Distorted Body Image

[Sagittarian]

Surely I'm not the only one here that is dealing with this issue?
I've lost 70 something lbs in 5 months. I'm 5'8 size 9 but when i look in the mirror I see a size 14-16. I dont own a weight scale so I cant obsess over that . Everyone tells me that I'm thin but honestly, I'm not. Of course I'm thinner but not *thin* I dont even have a goal of being in a certain size. My goal is to look thin to MYSELF. I dont care what size that is . If i thought i looked thin in a size 9..I'd be happy but thats not the case.
Does my brain just need to catch up to what it sees in the mirror OR do i have a real issue here?
~all opinions welcome

[julirama723]

Re: Distorted Body Image

I understand how you feel. My problem is that I'm always expecting my body shape to change, and that just doesn't happen. I keep my same shape (for the most part) but it just becomes slimmer and tighter...so in my mind it's really difficult to see any change. Compare two pictures--one of the size 14 you, and one of the size 9 you...that will show how truly fabulous you look!

I think it really is a situation where the brain has to catch up with what's happened. Or maybe the brain just needs a comparison (i.e. the two pictures) to see the difference. Don't feel down about it--feel happy that you're successful in your weight loss!

[mirna05]

Re: Distorted Body Image

the mirror does not always show you the truth, have someone to take a picture of you (in different angles), you could see yourself in a different perspective

[Desertthorn]

Re: Distorted Body Image

I have a friend who was as tall as she was wide and went to WW and lost over 100 pounds. She is only 4'8 so 100 pounds is really a lot on her. For years after she lost the weight, when she was standing her arms still went out sideways instead of straight down.
Great post Sagi, Your not alone

[ex-barbie-doll]

Re: Distorted Body Image

I've lost 70 something lbs in 5 months. I'm 5'8 size 9 but when i look in the mirror I see a size 14-16. I dont own a weight scale so I cant obsess over that .

So...how do you know you have lost 70 pounds???

[2big4mysize]

Re: Distorted Body Image

we call them fat goggles here and yep many many foklk got them. I actually turned around in the mall after seeing a reflection in the window of somebody wearing my hat to see who else had one only to discover that skinny person wearing it in the window refection was me.

We see ourselves every day so we don't see the change as dramatic cause we adjust our base model to be the me I saw yesterday. this makes it hard to get the fat goggles un welded from our faces.

It may never come that you percieve yourself to be the really smal person you are but that is also good cause it keeps us from backsliding too. I've been a goalie ofr over 2 yrs and I stil think I won't fit places i fit in easily.

[Lady_Hawke]

Re: Distorted Body Image

So...how do you know you have lost 70 pounds???

She said she doesn't own a scale - not that she doesn't weigh lol. I don't own a scale either, but go into the doctors office once a week to weigh.

[CandSwirl]

Re: Distorted Body Image

I was once on Atkins and lost over 50 pounds and was really toned and shaped...However....I remember the very day I decided that all the working out and eating healthy wasnt working because I was so fat...In reality I had a 36 chest 28 waist and thirty somthin hips... but you couldnt have told me that, that night because when I looked in the mirror I still saw a fat girl....So I gained all the weight back and here I am again....

One thing Im going to change this time around is taking pictures and just really getting my mind right, because I think it was 90% mental and 10% physical

[Babs]

Re: Distorted Body Image

I'm this way too and have been all my life. Fat goggles is a perfect name for them, 2 big, l also didn't recognise myself in a window reflection at the mall after I had lost weight.

I have had fat goggles since I was 5. My first memory was sitting on a table in Kindergarten in the nurses office for a skinned knee. I remember seeing my calves "spread out" against the edge of the counter and thinking, "Oh no! I'm fat!" I was a skinny little thing too. I had to wear suspenders to keep anything up. But I was always told I was fat by some relatives and friends; so I was always horrified by my looks.

My brain has never caught up the with mirror, and after 43 years, I doubt it ever will. So this time around, I am not going by how I think I look to myself. I feel this has always been part of my failure to make it to my goal. I'm 5'8'' and when I was 128 lbs., age 30, my doctor told me I was too skinny and to put some weight back on. I still felt fat. This time I will only listen to my doctor.

[Sashie]

Re: Distorted Body Image

I'm a bit late posting

I think alot of us deal with this issue. Im not sure if its your brain trying to catch up or more of fear of becoming fat again? I am a size 2/3 and when I look in the mirror I see the same fat me. When I wear my clothes, its the same fitting issues I had with my others when I was bigger. Its not just about loosing the weight as it is exercising and toneing your problem areas. Sometimes.. we just need to accept who we are and how our bodies are shaped. I know that after 2 kids my stretchmarks will always be there, @ a size 2/3 I will always have that "bra line" (just not as bad now, commonly referd to as back fat). Your body will shrink, and tone up a bit.. but we will never have those teenager perky bodies w/o all the gym time and even then id cross your fingers. I myself have to look at pictures and tell myself hey, im a size 2/3, I used to be like a 14, I feel great, eat healthy, and I am worth it!

There is another thread around here that deals with dreams and cheating hehe I think these go hand in hand.

[Twilight]

Re: Distorted Body Image

I think that one of the main problems is that we look at ourselves and, instead of comparing to how we used to look, we compare ourselves to some sort of ideal. I mean, we measure success in "Giselle Bundchen"s or "Catherine Zeta Jones"s or some other fantastic and unrealistic celebrity ideal. What you need to do is look at yourself and measure your success in... you. Maybe you don't look good to yourself because you are looking in the wrong direction. Instead of looking back, and seeing how far you've come, you're looking forward and seeing how far you have to go.

So... turn around. I'm sure you look amazing.

[Sagittarian]

Re: Distorted Body Image

So...how do you know you have lost 70 pounds???

Just because I dont own a scale personally... doesnt mean that noone else does
My mom also does the Atkins thing and she is a firm believer of the scales so i've weighed several times at her house.


The camera idea worked out quite well tho...I had some pix taken and I can see a HUGE difference but i also see where i could lose about 20 more pounds. For the first time in 10 years people actually refer to me as skinny of course i blow it off. Obviously they dont know what skinny is

[Twilight]

Re: Distorted Body Image

Wow! Those pictures are amazing! You look fabulous. I honestly and sincerely think you look gorgeous. The difference is staggering. Good job! And you're so close to your goal!

I'm sure you'll get there in no time.

[ttdriver]

Re: Distorted Body Image

I haven't lost nearly the amount of weight that others have on this board (only 40 pounds), and yet, I understand what you mean totally. I still don't see that I am that "thin", until I see pictures of myself or a reflection in a window or something. The mirror image just doesn't seem to PENETRATE MY BRAIN! How stupid is that? I think it takes a very long time to wrap your mind around how you really look .. especially if you've been overweight for most of your life.

Betty

[julirama723]

Re: Distorted Body Image

Fat goggles...yeah I've got those, allright. I had to try on the same outfits I was wearing in the "old" pictures to see a difference...and I still don't really see a huge difference. I just look at the newer picture and say "gawd my arms are so freaking fat."

HOWEVER, your pics are like day and night! It's a huge difference, and you look like a new person!