Getting used to a different you?

Options
zestyzesty
zestyzesty Posts: 57 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello. Just wondering if anyone else has been really happy about losing weight but also unable to quite realise it? The sense of sometimes still feeling like a much bigger person is strange. I have lost 5 stone now, over 2 years. I see myself in a mirror and it sort of fills me with disbelief. My brain can't adjust to how I am now. I still have quite a bit of weight to lose but I don't really look that big anymore now. Looking back at photos from 2 or 3 years ago I look huge in comparison from my perspective now. Of course it is a positive thing for my health, but it's just a lot to take in even though it's a good thing.
«1

Replies

  • jandsstevenson887
    jandsstevenson887 Posts: 296 Member
    Options
    This happens to me a lot. I was in spin class last night and I looked at the women in front of me and thought, 'I wish I looked like that', then I looked back in the mirror on the side and realized I'm really not that different from them.
  • gerfbrady
    gerfbrady Posts: 14 Member
    Options
    I have lost 115lbs and still see the same person in the mirror. Hopefully my brain will catch up with my body
  • 85Cardinals
    85Cardinals Posts: 733 Member
    Options
    There's less of me to love now!
  • ashleyjongepier
    ashleyjongepier Posts: 130 Member
    Options
    I've lost 145lbs and I still have 70lbs to go. I am still fat by most standards but I am no longer "death fat" as I was before. I am rarely the largest person in a room now and thats just crazy to me. I was always the biggest person anywhere I went before. Some days I am shocked by how small I am compared to before and other days I feel the same way I was 145 lbs ago.
  • zestyzesty
    zestyzesty Posts: 57 Member
    Options
    Sorry for slow reply. Jandstevens, thanks for your reply! Yes, I know the feeling! If people (rudely I might add) talk about fat people, I feel embarrassed, thinking it must apply to me but even though I am still overweight I don't look that big anymore. Hope you enjoy your spinning, sure you look great! :-D

    Gerfbrady, wow huge achievement. It's strange though isn't it? Like the brain can't adjust, or just takes time to maybe.

    85cardinals, aw, but the love can be more concentrated now?! :-)

    Ashley, thanks for your reply. I absolutely know what you mean! I lost 70lbs and medically speaking in terms of BMI, need to lose about another 60-65 lbs to get to the upper range of what is considered a healthy weight. Just think, you have come so far already. That is what you have to realise I think when you are part-way to where you want to be.

    I went to buy some new jeans today as mine were falling down (nice to go shopping for smaller things!) and as I went for the fastener, my hands were several inches too far in front of the button and it took me a very shocked couple of minutes to realise that my body didn't end where I thought it did, it was much smaller.

    You're all such an inspiration. I hope we can all start feeling as good as we should be, after all our efforts. :-)
  • ReaderGirl3
    ReaderGirl3 Posts: 868 Member
    edited April 2016
    Options
    3 years into maintenance and it still happens to me once in a while. I was really down on myself a few weeks ago, dealing with some winter weight creep, and my husband got so fed up with my moping that he took a picture of me. It's my profile picture. Obviously what I was 'seeing' was not what was real, even with a bit of weight creep (which I've since taken care of). It's so easy to focus on the little negatives and frustrations, and not realize the amazing things we've accomplished! I'm trying to get better at this, but it's hard.
  • zestyzesty
    zestyzesty Posts: 57 Member
    Options
    Wow Readergirl3, 3 years of maintenance is great. I think there is a fear that if you put anything at all back on, you will go back to where you started, which is maybe true for about the first month of losing weight but by the time you have got a good way towards, or in your case, reached, your goals, probably you're the only person who would even notice it. Everyone else will just see the strong, fit person you so clearly are! I recently got new shirts for work, 4 sizes smaller than when I started. That was a big moment of realisation for me. I hope you too can realise how much you've achieved :-)
  • zestyzesty
    zestyzesty Posts: 57 Member
    Options
    Villae81, that sounds like a great feeling!
  • kathygk56
    kathygk56 Posts: 28 Member
    Options
    This seems to be pretty common.
    Every time I would get in the car, I would feel like I was missing or forgetting something. After a while I realized that what was missing was a good amount of my body/belly fat. My smaller size was apparently only obvious to me when I was in a space where it made a difference. (seat belts, legroom, etc.)
  • dolliesdaughter
    dolliesdaughter Posts: 544 Member
    edited April 2016
    Options
    Still 4 years later and I think that I am larger than what I really am. I still go to the plus sized section first. I no longer need to shop in plus sizes.
  • zestyzesty
    zestyzesty Posts: 57 Member
    Options
    Hi Paula, sorry I did not realise I never replied. Thank you for your comment! I know exactly how you feel! It's so strange, I wonder if I will ever get used to it. Still when people talk about large people I assume they must mean me and feel embarrassed!
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    Options
    I lost 50 pounds, hit goal weight Oct 2014, and am only partly accustomed to my "new" body. I love how easy it is to do certain things, but it does feel strange. Sometimes I look at my thighs and I can't understand that those "sticks" are supposed to be my legs.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
    Options
    I'm presently at my 9th grade football weight. I was a d-lineman. That's because I was too uncoordinated to be an o-lineman. D-line was for fat, uncoordinated slobs. That's where I was. I'm still fat and uncoordinated, but in 40 years my knee has healed. I guess that's progress.
  • kthompson601
    kthompson601 Posts: 174 Member
    Options
    I've lost 120 pounds in 2 years, with 40 pounds to go, and I still have a very difficult time fathoming it. I still find I view myself as someone who weighs nearly 300 pounds.

    Recently I had to buy some new workout clothes, as they were just falling off my (I was literally holding up my shorts; not a good look!). I went to TJ Maxx and the first place I went to was the rack with the 3x size. I thumbed through and had to remind myself, "No, you don't weigh that anymore." So I went to the 1x size and looked at those, but still thought they looked too big. Then the 0x size--nope, still too large. I actually phoned my mother, while still in the store, and asked her, "What comes before 0x?" She said, "You can go to the regular women's size now, Karen. It's called a large." Bizarre!
  • AmandaIsherwood3
    AmandaIsherwood3 Posts: 47 Member
    Options
    npmsll82pmcl.jpg
    4xccce67utcr.jpg
    xv8jvkep6msn.jpg

    At my heaviest I was about 17 stone and a size 24. Every time i have lost weight in the past i could never get lower than 13st 7lb, since joining MFP ive smashed it and my current weight is 12st 11lb and I'm a size 16. although i can see it in these picture i still cant believe I'm a size 16, i have always envied my older sister and thought the size she was was the size i would love to be, today she has come and had my old clothes that hang off me, i cant get my head around that I'm smaller than the size i always wanted to be. I am on a new goal now to get below 12st 7lb
  • ericatoday
    ericatoday Posts: 454 Member
    Options
    Its completely normal the only thing that helps me is my weightloss photos. Ive lost 30lbs. My clothes dont fit me and i feel sexier when im naked but lile when i look down or if i get dressed i still feel i look the same in my clothes. Its weird. Your mind plays tricks on you.
  • 2011rocket3touring
    2011rocket3touring Posts: 1,346 Member
    Options
    My previous go around I had lost 80lbs. I felt like a Terminator; not in a bad-a** killing machine, but as an infiltrator. No knew that I was a fat guy, because I didn't look like one...
  • newheavensearth
    newheavensearth Posts: 870 Member
    Options
    I'm doing my best to get used to the new me. I'm scared if I keep seeing myself as big I'll never break free from that person and regain. I keep hearing how small I am but I don't believe it untl I see it in pictures.

    I only own one shirt in a size that fits me and haven't worn it yet. It's a small. I still wear baggy larges, mediums, and size 6 pants that need to be folded, rolled, and pinned to stay up. I tried on some small dresses that fit but panicked and put them back.

    When I walk down the street and people look at me, I wonder if something is wrong with me. I'm just not used to this attention, but I have to get used to it. I refuse to go back.

Categories