Body dismorphic disorder

Eskimovm
Eskimovm Posts: 53 Member
edited October 6 in Health and Weight Loss
I get a shock when I see a recent photo of myself. I always 'feel' like i am 'fitter' than i look in a photograph.

I go into clothing shops thinking i'm a size smaller than i actually am, and the it hits me, i am not relating to my real body.

This is what helped me become blind, this and my emotional eating.

Replies

  • courtgosvener
    courtgosvener Posts: 66 Member
    This sort of sounds like me. I am very overweight. I have lost 17 pounds and currently 268 down from 285. Anyway, I cannot see myself as "fat" until I see pictures! However, when I was skinnier (my sexy weight is 165 and that is what i was in high school) I would look in the mirror and think, "I need to lose 40 pounds!" I never liked the way I looked and always wanted to be skinnier. I looked in lots of magazines and compared myself. I also compared myself to each skinny girl in my high school class. Thing is, while these girls might have been 120-145 I looked not much "fatter".

    I like to think the reason I don't see myself as fat is that I am more comfortable in my body. But I also can't say that I am not fat either! lol...so while I may be comfortable in my body, I realized I needed to do something about my size and face reality too! lol
  • hallo_chief
    hallo_chief Posts: 23 Member
    I am exactly the opposite as I always perceive myself bigger than I really am. I'm hoping that, as I lose weight, I get a grip on that perception and am not deceived.
    I don't want to keep forcing myself to lose when I'm at a healthy weight or be disappointed despite an accomplisment.

    Recently, I've been too afraid to buy new clothing. I try it on and just can't bring myself to buy it but will hear from others that it looks good on me. Has anyone dealt with that?
  • Eskimovm
    Eskimovm Posts: 53 Member
    I love clothes. but right now I am avoiding buying them like the PLAGUE. it scares the hell outta me. I think part of it is, I don't wanna know what it looks like until I've lost at least 5kg. More-so, Inches. i'd be more happy 'weighing' more but having lost inches, I want to see result.

    So yes, I am with you in the buying clothes problem :)
  • ChitownFoodie
    ChitownFoodie Posts: 1,562 Member
    To be honest I think most people don't see themselves as they really are. I think I'm fat most days, but in actuality I only weigh 95 pounds. Other days, I see the bones in my rib cage. Buying clothes isn't fun for me. I tend to gravitate towards big oversized sweaters.
  • yasmine36
    yasmine36 Posts: 41 Member
    I always see myself much bigger then i really am. All I try on a pair of shorts that I pick out and they're 2 sizes to big. And all of my friends compliment on how good i i look in short shorts or skirts but i never believe them.
  • TNoire
    TNoire Posts: 642 Member
    Personally when I quit smoking (12yrs ago as of Jan 2012) I was at 135.... I then gained 195lbs though I never seen myself as getting "bigger"

    Main reason everyone around me was always 200+ lbs so I never seen myself heavy either

    Til March 2009 I was told by my doctor I was 330lbs and he wasn't letting me have kids being at that weight, in 19 months I was able to drop 156lbs and got the green light to start a family I was 14lbs from my goal but ended up gaining 30-40lbs back not tracking my food and not working out cause we started selling our house for a new one, stress can figure a lot with weight gain

    Tho im back on track now =)

    Keep a eye on your size of clothes though I know once I was a 4-5x in pants or 50 something " in my waist
    XXX-XXXXL shirts

    Today I am down to
    36-38" in my waist or L/M/Xl depending on the make
    and shirts still XL some L depending on the make since ive always been top heavy so to speak =)
  • howajett
    howajett Posts: 15
    I'm always very shocked when I see myself in pictures. I don't feel as big as I actually am. I actually just bought a scale two weeks ago and nearly fell over at what it said. But no more. I want to be a sexy strong 140 and I'm gonna get there in 6 mos that's my goal.
  • stylistchik
    stylistchik Posts: 1,436 Member
    When I was a teenager I always thought I was "fat" and would skip meals to try to lose weight, when I was 19-20 I became fascinated with working out and would spend hours a day at the gym. I never lost weight but I had great muscle tone! I was my heaviest on my wedding day (only 120) and now this year - for the first time ever - I feel comfortable and confident in my body. I am not the smallest I've ever been, nor the heaviest. I do not work out like I used to, but I exercise about 5 times per week. I have a body I can maintain and I am very healthy and that's something i can be proud of.

    Take care of yourselves, ladies. The rest will come.
  • TNoire
    TNoire Posts: 642 Member
    I found one of my old prom pics from grade 9

    I was like 110lbs :indifferent:
  • Captain_Tightpants
    Captain_Tightpants Posts: 2,215 Member
    I think part of it depends on how well you feel - at least for me it does. I was 250lbs for the longest time but I felt fine, could get up the stairs to my work floor without losing breath, could keep up with the circus types in my juggling/spinning group. Because I felt fine it always shocked me when I saw a photo of myself. I looked twice the weight I felt.

    Now I'm up to 268 and I don't feel fine anymore. I huff and puff climbing to the third floor. My sleep has gotten crappy (apnea probably), and I'm squeezed into my clothes. Now if I see a photo of myself I look exactly how I feel.
  • kyle4jem
    kyle4jem Posts: 1,400 Member
    I've never been skinny... well maybe when I was about 5-6yrs old. But I've always been chunky and as a teenager I was very self-conscious about my body. As a student I was incredibly fit... went to the gym 2-3 times a week, walked lots, cycled lots (and sure ate, drank and partied lots :laugh:) but I never had a flat tummy and again was always convinced I was FAT.

    Now when I see photos of me in my 20s I do wonder who that fit young man was.

    The problem was, because I always thought I was FAT when I did start piling on the lbs it didn't sink in for a long while just how BIG I'd become, despite the fact that every time I went for new clothes I'd be getting a size bigger and another size bigger and so on.

    Then the yo-yo-ing started - I'd diet, drop a size or two and then put it all back on again and again and again :grumble:

    Now I've dropped a lot of weight.... I still have the same again, if not more, to lose. But I now look great and feel great and will soon be able to shop again in normal stores and not just ones that carry plus-sizes.

    Body-dismorphia isn't just for anorexics... it can happen to us normal folks too:ohwell:
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