I have lost weight. I know that I have lost a lot of weight. What I don't understand is, why I still sometimes feel like the "fat me". I was on a trip recently. I felt good about myself, but when I got home, went back to work, I felt like I was fat again. I looked at the pictures taken of me and my friends, and I look great! But when I look in the mirror, sometimes I see the fat me, other times I see the thin me. What the heck?? Does anyone else ever do this???

Yes.

Sometimes I feel skinny, other times when I look in the mirror all I see is shamu. I think it takes awhile to really get used to the idea you are skinny...and I don't know if it ever really goes away. I think I would still see myself as fat sometimes, even if I was literally a stick woman. Karen Carpenter died of starvation, still thinking she was fat. >.< It's very frustrating sometimes.

I have had cracks made to me that I have an "eating disorder" because I am still on this plan. I don't understand because my weight reflects that I still need to loose, and when I look in the mirror, I believe I still need to loose, but my friends and family have started saying that I need to "be careful not too loose too much" that I would "look funny" if I was too thin. How much BUNK is that?????

I'm still this way, and I look pretty different. I actually started a thread in here about it several months back, and I've seen a few others.

I don't know what it is, but it's definitely what I see when I look in the mirror. It's weird, and it sucks. It really, really sucks.

-j.

I lost all my weight about 10 years ago (on Atkins) and kept it off for over 3 years, and still felt that way sometimes. I remember trying to explain it to a guy I was dating, standing in front of those warped mirrors that make you look short and fat and trying to tell him that was what I saw most of the time when I looked into the mirror. I don't know what causes it, and I do know that for me, it lessened over time, but never completely went away.

Right now, I actually might have the opposite problem. I feel great and my clothes are too big (again), so I'm actually surprised by how fat I am when I look in the mirror. Maybe it's actually the same thing, who knows.

Sucks, though.

You are definately not alone. People will say things like "You're so tiny" or "You aren't trying to loose more weight are you, from where?"

I don't see it. I still see fat me staring back from the mirror. I've heard it said that the mind is the last place we loose weight.

I feel that way right now also. My problem is that I initially lost about 20 pounds, and then decided that I "deserved" a break...and haven't lost anymore. I haven't really gained, but I just cant seem to get the will power back that I uses to have. I have another measly 15 lbs to get off...and it's so so so so hard for me! I think that I have been at this weight for so long that I am just use to seeing it. When I was loosing, I would wake up every day and see something different in my self. and that was motivating!

Any advice?

Courtney

Hi Courtney,

This may sound negative but it's worked so far for me - I look in the mirror and look at all the things I want to change. Namely my tummy rolls (I'm still about 7lbs from goal) and convince myself that there is still work to be done! So, I just make my plan, and I do it! We're just doing the work that needs to be done, that's it. No will power involved, I convince myself, just doing my job hehehe

Well, it has worked for me so far. And I'm at a lifetime low right now. What have u got to lose?

e

I was asking my husband this all the time..."Am I as big as she is??, or Is that what I look like?" He was getting pissed at first, thinking that I was digging for compliments, (he is very obese), but when I explained that I really feel that big, or wonder how I reallly look to him and other people, he kind of backed off. He answers me now, I just hope it is honestly.

oh man... I dont know what causes this but it absolutely sux!

I think a lot of us feel it. I woke up the other morning to a "strange sensation" I had propped my hand on my waist in my sleep and the strange sensation was feeling the indention there instead of my big ol fat belly rolled out to the side like it usually does.

I had the dawning, and scary, realization that I dont know what a " NORMAL BODY " feels like, or even what it is. How would I be without this big belly of mine ? What would it be like to have smooth slender thighs?

Sometimes I actually feel normal sized, so powerful and in control of my life.

Other times, I feel like I havent lost an ounce instead of 62 pounds and may even be bigger than when I started to be honest. Ugh.. I hate this. So counter productive to what we
are all trying to achieve here.

I agree so much. We had a "wellness fair" at work today. When I went down there, it was a bunch of people promoting their gyms. The funny thing is, I won a 3 month membership to a all womens gym. No maintenance fees or any hidden fees for 3 full months. I also had my body fat tested. I am only 1.5 units away from being in the "normal" range. I was totally stoked. then when I got home and put on some shorts, the fat goggles were on!! I looked in the mirror, went outside, did some yard work, did about a half an hour of floor exercises, then grabbed a bottle of water, and thought, why can't I lose the weight!!! I am so discouraged. The sooner I start going to that gym the better.

I really resonated with this.....

My DBF keeps telling me my wrists and ankles are "so small" but all I see is the rolls on my belly (mostly hidden by clothes) and the fat on my thighs.

I don't go so far as to actually ask him if this girl is prettier or smaller than I am, but I think it when we are somewhere together and I see a cute thin girl. Then I wonder what he's still doing with me (ok, only on really low self esteem days - like last night when we were out at his daughter's dance recital and the mom was there - one of those petite types....even after 5 kids).

The thing is, when I DO bring it up, he gets annoyed too and suggests that I need a new more accurate mirror other than the distorted one I obviously have. He really doesn't get that I see a different "me" than he does. He didn't know me really fat - we met when I was about 170 - so he can't understand why I see the fat "me" and he only sees the me he sees now....

Why do we do this to ourselves??????

Good luck to us all, Julie

I do the same thing! Gosh, it's great to know I am not alone in this and going nuts! I still see me at twice my weight and just hate it.

This is generally a woman thing. You notice there are no men chiming in. I think we always see something different from what is in the mirror. I take a picture when I feel like that and generally the picture looks different from the mirror and it just confirms to me that a lot of us women have a different image of who we are.

When I wasn't over my ideal weight, I would feel it about how I felt I looked (not weight, just looks). Sometimes the photos would help me to say, "I look just fine."

I'm a man, and I chimed in, and other men have said the same thing in other places as well.

-j.