Don't get it!

SnazzyTraveller
SnazzyTraveller Posts: 457 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I was watching some TLC show the other day and a woman was looking for a wedding dress. Over the last couple of years she has lost about 80lbs, and even though she now looks to be at a very healthy weight, when she looks in the mirror she still sees an overweight woman.

Anyone can relate to this? I couldn't believe it... she looked so good and just KNOWING the success I had had would have given me a confidence boost. Heck, when I lost my first 15lbs I felt like I had the right to walk around nude, even though I didn't (don't) have that ideal body size. Couldn't understand her lack of confidence!

Replies

  • sarahrbraun
    sarahrbraun Posts: 2,261 Member
    I was watching some TLC show the other day and a woman was looking for a wedding dress. Over the last couple of years she has lost about 80lbs, and even though she now looks to be at a very healthy weight, when she looks in the mirror she still sees an overweight woman.

    Anyone can relate to this? I couldn't believe it... she looked so good and just KNOWING the success I had had would have given me a confidence boost. Heck, when I lost my first 15lbs I felt like I had the right to walk around nude, even though I didn't (don't) have that ideal body size. Couldn't understand her lack of confidence!

    I have the opposite issue. My brain still thinks I am 145-150 pounds, so I barely recognize myself when I see myself in a full length mirror. Hoping that by this time next year, I WILL be that size--problem solved :D
  • hapoo100
    hapoo100 Posts: 926 Member
    Still happens to me sometimes. Some days I feel like I look really good after losing 48 lbs, and some days not so much.I was with a co-worker today who has a little belly and mine is flat now, I still thought he was thinner than me. My mind hasnt caught up to my body yet
  • jpfrimmer
    jpfrimmer Posts: 134
    I know exactly how this girl feels! I am a size 2-4, down from a size 12-14 and I still don't feel comfortable in a bikini. I sometimes feel like the old me because I just haven't gotten used to it yet. It's a work in progress...
  • stephanie1133
    stephanie1133 Posts: 211
    I can definitely relate to that.

    6 years ago I went from 193 to 143 and I thought I was very fat still. I now see pictures of myself at that weight and it breaks my heart that I thought that, because I was thin!!! I truly and honestly looked in the mirror and saw a fat person. My brain never caught up with my body before I gained it all back plus some.

    My dear friend had gastric bypass and went from 360 to 175, she's 5'9", and she completely doesn't see herself the way she is. It's very sad.
  • jworb
    jworb Posts: 146 Member
    I've lost 19 lbs (23, really, as i gained a few after starting MFP and falling off the wagon a long time ago) since January and I don't really see a difference at all... my clothes fit differently and I've had to buy a couple new things but still feel the same. I'm nowhere near my goal weight though so that could change.
  • wendyrvp
    wendyrvp Posts: 46 Member
    I lost 120 pounds once. After being obese for 25 years, thinking badly about myself, and being reminded over and over how fat I ws... I never could get over the fact that I wasn't as big as my mind thought I was. I would walk by mirrors and not even recognize the person in the mirror. Our mind can take years to catch up with physical changes. I can TOTALLY relate to that woman.
  • AliciaNorris81
    AliciaNorris81 Posts: 185 Member
    I guess you could say I was the opposite and now I am becoming that. I didn't think I was THAT big. Then I was talking to a friend who casually said "I would like to borrow that skirt, we are the same size. " I was flabbergasted because she was pretty big! I thought there was not any way I was that big. Then I took a picture. I saw it. I cried. Now that is all I can see. I have lost 20 pounds and four pant sizes. But I don't see it. I see it in my comparison pic, but not in the mirror.
  • devilsangel2
    devilsangel2 Posts: 123 Member
    I completely understand where that woman was coming from. I was overweight/obese from the time I was 9 and since losing the weight nearly 10 years ago I STILL think of myself that way.

    I think that I am pretty fair to myself over my current size (still marginally podgy I think) but people keep telling me I am skinny - don't know whether to believe them or my own judgement :ohwell:
  • kittycraft
    kittycraft Posts: 17
    I can absolutely relate to this. When I was in high school, I lost 60 pounds (I have been overweight since third grade), but the person I saw in the mirror never changed. I thought that I must have lost weight in really odd places (chest, neck, face) because I couldn't see it at all. I was receiving all of these compliments (someone went as far as to say "you have the perfect body"), but I thought they were just being kind for some reason. I think low self-esteem really did that for me. I was so resigned to being obese that I couldn't see myself as anything but. Then, when I broke my foot and gained it all back, I didn't notice that either. I have no idea why. Maybe part of it might be that when I look in the mirror, I always check my face to make sure nothing's on it and then I check to make sure my clothes are straight. These are my two focal points. I never bothered to look at myself from all angles, I guess.

    I've lost 30 pounds since last July and this time I've been diligent about taking pictures and measurements, so that's helped me a bit. But I still don't think I'm quite caught up.

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