All I can see is FAT

The last comment I made on my timeline was about THIS!! I brought a new dress, size large & I'm swimming in it, but I just can't bring myself to start trying on mediums! Also, when I look in the mirror, I still see the fatter me. I have to look at photos or actually touch my body to notice that yes, I have lost almost 60 pounds since my highest weigh. This is so sad!!

Can't help you, I still think I'm fat. I won't go into shops to buy clothes in smaller sizes because I think they're going to laugh and point. I'm still not quite getting the hang of not looking at the floor while I walk when I'm alone.

Stop thinking that way immediately! You are undermining all of your progress to date. You are beautiful!!! Be proud of all your progress and keep up the excellent work:D

I have gained back 15lbs. I lost last year, so I am telling myself the same thing. Don't be so hard on yourself, it's a progression...

Yes....it happens to most people that lose a great deal of weight. It has taken me months. Now that I'm used to seeing myself thinner I just see that....the thin me.

Good luck : )

First, congratulations on your loss. Second, absolutely. I've lost 76 pounds, and have about 30 left to go, but my thighs and stomach are still huge and it makes me uncomfortable. I don't see a difference there at all - everything looks the same, whether it's all got a smaller circumference or not.

I still feel great about my accomplishments, but I spent so long thinking (pretending probably) that I wasn't as fat as I was, that my realization and acceptance of it all has skewed my perception of how I look now. It'll probably skew my perception of how I look in 30 pounds, too. Even after I gained weight - which spiked dramatically in just three months before increasing steadily for 13 years - I never felt like a fatter version of myself, you know? I always just felt like me regardless of how fat I was. So, even now, I don't feel like a skinnier me, I just feel like me. I hope that makes sense, it's hard to put into words.

But know that you are your own worst critic and part of living your new healthy lifestyle will be coming to accept that you are not perfect, but that you are damn fabulous anyway!

Because your body is changing slowly and you see yourself all day every day, you don't recognize the changes for what they are. The same thing happens with my daughter and her grandparents - they get to see her 3-4 times a year, and when they do they're constantly amazed at how different she looks. Me? I see her every single day. To me, she's a continuously unchanging person, until I look at a picture from three months ago, then I'm blown away by the changes.

Advice that has been repeated a lot on the forums... take a picture of yourself in your underthings as soon as you possibly can. Print it out and put it in your sock drawer or somewhere. In two months, take that picture out, tape it to your bathroom mirror, and compare it to yourself as you will be then.

You might THINK of yourself as being unchanged, but I guarantee you'll be amazed at the change over 8 weeks. You just won't really notice it happening because the changes are slight and incremental.

If you can, try to find a picture of yourself before you started losing weight. Compare yourself THEN to yourself NOW. My problem is that I became very good at strategically hiding the fact that I was obese, so there are few honest pictures of me from 70 pounds ago.

I have lost 100 pounds TWICE. This is the third and FINAL time. I feel your pain. I look in the mirror and see the same person at 150 lbs. that I see at 250 lbs.. The only advice I can give you is to look at old pictures vs. new pictures and then you will see the difference for sure. Also, I always know when I am losing when the compliments start rolling in. Sometimes 5 people a day will say that I look great when I don't feel as if I have changed one bit and then that will happen every day. It is also easy to gain weight back because people don't comment when you are going the other way although sometimes I wish they would. I am already planning that when I get down to 150 again that I am going to take a mental note when I look in the mirror and convince myself that the person I see is the only person I am ever going to see again. I am never going back.
Good luck

Like most of the other respondents, I also get where you're coming from. What seems to work for me is zeroing in on the one or two things that I AM really happy about. For me, it's my collar bones and even though my belly is still way bigger than I want it to be, I am starting to see the definition between where my muscles are trying to shine through. OH! and (probably TMI) when I am getting up from a seated position and my legs are bare, I'm starting to notice my leggs taking a different shape.

Turn your frown upside down! Focus your energy on how far you've come! Don't dwell on the fact that you aren't where you want to be yet. Remember, you weren't where you want to me 1 month ago but you're closer now than you were then! Celebrate every pound lost, every inch shrunk, every small change you can find!!

You got this!

It's scary isn't it?

I put on old clothes and they swim on me but I CAN'T actually see a difference, I'll admit my face is thinner I can tell that but not the rest of me. I actually said out loud today that I am scared to try on smaller clothes (don't know if I'm worried they'll still be too small or what)

It's all about pictures I think, take pictures and compare them with old you. Actually look in the mirror, really look, not the cursory (sp?) glance that we've been doing for years

You have done great - believe it

Can't help you, I still think I'm fat. I won't go into shops to buy clothes in smaller sizes because I think they're going to laugh and point. I'm still not quite getting the hang of not looking at the floor while I walk when I'm alone.

THIS!! a few weeks ago I was shopping & had to ask the clerk to get one of the dresses down for me. She asked what size & I asked for an XL & L.. knowing that a XL would be too big, but I didn't want her to think I was trying to be a fat girl in a little dress!

Yep, I don't want them to laugh at the idea of me trying to fit into too-small clothes! I know I'm about 4 sizes smaller but I just can't see it. Most of my clothes are 1-2 sizes too big, I chucked the bigger ones so that I wouldn't be able to afford to get fat again

.I keep a picture of me at my heaviest at my desk and one on the fridge at home so when I get "snacky" I take a peek and cringe, thats always makes me feel better and eat less

That's a great idea! I have them on my desk at work, maybe that's why I never overeat here! I'm going to post some on my fridge too, thanks!

I can relate. Rejoice in the accomplishment you've made so far. Take pictures and measurements! Sometimes it's that side by side picture comparison that becomes an eye opener. I get discouraged easy at times. Sometimes I go to the store and count how many boxes of butter would equal the amount I've lost if I squished all into little blocks or I go over to the pet aisle and pick up a large economy size dog food (the 44.1#--which used to be 50# bag)--and carry it down the aisle and think this is part of what I had been carrying around with me every day. Some days I look in the mirror and say hey that's looking a little better and other times I look at it and say am I getting anywhere. I hope you find what helps you with your view of you. Take care and congrats on your progress.

I know exactly how you feel. 60 pounds down, wearing smalls and mediums.... and i see myself in the mirror and just want to sit down and cry. Maybe it's like how you don't notice yourself grow up. You see yourself every day, so it's like nothing has changed, because it's little by little.

Constant struggle for me, but hang in there. If I have to, you have to.