Fat Brain
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I did replace my wardrobe when I got down to 200 lbs because I simply had to - I could see that my clothes were falling off. But I still can't get my mind to accept that I'm in a 22W pants. My brain will accept 24's, which is progress since I was in 30's, but it still can't quite get to the 22's yet. I'm also always reaching for 4X shirts when I can get into 3's and probably 2's though I don't like my clothes tight so I don't wear 2's.
I did keep a couple of shirts and i think a pair of pants to compare to, though!2 -
oh! How about the jeans that would grow? In the morning I'd put on jeans that were a little loose but not to bad but by the end of the day, I swear I was coming home with ballon pants. I finally ditched them last week but I have been weariing them longer than I should have.1
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I so enjoy this thread. It is one of those things only certain people will understand. Our brains get all confused. I just started again at the beginning of this year, so only down 8-10 lbs... But some days I feel thinner than I am and then look down and say, Oh yeah I am just starting again. I think for some of us that are used to yo-yoing a bit, our brains forget where we are in the process.
For that reason I try to just put my head down and live life a week at a time, then come up for air and weigh in and figure out where I am. Anyone else relate?2 -
I so enjoy this thread. It is one of those things only certain people will understand. Our brains get all confused. I just started again at the beginning of this year, so only down 8-10 lbs... But some days I feel thinner than I am and then look down and say, Oh yeah I am just starting again. I think for some of us that are used to yo-yoing a bit, our brains forget where we are in the process.
For that reason I try to just put my head down and live life a week at a time, then come up for air and weigh in and figure out where I am. Anyone else relate?
I hear you loud and clear but I am obsessed with my scales...I used to weigh once a week but now I like to see my weight graph going down lol...I am the queen of yo yo dieting and HUGE food binges, you have no idea if you are not a binge eater!...sometimes I think since I have lost weight that I look as thin as my head thinks I am and then I look in a mirror and get a harsh reality check...other times I feel like I still weigh as much as I used to and I forget I am starting to look better than before....it’s all a bit confusing!3 -
bmeadows380 wrote: »I did replace my wardrobe when I got down to 200 lbs because I simply had to - I could see that my clothes were falling off. But I still can't get my mind to accept that I'm in a 22W pants. My brain will accept 24's, which is progress since I was in 30's, but it still can't quite get to the 22's yet. I'm also always reaching for 4X shirts when I can get into 3's and probably 2's though I don't like my clothes tight so I don't wear 2's.
I did keep a couple of shirts and i think a pair of pants to compare to, though!
Before weight loss I dressed like an unmade bed. After losing 25 lbs, I celebrated by buying a new suit. Game changer. Next 25 lbs, I found Harry the tailor. Harry taught me how to dress. I became the best dressed guy in the office.
But when left on my own, I consistently buy clothes that are too big. My initial goal was to lose 100 lbs.
That seemed to leave me on the large/medium line for a lot of stuff. But now I’m 10 lbs under that. 2 weeks ago I ordered a couple of t shirts on line. Large. I’m swimming in them. And I’ve been a GW for years. But this next 10 lb loss- I’m a medium. Medium. W
AZZ
You aren’t alone. Not sure there’s an answer to this. But don’t be distressed. It’s a good problem to have. Kinda funny now that I think about it.
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conniewilkins56 wrote: »I hear you loud and clear but I am obsessed with my scales...I used to weigh once a week but now I like to see my weight graph going down lol...I am the queen of yo yo dieting and HUGE food binges, you have no idea if you are not a binge eater!...sometimes I think since I have lost weight that I look as thin as my head thinks I am and then I look in a mirror and get a harsh reality check...other times I feel like I still weigh as much as I used to and I forget I am starting to look better than before....it’s all a bit confusing!
As long as the number is just a number, and the true reward is your ability to follow your plan(all the small actions you are taking to keep yourself in alignment with your ultimate goals), I think weighing yourself daily is a great practice to desensitize our mind to the realities that fluctuations exist in the number for many reasons. I also believe our brain is tricky, in that part of it has evolved over millions of years to tell you that in order to survive you need to be constantly worried about when, where and how you are going to eat, and when food is available, you need to be eating as much as possible. I think binges may be related to this, and if we can just sit and listen to those thoughts, recognizing it’s the primative part of our brain giving us those thoughts, and we don’t need to act on them, we might be able to stop a binge before it starts.2 -
Great Thread!
Speaking of clothes, I was talking to one of my friends describing this journey. And explained how I had refused to buy pants larger than the 28's I was in at the very start in May 2018. But as I started to lose weight they went from being too tight, to comfortable, to slightly loose, to I could take them on and off without undoing the buttons or zipper. When they get that lose that is when I am like time to donate. So I have gotten rid of quite a few of dress pants in a variety of sizes. And now in size 16, and still working on getting more weight off. I do have some jeans in varying sizes I think smallest is size 18 and a few 20's nothing bigger. Tops same thing, but I wore 3X way too long. Someone pointed out time to get rid of the sacks.
One thing I read quite a bit of on MFP, and see on main threads so often in success stories, and see it all over the web as well. Is all these people obessed with taking picture after picture of themselves. Um no? After I lost about 65 lbs I took an upper body, head shot. And now am taking pics every 10 lbs for me to see my journey. And have started to take some of my measurements as well. But those before letting it all hang out pictures, just not going to happen. Even when I take pics, what I think I see and what a few friends have commented on, really surprises me.
The hands/fingers getting so much thinner. I never expected that, so I have cheap ring guards so I do not lose my rings. Eventually I will get them professionally sized.
I am convinced that Fat Brain, often causes me to have Fat Eyes, that are not really seeing the truth.3 -
maureenkhilde wrote: »Great Thread!
Speaking of clothes, I was talking to one of my friends describing this journey. And explained how I had refused to buy pants larger than the 28's I was in at the very start in May 2018. But as I started to lose weight they went from being too tight, to comfortable, to slightly loose, to I could take them on and off without undoing the buttons or zipper. When they get that lose that is when I am like time to donate. So I have gotten rid of quite a few of dress pants in a variety of sizes. And now in size 16, and still working on getting more weight off. I do have some jeans in varying sizes I think smallest is size 18 and a few 20's nothing bigger. Tops same thing, but I wore 3X way too long. Someone pointed out time to get rid of the sacks.
One thing I read quite a bit of on MFP, and see on main threads so often in success stories, and see it all over the web as well. Is all these people obessed with taking picture after picture of themselves. Um no? After I lost about 65 lbs I took an upper body, head shot. And now am taking pics every 10 lbs for me to see my journey. And have started to take some of my measurements as well. But those before letting it all hang out pictures, just not going to happen. Even when I take pics, what I think I see and what a few friends have commented on, really surprises me.
The hands/fingers getting so much thinner. I never expected that, so I have cheap ring guards so I do not lose my rings. Eventually I will get them professionally sized.
I am convinced that Fat Brain, often causes me to have Fat Eyes, that are not really seeing the truth.
*laughs* I can pull most of my pants on without undoing the zipper or the button, but that's because I carry most of my weight in my hips and thighs, so my pants are usually loose in the waist so I can get them up over my tush!
I didn't take many pictures, either. I had to go back a couple of years to even find a "before" pic, and I don't think I took my first "progress" pic until I down 50 lbs? I've got a few others when I was 100 lbs off the last time, but not that many. I've got a couple from around Christmas, but that was because I had a new dress on and I wanted to see how it fit. And those who take pics in sports bras or tank tops? Nope, not me - I'm too self conscious to want that sort of evidence laying around!2 -
Several people have mentioned skinnier fingers and wrists. Can I just say I love feeling my elbows, shoulders, and collar bones? I have to remind myself that yep! These are mine. Lol.3
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I am trying to learn how to dress myself while standing (again). My wife and I were talking about moving some furniture around and I mentioned that I needed the chair where it was to get dressed. She asked why. It had not even occurred to me that it was possible.
She also has pointed out that when I sit in a chair designed for much larger people (we still own many) I sit all the way to one side instead of sitting in the middle.
I have much improved walking downhill and down stairs. My fat brain with some help from my 'had a lot of skin hanging in the front brain messed with my center of gravity' brain made me walk oddly and cautiously down inclines because I was still afraid of falling forward.
I recognize some things but I am glad my wife is watching my habits too. It is hard to shake the habits formed over decades of being obese.5 -
My fat brain was working today. My husband and I went to look at some new furniture and I was looking at love seats, mostly just for me. But then I saw a chair I liked, a normal everyday chair, but I thought no that's too small for me. I told myself but I've lost a lot so maybe I'll fit and I decided to go ahead and try it. Sure enough it was not too small for me! Too short for me yes, but side to side I fit just fine without trouble. Needless to say that realization opened up a lot more choices in our shopping.5
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Does anyone have the opposite? I feel really good, feel so much fitter and my clothes fit well, I'm fitting smaller sizes but then I see my reflection or a picture and I think - am I still that big? I've still got a way to go, but really? Surely I should be waaaay smaller by now!5
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maiomaio71 wrote: »Does anyone have the opposite? I feel really good, feel so much fitter and my clothes fit well, I'm fitting smaller sizes but then I see my reflection or a picture and I think - am I still that big? I've still got a way to go, but really? Surely I should be waaaay smaller by now!
It definitely goes both ways. Not only in appearance but in failed attempts at NSVs. Who doesn't try something and realize it is still in the "not yet" column? I think appearance is hard to appreciate anyway. It is not easy to think of better as good.
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I get that sometimes. I went from feeling slimmer in November to feeling really overweight in January, when my weight itself hadn't changed at all.
My month at maintenance was good in some ways, not so great in others.2 -
I’m just glad I kept all my old clothes from when I was gaining weight. I’m now wearing clothes from 6 years ago. I’m fitting into the smallest clothes that I own and soon I will have to actually start buying new smaller clothes. My pants can be taken in a few times and I always add extra holes to my belt so I can buy new belts less often.2
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I get that sometimes. I went from feeling slimmer in November to feeling really overweight in January, when my weight itself hadn't changed at all.
My month at maintenance was good in some ways, not so great in others.
Definitely this!
I dropped 3 sizes got a new wardrobe and felt great and much slimmer.
I'm still buying the new size but I've regained a little and now stalled so I've been the same size for a good 6 months.
But these past few weeks I've started feeling really fat again as I do need to lose at least another 40lbs.
I suppose this shift in attitude is what will motivate me to get back on plan.2 -
I'm kind of the opposite right now. Perhaps I have thin brain. I was in such denial about having gained weight, I couldn't see it when I looked in the mirror. Looking at before pictures shocks me. Now, that I'm down some 80 pounds, I feel more like me, which is irrational because for most of my adult life I carried at least 30 pounds and typically more like 50 to 80 more pounds than where I am right now.
And now I hate weighing loose clothes that cover my body. Tunics, swing dresses used to be my stock and trade. Now I can't stand to wear them, so off to the donation pile they go. I'm still far from skinny - I'm wide, have a big lower pooch, and still technically "obese" according to the BMI, but I am wearing the most body snug clothes I can find. I probably look ridiculous, but I feel cute, so that's all that matters.5 -
I'm kind of the opposite right now. Perhaps I have thin brain. I was in such denial about having gained weight, I couldn't see it when I looked in the mirror. Looking at before pictures shocks me. Now, that I'm down some 80 pounds, I feel more like me, which is irrational because for most of my adult life I carried at least 30 pounds and typically more like 50 to 80 more pounds than where I am right now.
And now I hate weighing loose clothes that cover my body. Tunics, swing dresses used to be my stock and trade. Now I can't stand to wear them, so off to the donation pile they go. I'm still far from skinny - I'm wide, have a big lower pooch, and still technically "obese" according to the BMI, but I am wearing the most body snug clothes I can find. I probably look ridiculous, but I feel cute, so that's all that matters.
me too! I never really saw it in the mirror at all, but would cringe at pictures of myself. I suppose because I had worn plus size clothing my whole life from puberty up that buying the larger clothing was normal for me, and I didn't really equate that with obesity in my mind. I knew, of course, that I was clinically obese and morbidly so at that, and I even shied away from social situations or being in the spotlight because of it, yet I didn't really see it. I suppose that's a funny thing - I was embarrassed and ashamed because society mocked and criticized folks who were my size, but I couldn't really see myself as being obese.
The down-side to that is that I don't see a change when I look in the mirror, either, even though I've lost 100 lbs.4 -
I avoided pictures and seeing my total self in the mirror as much as possible. I knew I was really heavy but life doesn't stop for that and being mad at myself all day everyday would have hindered my ability to function. Maybe that is denial or maybe it is creating an intentional blind spot just so my weight didn't drag me down into some deep depression.
Travel always managed to slap me in the face with my own fat though. I never felt heavier than when I got away from my little corner of the world that I plus-sized as much as I could.2 -
I never feel as big as I am unless I am with a group of normal sized people...I am tall 5’9” and I have a large frame...almost my entire family is large....our son is 6’8” but not overweight...our sizes smacked me in the face a few years ago at our grandsons first communion...the family in the pew in front of us took up about half the space that our family and the same amount of people filled almost the entire pew!...talk about a reality check!1