Long time maintainers - when did your brain catch up?

justkeeprunning91
justkeeprunning91 Posts: 96 Member
edited November 20 in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Hi all, I'm currently about 10lbs from goal, which will put me down 90lbs total on a 5'4.5" small frame. I'm happy with my success but I still feel huge (likely as a result of being obese since childhood). My question for all of you who have been maintaining for a while is how long did it take your brain and self perception to catch up to the reality of your weight loss?

Replies

  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    It did take a couple of years. Every time I looked in the mirror or caught my reflection I was surprised. Now it looks like me.
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,740 Member
    mamadon wrote: »
    It's weird, I've been maintaining for 3 1/2 years a 118 pound loss. I was the opposite. At first I felt so darn skinny. Now, sometimes I look in the mirror and I feel I look chubby. I think it's just because I've gotten used to looking how I look and my critical self is popping up again.

    This is sort of how it is for me, too.

    I am up 11 lb from my lowest weight and still maintaining a 130 lb loss for 4 years, but that extra 11 lb is so weird for me and makes me think I am "back to normal" in my head (normal in this case being my former size 24 self). When I was at my lowest 2 years ago, I felt skinny. In fact it was like I traded in fear of looking too fat for a fear of looking gawky or gaunt, which friends & family would sometimes unconsciously encourage those fears by saying how my teeth looked too big for my head or my legs looked too skinny, etc. They seemed to have good intentions, but they NEVER commented on my heavier physique so it was hard.

    I was around 250 lb for so many years that when I hit 300 at one point, I was shocked by photos of how big I'd gotten, and when I hit 180 and below I was shocked by how small I looked. Now I've become very critical again and do have a few lumps that I didn't have 11 lb ago...I am a little ashamed of how that relatively minor gain has affected my body image, it's nuts.

    Pictures are my friend, as is the experience of grabbing XL and 1X stuff in a store and then laughing in the dressing room mirror when I clearly need M and L.

  • swim777
    swim777 Posts: 599 Member


    I'm in the "lost a bunch and then had a regain" club which I have actually done a few times. This is the first time using MFP since April and I can tell that this is an amazing difference in awareness. I also have an awesome scale and a Misfit that all work together and I have the data at hand, no blind eyes to the truth. I feel like I'll be a logger for life and am already thinking of my maintenance phase, something I have never done before - I basically just slid backward although I have maintained the majority of the pounds I initially lost. [/quote]

    I have a misfit that along with mfp has been a great tool for keeping me aware and motivated. It was the first fitness tracker I tried, and I trust it. I lost over 70 lbs in a year. This second year I have struggled more with stress eating and being about 4-5 lbs above maintenance. I'm 62, which means nothing, lol, but I'm 5'3 1/2, and five lbs is about a size for me. After looking at last summer's data, I realize I was actually maintaining with more calories then I have allowed myself in a while. Hoping to do maintenance better soon!
  • loseitin_2016
    loseitin_2016 Posts: 21 Member
    It has taken me 5 years to lose 200 lbs.Even at 122 lbs I still don't feel like a thin person.I know I'm not fat anymore but when I look in the mirror I still see the middle age spread although I'm 62.I don't want to lose anymore.I am thinking of myself as healthy and not thin.Does that ever go away?Also I have at least 20 lbs of loose excess skin so to me I look like an 85 yr old woman but I won't have the surgery since I have no desire to weigh 100 at age 62.
  • CaliMomTeach
    CaliMomTeach Posts: 745 Member
    I haven't been maintaining for any amount of time (in fact regained a few pounds which I'm now trying to lose), but I am in constant denial of what size I really am to the point of arguing with a friend shopping with me, saying "I am NOT a small" or "I am not a size 4." I just went shopping this past week a few times, and am still feeling very weird that almost all of the tops I bought were smalls (2 were XS due to loose style), one long skirt was an XS, and today I tried on two pairs of size 4 jeans that fit me perfectly. I started at 193 and a size 14 last July. I have said numerous times "I am not that size" but various brands of clothing say differently. When I look in the mirror, I do not see a person this small at all. I still see fat. But once in a while I see a woman who looks thin and great and realize that it is actually me in a reflection or mirror somewhere. I have friends at a similar size and still see them as much smaller than me. I am waiting for my brain to catch up as well.
  • timtam163
    timtam163 Posts: 500 Member
    I feel like I experienced the opposite thing: I was a skinny kid, so when I got to my heaviest weight in college I was in super denial about how I looked. I still saw the skinny girl inside. Though now I'm in denial again. Maybe the person we were as a kid/young adult is the person we will always expect to see.

    I do however feel more intense feelings of being a "fraud"; like if people get to know me as thin they won't know me at my worst, and therefore won't know "all" of me. Also fear of looking in the mirror and suddenly seeing the me that was 6 sizes bigger.

    But no... I don't know how long it takes to get used to being a certain size.
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