For those of you that have never been thin like myself, do you find it hard to even conceive of being a normal weight?

I wonder if this hampers me. So many times in my life I have given up that dream or goal.

But now that I have the power of Low Carb ("He Man!") it just might be a possibility.

I won't know myself!

I was actually thin once for about 2 years or so I weighed about 143 and wore a size 7...but that was 20 years ago... so I sort of feel like that was a dream and I have never been thin...Lol.

One of my main goals when starting this way of eating was to be a "normal weight". I wanted people not to look at me and think there goes the fatest woman here. I don't need to be thin. Just "normal" hehe. It is funny how we perceive ourselves.

I imagine myself at that "Normal" weight. I think you should too. You just need to reprogram your brain. Years of negative thought will take a bit to retrain. So as often as you can just think about you at your "Normal" weight, in time you will believe it.

I wish you further success. You have done wonderfully this far.

(Go HeMan, don't let Skelator defeat you with his negative mind waves.")

I pushed weightloss and "goal" to the back of my mind, and instead focus on process. As long as I eat low carb, get regular exercize, I'll end up happy with what I look like, one day. I don't weigh, don't know (or care, really) what I weigh. I do know what I eat, what I don't eat, how much exercize I get. Those things I can control from day to day; how much I weigh is completely out of my control, except over the very long term. I can choose to treat myself well every day; I can't make the number on the scale suddenly jump to where I want it to be. So as much as is possible, I stopped worrying about it.

I do not want to hijack this thread as it is an important one but I was thin most of my life and there was a while in which I was in major denial that I was once 496 pounds.
Hell, when I saw myself in the mirrored wall next to a mall escalator I was riding down I had no idea who the fat guy was reflected back. When I saw the pictures of me at my daughters wedding? Denial. Of course, it gets hard to deny once you are over 400 pounds. From a 34 inch waist to a 70 inch waist is a big haul. I went from uner 200 pounds to close to 500 pounds in a bit under 10 years. Most of it gained in a 3 year window. And I was over 40 when it happened.
There is a difference in how people react to you as "normal" or heavy. Some people are uncomfortable with the different reactions. I am now down 150+ pounds from my highest. I have a good ways to go to get back where I was. But I hope I forever keep the ability to see people for who they are and not what they look like.

I can totally see myself getting to a normal weight, but for me normal is about 150 - 160, size 12. Thats the national average right? I have been that weight before and even then I wasn't skinny. But I shopped in regular stores, sat wherever I pleased, fit through turnstiles, ran and jumped without injury....normal. Now anything beyond that, "virgin territory", I don't know what that would be like. To be a size 8 and be the "ideal" weight, maybe 120 or so, I just can't visualize. Me in a bikini?! I honestly can't imagine not having extra weight to worry about, I have never in my life been free of that. And then I wonder, if I did get down that low, would I be even more of a fanatic, stressing about gaining again? I really can't even fathom it!

Can I answer this question? I use to weigh 140lbs (back when I was about 17 that is) so I was thin once....does that mean I can't answer your question?....ah well, I'll answer anyway.

I think when you have been large all your life (or in my case almost half of my life) it's very difficult to ever imagine being anything but larger. It brings up all kinds of quandries, like, will you recognise yourself when you get to a thinner weight? Will other people recognise you, will they think you are better looking, or prefer your face when you were bigger? If you have never given them anything to compair to, then it must be werid seeing this person emerge who you have never seen before.

My DH met me when I was 30lbs or so heavier than I am now, I keep telling him, he is married to a different woman. And kind of he is.

In answer to your original question, I have serious trouble seeing myself as thinner now. I still go to walk through cars and think, will I get through there? I still worry about getting on a plane and not being able to get the seat belt round me, I still worry about not fitting into toilet cubicles etc etc I know that since I have lost this weight I will be able to do those things, but when you've lived with being heavy for a large amount of time, it's very difficult to get out of that mindset.

Now, for you, I assume you mean you have never been what anyone would call a 'normal' weight, so in a way, you are going to take yourself so far outside of what you know, that yes, I believe you will have a problem (problem is the wrong word....difficulty) getting your brain to accept that you CAN be a normal weight.

I met someone once who was 450lbs, she had already lost 50lbs and was losing weight steadily. She told me she had set herself a goal to make it to 300lbs and then she would stop. When I asked her (shocked in fact) why she would stop she said because she couldn't see herself going through the dissapointment of not getting lower than that, so 300lbs was her target. Looking back I realize now that she was setting herself a goal....it was a short term goal, and one which she felt she could get to. I didn't understand that at the time, but when I started LC I finally got it.

I met her again 3 years from that and she weighed in at 180lbs. I said, I thought you were going to stop at 300lbs! She said, I got to 300lbs and stayed there for a few months, I felt like I had to live at that weight to actually prepare myself to move on.....but I did it, I set another target to weigh 200lbs, and I stopped again, this time it freaked me out, the person in the mirror wasn't me, so I again got use to myself at that weight, and then I took the final weight off.

I asked her if she still 'felt' large....she said she did. The woman looked like an average weight for her height, if you saw her in the street you would not look twice....she had undergone a complete body lift and she looked fantastic, but in her mind she still FELT 450lbs.

(sorry long post)

I then met her a year AFTER that and she looked fantastic, she told me that it had taken so long for her head to catch up to her new lower weight....and she was STILL working on it. She said she looked in the mirror every day of her life and still barely recognised herself!

So, what I am trying to say is that you might never think you can get there, but if you take things slow and actually pace things - maybe even breaking it down into sections like she did, you can get there.

I KNOW now that I will be thinner...I might never see myself as being stick thin like a model, I don't think that's ever going to happen, but I do know that I will achieve getting to a 'normal' weight. And even if it takes me the next 2 or 3 years to get there, get there I will. And so will you.

But yes, I do think it's very difficult to get out of the shell you are in right now and SEE the person you could become. It's like asking yourself to look at someone you have never met before. But you'll get there

Foxgluvs - GREAT POST!!!!!

The last time I weighed under 200 lbs was when I was 18.
I weighed 160. It took three years to get me to that weight through dieting and running my high school years.
(What? A diet Coke isn't a meal?) I was treated like a celebrity.
Like no one has ever seen a normal person. People touching me and gushing compliments. I was treated so differently.
I hated it.

I'm 41 and spent 22 years at being heavy. The funny thing is that I feel thin inside. I'm always surpised by my appearance.
It doesn't feel real. Now that I'm finally losing weight (thyroid issue) I am getting compliments again. But thankfully my cousiling has help me to take these compliments gracefully but I still feel my image is fake.

See I’m the exact opposite, I’ve only been fat for like the last four years or so, so I can perfectly picture myself as thin. Every picture I have is of me at a normal weight, and I still don’t really feel like a “fat girl”- I feel like a thin girl just smushed inside some fat lol
At my lowest, I was usually 145-160, which is where I would like to get again… I was about a size 8 or 10 and loved it- I like curves and I like being thick, but I was a “normal” weight, could wear “normal” clothes, and was perfectly happy then.

foxgluvs,

What an inspiring story. I know exacly how that woman feels. I am scared to go lower than I have ever been. I've always been the fat girl and I feel comfortable in my skin. I don't like being the weight I am and manly because of the health issue. I want to live longer. But I have never been a normal weight. The closest I have come is 170 in college. And even then I never really tried very hard to get to that weight I was just walking a lot to work and school I just lost the weight. I am scared that when I get to 170 or even 199 that I will stop and think ok this is good I think I will just stay here. I love that woman's story and I think that is what I am going to do. Get comfortable at 200 lbs and then go down from there. I do want to be a normal weight but I really don't know what that is going to feel like! I sometimes picture myself in smaller but as I have never been really small it is hard to see myself there. The only time I have been in really good shape and a normal weight was in grade 4. Since I am 32 yrs old now that was a very long time ago.

Jodi

Foxgloves, thank you so much for posting that. I can relate SO much to her story!

I've never been normal weight or even close. I remember wearing size 18 jeans in Jr. High. The smallest I ever remember being was a 16 for 5 minutes after I did Optifast in College, but since they put me back on a low fat high carb diet, it didn't last long.

Oddly enough, at this point having lost 115 lbs from my highest weight, I almost feel 'normal' now. I don't worry about buckling a seat belt, or having to wait for the handicapped stall in public restrooms, or sitting in a chair with arms, or going to the movies. I don't think anyone who has never been 'supersized' can truely relate to that level of 'not-normal-ness'.

As I adjust to being this size, I know I'm still generally the fattest person around, but its still a relief.

As far as normal according to the rest of society, I have no frame of reference. The best I can do for what I'd look like is to look at my aunt or my sister. I can't even imagine fitting comfortably on a plane, or going into any store I like and finding clothes that fit. I'm open to the idea, but I think it will feel a lot like being in a foreign country.

I'll let you know when I get there.

Normal. I haven't been anywhere near it since my age hit double digits, and don't know what to expect. I want to be more like kwikdriver and not worry about it too much, but it's such an unknown that at times I'm consumed by curiosity, especially in light of some of the posts here from people who've 'made it'. I feel like part of me is watching all this happen from the outside, so when I find myself living it from the inside...well I imagine I'll need to spend some time integrating my impressions with reality. All I can say is that I hope I won't come out of it being any more of a headcase than I already am.

the last time i felt i was thin or 'normal' i was 8 years old...but looking back, i realize i wasn't a really overweight child..not until i hit puberty did i really gain, and even then i wasn't as huge as i felt. i look at some shorts i had in 9th or 10th grade..they look TINY. i can't believe i felt so gross and fat then. i was overweight, but not hugely so. i didn't put on the weight quickly, it was a gradual thing. but, on to the point of the post...i can totally see myself being 'normal'. maybe i'm messed up in the head, as everyone else that's been heavy most of their life can't envision it, but i can. and i can't wait! i feel so much better about myself after having only lost about 25 pounds. i know i will be unrecognizable to people who have known me for years when i reach my goal. knowing that i will be able to wear those tiny shorts from high school gives me all the motivation i'll ever need!

I was born 30 days over my due date.. and have been large ever since.. my high school senior year I weighed in at 240.. and while i went down to 160 that whole year... I thought I was doing great.. but.. you know.. 'normal' weight is probably around 115...-ish??...
I am not 'afraid' of being a more normal size.. i want the health and active lifestyle that seem to be able to come more readily to those of normal size (not to mention the seat belts, turn-syles, etc..).. but I certainly cannot see myself normal.. not even close.

dianna

This really hits me! Actually...if I may be quite honest, this is a topic that always causes my eyes to tear.

I weighed 165 at 13 yrs old and was barely under 200 for my 19th birthday. About 5 years ago a thought hit me and I realized that I have never truly seen me as a woman...with woman shape, etc. Everything has always been so big.

LC seems so effective and so many people have paved the journey before me so I swallowed my fear, looked at my height (5ft 3) and bone structure (tiny..my hands are the size of a 9 year olds!) and decided to put my goal weight at what I think may be impossible. The last time I weighed 140lbs I was probably 10 years old.

But I want it desperately, and I cannot imagine or visualize what it might be. I want to let that woman out of me who has been hiding under the fat all these years......who is she??? ...what does she look like???....is she even real????

God, I can't believe I just typed all of that in...I hope it isn't too much honesty for you..sometimes it is too much honesty for me

I was never one of those "skinny" girls, so I played sports and said I was just muscular in school. Truth was, I wasn't just muscular. Now, I was in great shape, but still I couldn't lose the extra lbs on the low-fat method I was always trying. And this, by the way, was with a LOT of exercise. The only time I would call myself "thin" was when I joined the Marine Corps. I had to lose forty pounds just to get in, which I did with a combination of over-exercising (like 6-7 hours a day) and practically no food (about 500 calories a day). Sure, I dropped the weight to right at the point where I could get in, which was 138. In boot camp, they spray painted two huge red stripes on all of my t-shirts and sweatshirts. This meant that I was in "danger" of being overweight. Let me tell you, that felt great. Talk about labeling. For the next several years, I struggled and struggled to stay at weight. I never really did, but once you're in, you can get away with a lot. I think I actually joined the Marine Corps thinking it would get me thin...now THAT was going to an extreme for a diet!

Fast forward ten+ years. I topped out at nearly 250, and I honestly thought I was pulling it off and no one could tell that I was fat. I thought that I dressed well for it and that I was just one of those people that looked thinner than they weighed. Then it happened. I had bought a new suit and I was feeling really good about myself. I thought I looked great. Well, this one woman was asking me where I got my suit. I told her the department store I got it at. She said, oh, you always have nice clothes. I thanked her and then she asked where I usually get my clothes. I kind of avoided the answer because I didn't want to admit I shopped at a plus sized store (even though it was obvious). She stopped, paused and said "what I mean is, where do you get clothes for your size." I was mortified. I made a quick excuse and left.

I think it wasn't until I actually saw myself as I am did I understand what I would look like different. I am comfortable with a thinner me now, but pretty soon I will be entering "virgin" territory. I can't remember what I looked like at 138 since it's been so long, so I can't really count that. I am more than happy about being thinner, but honestly, it took me over ten years to even realize what I looked like at 250. Wonder how long it will take me to realize what I look like once I get to goal?