing catch-up because I'm still losing, KWIM?

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