I think I'm skinnier than I actually am...

peasantgirly
peasantgirly Posts: 173 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Does anybody else experience this? When I look in the mirror (at 5'4" and 230) I am *obviously* overweight. I don't know anyone in their right mind who would say otherwise.

However....I don't seem to "see" myself as that big. Am I deluding myself? Am I in denial?

I know of thin women who look in the mirror and think they are bigger than they actually are, but I don't know of anyone else who does the opposite!

Maybe it's because I've been overweight for so long, it just feels normal now, I don't know....

Anybody else?
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Replies

  • kodijhill
    kodijhill Posts: 116 Member
    i think the same thing even when people weigh the same as me and they look bigger im like how can that be but its something you have to change mentally
  • Trinity1982
    Trinity1982 Posts: 54
    i do!!!!!!! i see my flaws and i embrace them. i've been on the other side and i tell ya what, i'm more happier 20kg overweight than i was at my skinniest. the only part of me i don't want to lose is my boobs - i just wish they were a little bit perkier but after 2 kids, that'll never happen LOL
  • lemonjune
    lemonjune Posts: 37 Member
    I'm the exact same way. I look in the mirror and see all the little bumps and bulges, but it's not until I have one of my thinner friends next to me in the mirror that I realize exactly how much larger I am in comparison. >.< It's always unpleasant seeing photos with me with other people and getting that wake-up call.
  • mzhokie
    mzhokie Posts: 349 Member
    I can totally relate. The person I see in the mirror is not the one that shows up in pictures sometimes (mainly candids!) or the reflection I catch in a window.
  • aeberly01
    aeberly01 Posts: 25 Member
    You don't know how many times over the years I'd see a large woman and ask my husband "do I look as big as her". Part of it was I didn't want to be that big, but part of it was I would just look at everyone and could never figure out if I looked that big. I knew I was big (never as big as I am now), but I couldn't tell how big I really looked.
    You are not alone.
  • MoooveOverFluffy
    MoooveOverFluffy Posts: 398 Member
    when i shop without trying things on, i ALWAYS buy a size too small cuz i think i can fit it!!! And, i also never realized how big i was until i saw some unflattering photos of myself!!
  • armacd
    armacd Posts: 95
    You are not the only one. There are days i think I look so skinny.... Then I see a picture of myself from that day and it's not at all how I thought I looked.
  • marasw
    marasw Posts: 75 Member
    I used to have that problem too...I think that's how my weight got so out of control in the first place. And even when I'm not looking in the mirror I always FELT like I was thin. I would get annoyed when my husband would touch my stomach because it startled me to physically feel how far out it protruded. Now I've lost 45 pounds and I look in the mirror and think "How am i still this fat?! I wasn't even that big to start with!"
  • amuchison
    amuchison Posts: 274 Member
    Yes I used to feel.that way back on Aug 20,2011 I carried myself well and I am 5'7.5 so I knew I was big but didn't think I was that big at 268 lbs until I started losing and getting healthier I am now 183.4 lbs 7 months later and I look back at my before pics and .I say damn!!! I was soooo big...uhhhh....still have 34.6 lbs to go and I don't ever want to be that 268lbs or even in the 200s ever again!!
  • deadmittens
    deadmittens Posts: 536 Member
    "I think I'm skinnier than I actually am." Story of my life.
    :drinker:
  • Danasummers09
    Danasummers09 Posts: 14
    i feel the same way, i guess in some ways im right because my best friend weighed the same as me, but looked alot bigger because of the way a carried my weight. but in other ways i know exactly what you are talking about, i dont see my self as 200lbs in the mirror but when i see pictures that are full body i look bigger than i do in the mirror... if that makes sense.
  • lemonjune
    lemonjune Posts: 37 Member
    You don't know how many times over the years I'd see a large woman and ask my husband "do I look as big as her". Part of it was I didn't want to be that big, but part of it was I would just look at everyone and could never figure out if I looked that big. I knew I was big (never as big as I am now), but I couldn't tell how big I really looked.
    You are not alone.
    ^^ This. I know it's not good to compare yourself to others, but I feel like I just need an idea of how large I am. Lately, I've been asking everyone around me if I'm the same size as any larger girl I saw. I also use my body gallery quite a bit now to get a better idea of what people my size look like.
  • lyndyb88
    lyndyb88 Posts: 123 Member
    I totally have this problem...I notice it when I'm clothes shopping...I'll pick something up and be like oh this looks big enough...then when I get to the dressing room I'm like oh wait i'm fat haha...when i'm not looking in a mirror I feel like I should be a skinny person...then I look in the mirror and get disgusted by what I see
  • jhann16
    jhann16 Posts: 62
    Definitly not alone. I do the same thing. I feel skinny so I think skinny. But I have another 30 lbs to go.
  • atjays
    atjays Posts: 797 Member
    I'm the exact opposite, I still have the delusion in my head that I'm fatter than I probably am. I've lost over 10% of my entire body weight yet I feel like I look the exact same as when I started. Really hoping the last 10 lbs makes a big difference
  • sun33082
    sun33082 Posts: 416 Member
    I had this problem. I was over 400 pounds and couldn't see it all. I saw I was fat, but I'd think I looked good. Then someone would take a picture. Pictures don't lie!

    Now 121 pounds later, I still see the same person I saw before. I have a very hard time seeing the weight loss. But again, pictures don't lie! :)
  • LishaCole
    LishaCole Posts: 245
    I can totally relate. The person I see in the mirror is not the one that shows up in pictures sometimes (mainly candids!) or the reflection I catch in a window.

    Candids - they get me every time, haha.
  • kabloozi
    kabloozi Posts: 119 Member
    I can relate to you...I will look in the mirror and know I am overweight and need to lose it but don't see myself as too big until I look at a photo or clothing store mirror...I know by the scale that I NEED to lose this excess weight. We can do it, so let's show our mind how to be healthy! And our body will rock!
  • korsicash
    korsicash Posts: 770 Member
    I didn't think I was that big either. Almost 5'4 and I weighed over 200 BUT I was a size 14 and that is only 2 sizes larger than the national average. Then I saw a pic of me from my sons b-day party and the rolls and the largeness. Then I saw a candid shot of me and wholly tummy. I knew it was time to do something about it. I could see my toes I can't be fat right? Well now that I have lost 54 lbs I know that I just had big feet :) My problem is when I look in the mirror now I still see 200 plus me and NOT 147 me.
  • turbophoenix
    turbophoenix Posts: 152
    It's weird because when I read this, my first thought was "yeah!" I definitely feel smaller than I am and when I see pictures where I really look big, it's almost hard to believe.

    But on the other hand, when I'm talking to friends, co-workers, etc. about it and I tell them how much weight I want to lose, they always tell me I don't look heavy enough to lose that much weight. I'd say they were just being nice but I have some pretty direct friends, lol!

    So I guess it's a mix? Body image is weird like that sometimes.
  • monalissanne
    monalissanne Posts: 159 Member
    I often think the same way. I'll see pictures of myself and think, "No! I don't look like that in real life!" On the other hand, I know that I have lost 40 pounds, but I gain and lose evenly all over so even though I know my clothes are looser sometimes I just don't see any difference.It's all mental. I feel like I look smaller than I am when I am feeling good about myself and I don't see the change when I am being hard on myself.
  • Natihilator
    Natihilator Posts: 1,778 Member
    yeah, I've always had this problem, and I think it was one of the factors with letting myself get to 250+lbs, since I was still able to fit in my size 16 jeans, nevermind that they were extremely stretchy 16's and require more than a little effort to zip up. But I've also experience the other side as well, looking at pictures where I weighed 172lbs. and remember feeling huge in the picture, but looking back I was at a nearly healthy weight for my height.

    It makes me wonder if I'll ever have an accurate idea of my size one day... :ohwell:
  • Evelyn_22
    Evelyn_22 Posts: 70 Member
    Myabe your more muscle so you may weigh more but you don't look like your weight. When i had more muscle and i was 145 i looked 130. I'm sure it's more extreme in bigger girls.
  • Kaddyshack21
    Kaddyshack21 Posts: 225 Member
    YES YES YES.It finally hit me one day. I didn't realize it until I was looking at a photo of myself and thought "why did nobody tell me?"

    I always saw myself as a couple size smaller. I think for me especially it's because I get bigger in the gut but I don't widen. Actually now I am starting to widen ....yikes.

    I had to take a pic of me and keep it somewhere I could see it just for the reality check " No everything is not okay, you are not a healthy weight, you need to continually, actively, do something about this"

    I assumed everyone hit this point at sometime or another.
  • finchest
    finchest Posts: 245 Member
    i totally do this in the mirror! i've always felt FINE/happy with my body! it's when i see photos of myself that i feel judgmental of myself :(
  • ili_s
    ili_s Posts: 66
    It could just be that you are so used to seeing your body a certain way and now that you are losing weight you are noticing the difference a lot more, especially more than other people who see you. You can see yourself slimming down, and that's good.. isn't it? :)
  • lemonjune
    lemonjune Posts: 37 Member
    I always see myself as being smaller in the mirror, but think of myself as being much, much larger. If I'm in a room full of people I don't know, I feel like I might as well be 100 pounds heavier than I am, but when I'm by myself and just happen to check myself out in the mirror, I don't seem quite as big as I really am.
  • marywanoKC
    marywanoKC Posts: 176
    I'm a photographer, and I've had to learn to disassociate myself from my work and be critical towards the product I put out, and the hard-hitting moment of dedication I think came when I looked at my "Before" photos that I took, and really saw myself. When I was truly able to distance myself from, after the shock and disgust and helplessness, I finally saw me for me.

    Up until that point, I'd always think, "Oh, man, I'm glad my ankles aren't that big!" or "Whew, my butt is much more round than hers - I might be a fattie, but at least it's not that lumpy!" And I'd spot appraise myself! Makeup looks great! Flab of muffin-top concealed! Hair looks great! I got to be a pro at compartmentalizing!

    Now that I'm losing weight, I'm having to balance between being super pumped at this tiny amount of weight I've lost and complete dissatisfaction. *laugh*

    Honestly, though, I think there are very few people who see themselves as they are.
  • fragilegift
    fragilegift Posts: 347 Member
    when I was 47, 50..maybe even 55 kilos I thought my husbands XL clothes 'fit' - never mind he was 6'2" and 110kilos. I thought/felt I was huge.

    When I was 101 kilos (and didn't actually know it - no scales), I thought I 'wasn't that bad.' I was all 'OMG, look at her, she makes me feel skinny!' One of my neighbours said she was such and such a weight, and all I could think of was, 'you are looking much fatter than that. I was never THAT big. [at the same weight]' Pictures of me looking THAT big were just a 'trick of the camera' - or 'wearing the wrong clothes.'

    I'm not sure where the line was where I saw myself as 'just fine.'
  • AliciaBeth78
    AliciaBeth78 Posts: 437 Member
    I had this same problem for the longest time - especially before I started losing weight! I was 240 and 5'5! If my friends and I would see bigger girls when we were out and about and I would always ask them "Am I as big as her???" Of course, they'd say no - effin liars - but I still have much love for them! I think one day it even got as far as me saying, "OMG, shoot me if I ever get THAT big!" - In retrospect, I may have been bigger than that girl - who knows?

    The worst was when my clothes would stop fitting! I would seriously blame whomever did laundry for putting the clothes in the dryer for too long! Or when I went shopping, "I just don't understand why all of these stores have to make their clothes so much smaller nowadays!" (Yes, even at 240 5'5 I still whole heartedly believed that I was a size 14!) haha

    Talk about issues! hahaha

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