I thought my self image wasn't too bad, until the photos...

MARYG924
MARYG924 Posts: 3
in Motivation and Support
Does anyone else have this issue? Why do I see myself so much smaller than I am? When I see a photo or video of myself, I'm gobsmacked! Like, "Holy Cow! I'm HUGE!" This happened to me last November when I went to a wedding in PA. I had a lovely purple dress that I thought was slimming, but when the bride got her photo proofs and invited everyone to view them online, I was in a bunch of them and I looked like a giant purple tent with cankles! I'm not joking or exaggerating! I almost wept because I was in so many photos (I did a lot of videotaping of the wedding and reception for the bride) and I felt horrible that I was the largest person in these photos. But when I look at myself in the mirror, I don't see it. Does this happen to anyone else? Should I get my eyes checked? (by the way, my profile pic is a cropped head shot of said purple nightmare)

Mary

Replies

  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    Oh, yes I do. Before I lost weight I definitely did. I think it's because I was so thin for most of my life. I never really had a weight problem until I was about 40 yo. In my mind I've alwasy still been that thin person ... until someone snaps a photo. :grumble:
  • marise51
    marise51 Posts: 65 Member
    Agree 100%. I try to wear slimming clothes and counted 7 pairs of black pants in my closet. I always notice people around me and take note that often I'm the biggest person. Then there's the photos that people take...."OMG are my legs that big" "I'm getting rid of that outfit" etc etc. Very hard on a person's self esteem and discouraging when I count calories and exercise every day.
  • arcticmonkeygirl
    arcticmonkeygirl Posts: 13 Member
    I've been there, in summer pics last year i looked superrr skinny in real life but in the pics i look soo fat.
  • clairedelune77
    clairedelune77 Posts: 5 Member
    I think we are harder on ourselves than we should be... It may be that you really do not look as big as you think in those pictures... I am the exact same way - if I see a pic of myself, I want to run and hide in a closet until I can lose the weight...

    But, the pictures themselves can become motivators.

    I do not like to have my picture taken for this very reason - I just don't want to see how big I have gotten...

    Hang in there!!!
  • JoolieW68
    JoolieW68 Posts: 1,879 Member
    I absolutely felt that way before I started losing weight. In fact, I refused to let anyone take pictures of me for that very reason. I did let a couple of pictures get taken of me at my son's high school graduation party, and am now using those as a my 'before' pictures. I can't believe how big I let myself get.
  • goodfido
    goodfido Posts: 127 Member
    Hang in there.....You are not alone in the way you feel. I just went on vacation and I don't like the way I look in the pictures either. But I am using them as a MOTIVATOR. To know that what I'm doing here on MFP will help get me where I want to be if I stay the course. It won't happen overnight but it will happen.

    Good Luck and continue to stay focused!
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
    That's pretty much what got me going on my weight loss... Eventhough I've been overweight for years, in my head, I was still pretty cute and I had the confidence - or I could at least fake it in a pinch. Then all of a sudden in 2009, I started feeling really down about myself and after seeing pictures from a couple of get togethers with my college buddies, I decided it was time to make a change.

    Turn the negative into a positive! Don't sit there and feel bad about yourself because that doesn't do anyone any good. As another poster said, use it as motivation! Tape that picture to your fridge if it helps you stay away from the snacks. Let it be your before picture! You can do this!
  • STrooper
    STrooper Posts: 659 Member
    It was a picture of me that got me to realize I was neither 27 anymore, nor 165-170 pounds. And even though the camera can "add 10 pounds" (it's a lighting and 3-D to 2-D thing), the picture helped me realize that I had "let myself go."

    I had one self-image of myself from long ago but the reality was quite different. That was late 2007.

    It wasn't until last summer when I started to realize that my body was returning to the size of the "old me" (the one that was a lot lighter in weight) and that it had been a long slow process. Now at 182, with 3 pounds to the top goal, 7 pounds to my target weight and probably 12 to what I would consider my ideal weight.

    Now my head seems big compared to the rest of my body when I look at myself in the mirror. "Does this make my head look big?" is hardly a question I thought I'd think about. LOL!

    One other thing. I was really glad I put in the effort because when my son got married in December 2010 and when he received his doctorate in December 2011, there was no fretting on my part about how I looked in person or in the pictures to people whom had not seen me in a number of years.
  • karendsmith
    karendsmith Posts: 167
    yes, most definately!!! I have had this happened to me over and over, so many times! It is very discouraging and embarrassing. I also think, we are our own worst enemies and we pick out every little flaw, where most people just look at the overall person when looking at someone else.
  • jenngarza
    jenngarza Posts: 54 Member
    Omg!!! That's me too...I see myself smaller than what I really am and its embarrassing. Yesterday I was literally in tears when I saw how huge I've become. I just had a baby 5 weeks ago and tried to workout and wow talk about rude awakening. My gym clothes doesn't fit and my boobs were in the way lol ( breast feeding mommy) I also had to use a belly belt because my c-section incision is still tender when I was running. I cried to my husband because I was so upset
  • Izanami66
    Izanami66 Posts: 181 Member
    yes, most definately!!! I have had this happened to me over and over, so many times! It is very discouraging and embarrassing. I also think, we are our own worst enemies and we pick out every little flaw, where most people just look at the overall person when looking at someone else.

    I couldn't agree more. I'm a dancer, and I look at photos of myself and want to cry sometimes. I can come away from a performance feeling great about it, but then... I see the photos...

    Karen is right, though. People see other people as a whole, while we tend to focus in on the just the flaws we see in ourselves. Hang in there! You'll start liking photos of yourself more and more, and remember, people who were there will remember what you did, said, and how much you helped, not so much what you looked like in photo x. :flowerforyou:
  • jenniferlynn2477
    jenniferlynn2477 Posts: 39 Member
    100% been there and thought that. I always always always try to avoid any pictures taken. We had family photos taken a year or so ago and looking at myself in those I knew then that there was problems, but I wasn't ready to do something about it. We'd over the years made good decisions, got rid of our deep fat fryer and when I developed high blood pressure I stopped using salt and started to figure out how to eat better, but at the end of last year we talked and both agreed to make the big changes. I'm relieved now when I look in the mirror or wear clothes that I couldn't before that my husband and I decided to do this. Sometimes we are our own worst enemy, but it is a push in the right direction that I needed. Now, I know how to count calories and weigh my food and to eat the right things! I've lost some, but have a lot yet to lose.
  • aj_31
    aj_31 Posts: 994 Member
    Mirrors are the problem. I swear my home mirrors make me look like 5-10 lbs smaller than what I really am. Then when I see photos of myself I get upset.
  • christenwypy
    christenwypy Posts: 335 Member
    Oh yeah, I am right there with you. If we felt as big as we were we'd probably do something about it sooner. I have done the same thing. I think I look nice and I go some place. Then I see pics and I am horrified about what I "really" look like.
  • mamakira
    mamakira Posts: 366
    Yes, I have the same problems. Being aware of it I mostly tried to stand behind people, so I didn´t have to look at myself on pics.
    Then I took all my courage and went to a professionel photographer and the pics turned out really nice. That gave me hope.
  • JacksMom12
    JacksMom12 Posts: 1,044 Member
    Definitely have been there!
  • jantim1990
    jantim1990 Posts: 48 Member
    I'm right there with you guys. I will get ready at home and think " i don't look to bad.....then I go shopping and see myself in the florecent lighting and i think I just look sick!! It's the same with photos. I think I look ok, then see the pic and think to myself " you are one ugly ,fat person. Other people say I look fine, but i agree that we pick on ourselves the worst.
  • SongbirdLandy
    SongbirdLandy Posts: 188 Member
    I know exactly what you mean!!! Since I have lost so much weight I feel SO healthy! Thin, even! I hate seeing myself in pictures. I look so much bigger than I feel! It really kinda sucks!
  • cinsuccess
    cinsuccess Posts: 333 Member
    Pictures from my 39th birthday are what woke me up to how out of control my wieght had become (I have the picture on my profile - in a blue shirt - to remind me of why this is so important for me). I always struggled with weight but I always "caught" myself around the 170 mark. In those pictures, I had reached 203!!! I vowed right then that I would NOT look like that on my 40th (which is this July :frown: )

    I think sometimes I have the image of what I want to look like in my head so I don't really see myself clearly in the mirror. That's why I'm so shocked when I see pictures because I can't "amend" my perception. I have to admit to the reality of the image.
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
    I saw some pictures from my tri club's swim meet at the end of January (couldn't see my face but recognized my bathing suit) joined MFP the following day......
  • omma_to_3
    omma_to_3 Posts: 3,265 Member
    Yes. Some people are more photogenic than others. I suspect that you're bigger than what you perceive in the mirror, and smaller than what you see on film. I have the same problem. My husband assures me when I show him a horrendous picture that I don't actually look that big. Though many days I question his judgement...
  • sawyermark
    sawyermark Posts: 74 Member
    Yep that and in my head I still look 20 something instead of almost 40 that I am.
  • mikajoanow
    mikajoanow Posts: 584 Member
    Mirrors are the problem. I swear my home mirrors make me look like 5-10 lbs smaller than what I really am. Then when I see photos of myself I get upset.

    Isn't that weird? When I see a pic of myself I think UGH I look old and fat. When I look at myself in the mirror, I don't look so bad.

    Pictures are one of my main weight loss motivations.

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