How long did it take your mind to catch up with your body?

[Comfy_Blue 285]

For thise who are at goal or gone down a significant amount of weight, how long did it take your mind to catch up with your body? When you look in the mirror do you still see yourself fat or what everyone else sees (a skinnier you)

I didnt understand how people could be so skinny and still think they're fat until recently. A lot of my coworkers are mentioning my weight loss and I even had a former student see me in the hall and tell me he liked how skinny I look now. He's only 7 so i was like "for him to notice and to be only a child it's gotta be true".

But i can't see it! It's frustrating and i feel like i am still 240+lbs and being told I look so good/thin/amazing. It's dumb, but i feel almost cheated because they can see what I can't. I also feel like people are lying to me which is crazy i know and can't be true.

I know you all are going through this too, but has anyone actually overcome it? I thought it wouldnt happen to me if i focused on non scale victories )ie: my tight jeans becoming loose, being able to wear this really cute dress i bought a couple sizes too small, being able to wear a large shirt or skinny jeans) but i still feel heavy. I try looking at old pictures but i feel like i didnt really look like that, it was just the camera making my face and body look fat.

Edited January 31, 2014 by Comfy_Blue

[RJ'S/beginning 5,358]

I still have not found my brain regarding my size..I almost get offended when people call me skinny...I am not skinny... I need to be 30 lbs. lighter for that...But in my head I need to be hundreds of lbs. lighter...I call it my fat head..I still see myself as very large..

I think having a defined roll around my center has not helped..It sticks out and makes me feel fatter then I was when it was all even you know!

I really hope I can get this under control..Everyone says that once i get the lower body lift..I will be shocked at the transformation and the change in attitude that I will have about my self...Hope they are right!

[Bufflehead 6,358]

This is going to sound weird but one way to help along that body dysmorphia is to spend a couple of minutes each day looking at yourself without any clothes in the mirror.

[Stacy_wls 135]

I second what buffleheads says. Every morning I look at myself in the mirror in just my bra and undies. I smile at myself and tell myself how good I am doing. I am taking notice of the small things, my stretch marks getting smaller, my chin and cheeks coming back. I am also enjoying the big. Things: feeling stronger and healthier.

It is easy to see all of the stuff that isn't perfect. We will never be perfect - even super models don't think they are perfect, so we need to enjoy our progress and make peace with our bodies.

Enjoy what you can do today that you couldn't do yesterday.

[adargie 159]

It helped me to look at some pictures of myself at my highest weight, then I looked in the mirror and I can see a big difference. But I still have issues, last night I was out with coworkers and there was a mirror I sat by on the wall I kept looking over and seeing how fat I was, ugh it made me feel awful. Its going to be a battle for a long time I think

[awold0 246]

Fat head yes I have this too. I must say the only time I have it is when I am shopping. I have gone from a 22-24 to a 12. I still stand there and stare at the 18's and say no Ann you are a 12. I battle this... I look at the pants and think no way then go to fitting room and they fit, Still baffles me.

Now the mirror is the weird one. I do not look at my self and think fat. Every day I am wow looking good but now I feel I have to stop looking in the mirror. I don't want to be vain. I find myself walking by mirrors stopping and thinking " really that is me?" My head just has not caught up yet. It is more shock than me thinking I am fat.

I am 6 months.

[Miss Mac 6,262]

Same here.....even though I have dropped over 40 pounds now, I feel like I have gone from a giant blob to a pencil with a tractor tire around the middle. It's just sheer grit and gumption that keeps me going. I am really pushing the exercise, and I must say that I am sleeping a lot better. But the mirror - I just want to drape it in black cloth and wait until summer to look at it again.

[livvsmum 2,369]

I'm 4.5 months post op and still struggle with this almost daily. Shopping is tough. You would think it would be awesome, but I have to argue with myself that I don't fit in the 20s anymore, to go for the 12s. And then when they fit, my mind is blown. Another hard thing is taking my pics. I do comparison pics every month and it is the hardest thing in the world. I'm always terrified that it will be "that month" that I'm "found out" and I will see that I really am still 85 pounds heavier. It's so messed up....lol....

[rbtnln 81]

It's funny because I don't feel like I have lost much - only 25 since surgery 2 months ago. But my daughter and best friend both told me they felt like I LOOKED like I had lost a lot more than 25 pounds. So, I'm curious if you think, like I do, that maybe the scale isn't showing the loss but the body is?

[Comfy_Blue 285]

Thank you everyone for the advice. I try staring at myself in the mirror but i can only do a few seconds at a time. I talked to my husband yesterday evening about my posting here and he said "you can't see it? Let me show you something". He found pictures of me the day of surgery that I had forgotten about.

There was a series of like 10 photos in good lighting from different angles. At first i thought i looked the same. Then he took 10 new pictures of me and we compared them side by side and while i still don't look THAT much smaller to myself, i could see a different.

My double chin used to be super pronounced, but now it's a small lump. The shirt doesn't gap open across the chest anymore, i guess because my back is smaller. My torso is smaller too.

It's still a journey, but seeing those pictures really did help a lot.

[erp 2,016]

I still struggle with this. Intellectually, I know I am much smaller but I get weirded out when people call me skinny. Skinny is someone else, not me. I get that I am smaller but I still see my saddlebag thighs and poochy tummy. I assume that's all everyone else sees but it's not. They see an average to small size chick who wears a size 6.

[NY Lou 204]

I always felt big until about 8 months after surgery when I had lost 110 lbs. even though people were saying I lost too much weight and should stop, I never felt like I was thin. now my weight has stayed the same for a little over 2 months and for some unknown reason, now I feel thinner and don't see that fat guy anymore in my head. again, I don't know what caused the change in my thought process, but it took me about 8 months to get over the "fat me" that I saw in my head. maybe its just seeing myself long enough at a lower weight for my mind to finally accept it?