The Opposite of Body Dysmorphia

I am exactly the same as this, some days I think, oh Im not looking too bad today....I study myself in the mirror to make sure, but I swear if someone took a picture at that exact moment and showed me it, I would be horrified!

They say the camera adds 10 pounds but it almost feels like it adds 100! Hopefully soon i'll be looking in the mirror and seeing whats really there!

I totally have the opposite of body dysmorphia. I mean, I can see what I need to change, but on a daily basis I think I look pretty good with clothes on. Then I see pictures and realize that I don't. :laugh:

This is exactly how I feel. I have told my daughter for years I have body dysmorphia in the opposite direction. I see a thin person when I look in the mirror. I was very thin in high school and am overweight now. I get what you are saying.

I had the same problem as most of yall. I was in denial! I was going up in pant sizes but thought, I'm not too bad. Still a decent size....(18 is NOT a decent size by the way!) On me anyways...... I finally saw photos of how big I had gotten when we visited family one year and my uncle who is an OB asked when I was due!!!!!!! So I slowly started shedding the pounds...Got down to a 16 and felt better but still was embarrassed by my size. I found MFP almost 3 months ago and since then have gone from that 16 to a 14, and today fit into a size 12. I would not sit in them yet, but I can walk in them and button them so I am SOOOO Close!!!! I still look in the mirror though and see Love Handles, Back Fat, Huge Thighs, Chin Fat, Bat Wings...etc.....My friends have all commented about how "skinny" I am now and some people have told me "you don't look like you need to go to the gym!", but in my eyes, I am still that size 18! 225lbs. I can obviously see in the mirror that I am smaller, and I feel great when I noticed today that my thighs don't rub in the middle anymore, but I still can't wear a tight shirt and feel good. I still feel wide and worry about stomach bulge when I sit down. I am WAY healthier then I was before, but now it seems my brain has changed it's views! I was more confident when I was bigger! (before I saw the pics anyways)... lol.

I just have to say though, being healthier definetly feels great! I get compliments all the time, kuddos for the hard work, and now I can wear "cute" clothes! I think I still may be in some sort of denial though. I haven't cancelled my Lane Bryant news flyers yet...hahaha. I still get thier coupons and forget I don't shop there anymore!

It's funny, cuz I was just thinking about this today. When I look in the mirror, I realize that I am fat. I rarely like the way clothes look on me. But once I walk away from the mirror, it's all good. LOL I don't know why that is. Then I see a picture of myself (when someone manages to get a picture of me, since I hate having my picture taken) and I am horrified. Absolutely horrified. I guess I'm glad to know I'm not alone. Misery loves company, eh?

I recognize that I am overweight, but I don't really feel like I am the house that the scale and society tell me I am. Usually I end up needed to see proof, like the fact that I can't squeeze through a certain area that a smaller person can, or when I hold up a pair of pants and say "Dear lord, these are HUGE!" then realize upon checking the tag that they are my size...

I am fat, but I don't always feel fat. I think that is what you mean. Part of it could be that I have always been overweight, so it's more natural to me that things should be bigger than someone who was smaller while growing up, then put the weight on later in life.

Plus... someone has to tell me what on earth a TROLL POST is, please!

A troll post is a post a person makes to be provocative and deliberately stir up anger, indignation, etc. This is how they get their jollies. It's called a "troll" post because of the relation to trolling in fishing-- where the fisherman drags a lure behind his boat in hopes of a bite.

Thank you.

This is one of my worries. I generally have an inappropriately negative view of myself, even though there aren't many people who would actually call me "fat." I know if I saw a chick who looked just like me walking down the street, I'd think she looked great. But on the flip side, on days when I feel good about myself, I am concerned that I'm seeing myself as way smaller than I actually am. It's kind of a constant struggle, but I'm getting better about it. Can anyone relate?

This thought came to me in a recent thread about body dysmorphia, and I felt like it would be inappropriate to bring it up there.

Do any other fat people look in the mirror and not see a fat person?

I am 100% serious and this is wicked not meant to be a troll post. When I look in the mirror, I don't see a fat man. I mean, I can see that huge ball of fat on my stomach, but it does not process in my self image. I look in the mirror and think, "Dang, you look good today." Rarely, my size will hit me and I will feel self-conscious, like when I was at my wife's company's Christmas party and I realized that out of 500+ people, I was the fattest in the room. I don't even hold onto that self-consciousness for long, though, before I'm back to thinking I'm all that.

Do any other fat men and women out there not see themselves as fat?

No, I am the opposite. I see myself as fat in the mirror even when I have lost weight in the past.

I know what is going on in my mind though, so I have to pay attention to the scales and measurements.

this is all still Dysmorphia... looking at yourself and not seeing what's there... It's more common for women (or used to be, I'm not so sure now...) and is strongly influenced not just by societal factors but by a lifetimes worth of our own perceptions about ourselves that may have nothing to do with our physical appearance... it's tremendously complex and difficult to escape. I did a project for my postgrad on it and I still can't seperate it from reality sometimes...

I think the fashion industry and the media has done alot to give people negative body images, years ago I had no idea what a BMI was and never had any scales, you just ate what your mam put on the table, never knew how many calories were in it. Other than sweets been bad for your teeth so we couldn't have too many!

For clothes we'd go to the market or car boot sales, either try some on or mum would take out measurements and go get something whilst we were at school. once you were one size whichever shop you went to for that size would usually fit!

Now I have PJ's and T-shirt in 14 that fit easily, a 16 top that still doesn't fit, 14 jog pants with tiny waist thats more like a 12, a 14 woolly jumper thats the same size as my 18/20 woolly jumper etc.. all different brand names.. all different fits.

XL & XXL used to be over 20 now your XL if your a 16 or 18, in some cases 14.. I'll look st clothes go to sizes and sometimes there's nothing about a 12 or 14 and thats large, now to be small you have to be double zero, and stick thin to fit in clothes, no spaces for curves, tummies! .. models look like skeletons and celebrities, singers, tv presenters and they wonder why kids are becoming anorexic from 6yrs old?

thinking of recently Fern Britton, looked better a little bigger in my opinion, Stephen Fry seems to be getting thinner with every new episode of QI, Dara O'Briain (irish standup comedian/tv presenter) who was a big bloke.. ie very tall, big build but didn't look 'fat'.. seems to be getting smaller everytime I see him on something..even Gordon Ramsey looked slimmer in last thing I saw him on.. either they created a special camera lens that makes everyone look thin or they've been told to slim down if they want to stay on telly!