Do you think you have an accurate image of your own body? I have discovered that I am a terrilble judge of others weight including my own. I think I look much heavier than I actually do. I caught my reflection in a store window and didn't recognize myself. People that I thought were very slim actually weigh more than I. How long does it take after losing weight to start seeing yourself that way. I think mentally I am still 40 lb. heavier.

Wish I knew the answer to this one..... still working on it.

Good Luck, Julie

I'm actually kind of the opposite. Although most people don't think I weigh as much as I do, I keep thinking of myself as thiner. I've even noticed that when I dream, I see the way I currently look, except for I am not fat. I'm not sure if that makes sense. I think that's one reason why I gained so much. I kept thinking, "I know I'm overweight, but not terrible, I could always loose it" and it just kept getting worse.

I'm pretty bad for that. You'd think my body magically expands and contracts within a 15-lb range by the hour.

When I read the first post, I thought of how unhappy I am with my tummy. It seems unacceptably large to me at my current weight. I went to the mirror to look at my body and was pleasantly surprised when I saw a thinner image than what I was expecting!

I guess I didn't realize this before I read your post, Aisleone.The image in my mind is larger and rounder than the image in the mirror. Looking straight on in the mirror just now, I actually thought my tummy was fine! It actually looked better than I thought. From the side, it's definitely has a round shape, but it's not blatantly obvious as I thought it was.

A few days ago, I finally admitted to myself and my boyfriend that my reason for wanting to get to goal isn't completely about having less fat on my tummy...it's about seeing that number on the scale.

I think when you have been overweight, a person will always suffer a little body dismorphia. Probably because we know what we looked like bigger. Kind of a planted image. I know I am incredibly hard and critical of myself. I don't think it will go away for me.

I always see myself as thin and glorious...then I see a photograph and am cruelly jarred back into reality .....*meh*

When I look in the mirror.. I see it all. My tummy and thighs mostly because I looove my bum! And I gotta say, I'm a little disappointed. Now when I'm out and about, shopping, or at work or whatever, I feel thinner than I am. No clue why.

I hate mirrors.

I totally understand.

My body image is so messed up I can't trust myself. I have lost a lot of weight in the past and still felt gigantic.

By the way, I checked out your photos and you are inspirational and so, so beautiful.

Good question!

When I was heavier, I think I thought I was bigger than I was. I remember my son telling me that I was not as huge as I thought. Maybe he was just being nice.

Now that I have lost some weight, like Sandollar said "then I see a photograph and am cruelly jarred back into reality." I thought I was thinner than my photos from last month. When I saw them I realized I was not quite as thin as I thought!

I think years of struggling with a lot of weight to lose, losing and gaining, up and down...it's no wonder we don't know what we look like!

In fact, when I'm home I feel thinner than when I am with a lot of people. I need others as a source of comparison!

I remember one time I had lost quite a bit of weight. I was going back to school and walking down the hallway. One of the classroom doors was open, and I saw a girl in the class that I thought looked sort of like me...It was me! It was a reflection in the glass!

It's kinda weird. All my adult life, when I wasn't really overweight, but thought I was, I thought I was bigger and flabbier than I really was. I wasn't at all. That was the problem. I look at pictures of myself from the 20's and 30's and I think, "What the heck was I thinking???"

Then, something happened when I got heavier. I got like a reverse body image, I thought I looked better than I did! I was pretty astounded when my DH confirmed to me that I was about the same size as his mother, who is quite large. I also saw it in a picture, in bathing suits, standing next to her. It was quite a reality check, and I thought to myself, "What the heck was I thinking???"

Now, that I'm back down to where I thought I was so overweight as a young adult, I think I look "about right" but I'm not as concerned with a "bathing suit body" as I was before. The jiggles and cellulite don't bother me hugely, just a little bit.

I realize that I'm 43, I had 3 kids in 4 years, I didn't do squat for exercise for 5 years (after having been so very active my entire life), and I gained 50 pounds--twice (and not related to pregnancy--just from binge eating). Bound to be some residual effects of all that. I'm not trying to get back to how I looked even 7 years ago, after my first child was born, and I was still fit and in good shape. I also realize that, in comparison, I didn't have as much "damage" from all that (no terribly loose skin, no stretch marks) as I could have and feel OK about the way I look, given what I've been through and done to let myself go.

So hopefully, it's getting better. I've been to both extremes, and I'm happy to be settling out at a good place with my body image.

I'm still pretty hard on myself about the weight I still need to lose (about 30 or 40 pounds) but I snap myself out of it. I do this buy thinking about how far I've come. I went from an 18 to a 10, I only have two back rolls as oppose to four, and I'm seeing my check bones for the first time in my life. When I think about the good things I've done for myself the negative thoughts go away.

I know exactly how you feel! When I was at my highest weight, I had no idea I was that big! I knew I was "chubby" but I had no idea that I was obese. Now that I'm thinner, I think of myself as being chubbier than I really am.

When I weighed 180 -- high school -- I thought I looked exactly the way I ended up looking at 337. I still avoid photos of myself because it is *not* true that photos tell the real story. Your photo tells me the real story about you, but I just don't see me accurately even in photos.

Look at EmKay -- woman is drop dead gorgeous and doesn't know it. Except for the drop dead gorgeous part I'm just like her.