Just Can't picture myself Skinny

I am the same way!!! In my family I am the 'strong one' or the 'big girl'. It's hard to over come what you are known as! Good luck to you! Take pictures along the way. I posted a topic a few days ago that was just like this! Feel free to friend me.

You just have to do it! Not for anyone else but yourself. I started out at 215 lbs and couldn't picture myself skinny. But that was part of the "fun" of it...discovering my new body and the confidence to go with it. I have a Before and current After pic in my signature if you want to take a look.

Just make healthy choices and make them a habit.

Good luck.

Growing up I always thought I was fat cuz my family always told me I was when I wasn't. I didn't realize that until I got fat. For yrs now I've felt hopeless but last month I said screw this. It's not just about being skinny now it's about feeling better about myself. Just remember that you're doing this for yourself and nobody else. Is there something you can't do now because of your weight? If so think about how good it will feel to be able to do that once it's gone. Hope this helps. Add me if you need support.:bigsmile:

Now that there's so much less of me I feel much closer to skinny than I really am. And then somebody takes a picture of me and posts it in Facebook and I realize that after all this I'm still not skinny. Bummer.

But, I remind myself that this is just a stop along the way. I'll get to the skinny end eventually.

My only suggestion is to stop trying to picture yourself skinny.. just try and wrap your brain around being healthy and the skinny part will follow. Good luck!

visualization is very important. try harder to visualize. you CAN do it.

As Dave Ramsey would say, "You need to get off the stinkin' thinkin'." A couple big motivators for me have been pictures of body types I would like to have (Lance Armstrong may be a long shot for me, but it's still an aspiration much more realistic than Arnold Schwarzenegger), I have clothing in my closet that I would like to wear at my goal weight, and I have pictures of mountains I would love to be able to climb.

Other motivators are the small steps I see myself making every day. I mark the differences in my eating and write my weekly weigh-ins on the bathroom mirror so I can see them every day.

It's hard to see the peak of Mount Everest when you're standing at the base, but you can see the first rise you have to get to. So start making your way towards it. Set your eyes not on a skinny you, but a skinni*er* you. Eventually you'll look in the mirror and have to look several more times to make sure it's really you you're looking at.

Just a couple of thoughts.

take it a meal at a time....look at the short term....3 meals make a day....21 meals make a wk....don't look at the big picture take small steps and you will get there.

Do it for yourself.....one bite and one meal at a time.

:bigsmile:

Girl, I wish someone would have told me when I made my lifestyle change that more work needs to go into your mentality. I would lose weight and no one could tell and I would look in the mirror and still see the same girl that I was at my heaviest. But TRUST me when I say, there's gonna be one day that you're gonna catch a glimpse of yourself or a picture will be taken and you won't even recognize who you are. I PROMISE. So pleaseeeee keep going. Don't quit! You are so worth this!!!

I think I get it. I don't really have a huge problem picturing myself skinny because I used to be skinny in high school, but I understand how something becomes a part of your identity and that makes it hard to let go of. I used to be kind of preversely proud of how lazy I am, how much I love to nap and how I hate exercise of all forms. My husband and I always laugh about how lazy I am - it's like a running joke in our family. Except that the heavier I get, the less funny it gets. So I know what you mean - that was part of who I was, and now I have to change that and rearrange that whole part of my idea of what I'm like. That's hard. But I think that it's worth it, because we are turning into people that are even stronger and better than the people that we used to be.

As for being able to picture yourself as skinny - maybe don't try to take in the whole picture at once. I want to lose about 50 lbs, and when I think about it in those terms, it sounds crazy, like some kind of insane pipe dream that could never come true. I feel about as likely to lose 50 lbs as I am to win the lottery or be selected as America's Next Top Model. It overwhelms me. So instead, I try to think about acheiving all of the little goals that I want to acheive along the way. Like I just picture being able to button the next size down pants, and being able to wear a shirt that is currently too tight on me. I try to take it in little bites to get myself used to the idea, and so that I don't get overwhelmed and blow it off. I hope that helps. Good luck to you!

i totally understand, the last time i was skinny was back n like kindergarten-before school food got a hold of my thighs and stomach

STAY WITH IT!

I can TOTALLY relate! I have always been the "chubby" girl but I am sticking with it. Even almost 50 pounds lighter, I still feel like the chubby girl! (OK-old lady) but I am wearing size 8 pants! It is a mental issue that you need to overcome in your head, but don't let your body and health suffer because of it! Believe me, 20-30 pounds from now you will be getting compliments left and right and you (probably) won't see it yourself, but just know that your health is TOTALLY worth it! You can do this! Don't wait until you are old(er) like me, there are too many cute clothes out there just waiting for you to show off your curves in!

I agree with everyone... You can also try http://www.mymodel.com

Here you can create a model of yourself and make her skinny!

Or I picked someone I thought would have a similar build and used a little art magic to give me a goal body. (See my profile shot).

It's important to be able to imagine it. If you can see it, its possible.

Good luck! You can do it!

Think about getting healthy. When skinny was my goal, it didn't work. When I decided I wanted to be healthy, something clicked in my brain. I log all my food and exercise. It does help. And I pick little goals. First it was to get under 180, then to 175, then under 170. This way I feel victorious fairly often. Don't forget that at times your weight may plateau, and you'll get stuck at the same number possibly for weeks, but keep at it. I was at 176 for 3 weeks which was extremely frustrating, but finally one glorious morning the scale read 175.5! I weighed myself three times to make sure. I took a picture and sent it to my best friend.
Reject everyone else's labels and think of the one's you want to apply to yourself. The healthy sister, the tough as nails friend, the determined one? Pick a trait you admire, apply it to yourself and go for that goal. Good Luck. You'll be okay. Persistance is the key.

I can really relate to this and even so close to my halfway point, I still have days when I feel just like this. I've always... *always* been heavy. I'm still obese and have almost 30 more lbs to lose before I'm not obese. *sigh*

Anyway, when I'm feeling my fat girl blues, here's what I do about it:

-Hit the Success Stories hard on this forum. I don't always respond, but I read/view most of these on a regular basis. Seeing someone's before and after picture of 100+ lbs weight loss makes me feel like I can do it too.

-I spend some time on http://www.mybodygallery.com I usually go through my start weight all the way down to my goal weight viewing pictures for every 10lbs of the way. It really helps me SEE yes, it can happen. (Still believe size Medium is illogical, does not compute, *head explodes*, but Large is actually in sight right now.)

-If I still have the blues after this, I look at old pictures of myself versus more recent pictures.

-I pay it forward. Sometimes reading posts on this website remind me that I'm not alone in feeling how I do, seeing myself how I do, and struggling. Making posts like this helps me too. It reminds me of what I've accomplished and that I can help someone else feeling this way too.

-Still feeling blue? I talk to one of two friends who always know what to say to pick me up.

-And last, but hardly least, some days I do this first... I go exercise. Nothing like a brisk walk to clear my head of nonsense. I always feel better afterwards if for no reason than I DID IT.

I hope some of this helps.