Interesting article on changes when you lose half your body weight

[Miss Mac 6,262]

Down 57 pounds, 43 to goal. Even though I do not feel smaller, the bed feels bigger! As big as I am, I am not as big as I think I am. I am learning to walk taller, as my 53" belly really pulled me forward. My doctor prescribed a back brace to wear for a few hours a day help me out with that. I have a full length mirror behind the door, that I have ignored for years. Just in the last couple of weeks, I have been brave even to take a peek. I am on the verge of my third closet flush and still have a hard time committing to what size I am with each new exchange.

[deener0628 1]

Guess I'm the weird one here. I'm not even 5 months out and I love looking at my new skinny body in the mirror. I think I'm HOT. (As long as I don't linger too long on my droopy boobs or the saggy skin on my legs) No more baggy clothes for me...I want to show off my new bod. I did have a hard time eye-balling my new pant size in the thrift store last weekend though. Everything I picked out was way too big. But I also never had a fat body image even with a morbidly obese BMI. I was always shocked to see pictures of myself because I didn't think I was that fat.

Hello everyone. I am at the very beginning of my weight loss journey. I go to the information seminar tomorrow night. I only joined recently and have enjoyed reading through the various forums (payment for weight loss surgery, Depression and Bariatric Surgery, What is the real reason I became obese, etc) but nothing intrigued me more or prompted me to offer my two cents until this particular post (the one I quoted). Kindle, I am right there with you! I have been obese for most of my life and have never known who I was looking at when I looked in the mirror. Recently I had my picture taken and I felt I had been put in front of one of those weird carnival mirrors. Who is that big girl with the confused look on her face staring back at me?!

I pull my stomach up or look at the fat on my arms and wonder, what the !@#$ is this? I am 45 years old and this didn't happen overnight but I have gained the most over the past few years. I look forward to my WLS, planning on the sleeve, and look forward to dressing the woman who is me but hasn't found me yet.I have heard of the clinical term body dysmorphia but only as a term for people who suffer from bulimia or anorexia because the vision they see in the mirror is much fatter than what they really are.Is it possible to have body dysmorphia on the other side of the spectrum?

I am not as physically active as I want to be and recently took up walking but I found I wanted to start jogging, only to be slowed down by by my lumbering body that seemed to stand still as I became more and more out of breath.

I have to wonder what I will see when I look at myself after my weight loss. At 5'3" I have never weighed less than 140 in high school, 170 as a young adult and 200+ when I reached 30.

For those of you have reached the other side of your weight loss journey, I commend you for the courage to make the life altering change of losing weight and becoming the healthiest best you can be. I look forward to joining you.

[Ladybandito 516]

That article is me. I have lost half my body weight and I have always been honest on this forum. I see a therapist because I don't recognize myself in the mirror. I find I resent compliments at times. They just remind me of how big I was. I'm tired of hearing people say that that they didn't realize it was me. (I was out of the office for several weeks on medical leave). I know I have issues and I'm working on dealing with them so I don't become one of those folks who starts a topic saying they have 'fallen off the wagon.' I don't mind when I know I'm having a NSV but I'd just as soon people get used to what I look like now and leave it alone. Oh, and I also go to a physical therapist as well. Just like the article mentioned, I had very limited mobility and there is alot of damage even with all the weight off. I have no muscle strength and my balance is still poor. Just goes to show you that while my ticker says I've reached goal, that's just a number. I'm still very much on this journey.

Gowalking, they WILL eventually stop commenting on your weight loss and not recognizing you. Truly. Of course you will always see someone from long ago that you haven't seen in a while, and they may or may not comment; but in general, the "celebrity" status does wear down as people get used to the way you look now. Another side of the coin is meeting people who never knew you as heavy -- and they just think you have good genes! That always cracks me up, when someone talks about how hard it is to lose, and then says to me, "well, you wouldn't know, you're skinny!" Too funny. Keep plugging with the therapy and health achievements, you will find yourself "settling in" to your body. It just takes time, and sometimes a bit longer for those who lose over 100/150 or those, like me, who felt "protected" by the layers of fat,

[gowalking 10,790]

Thanks bandito. I've had a couple of those moments as well...folks thinking I was always this way. I have a relatively new friend who calls me her little sister because I'm so much smaller than she is. I've told her and showed her what I looked like before because she assumed I was always a little lady.

[InfiniteButterfly 438]

Guess I'm the weird one here. I'm not even 5 months out and I love looking at my new skinny body in the mirror. I think I'm HOT. (As long as I don't linger too long on my droopy boobs or the saggy skin on my legs) No more baggy clothes for me...I want to show off my new bod. I did have a hard time eye-balling my new pant size in the thrift store last weekend though. Everything I picked out was way too big. But I also never had a fat body image even with a morbidly obese BMI. I was always shocked to see pictures of myself because I didn't think I was that fat.

This is so much me. Even looking in a mirror, my brain never connected what I saw with 'me'. And I refuse to have my picture taken most of the time, because the person in the pictures isn't me. I don't have a good view on who 'I' am, but I know it's not the fat person I was seeing in the mirror, and I know it wasn't the person struggling to get up and down the stairs. The surgery is the tool I need to enable myself to find the real me.

I don't know how I'll feel once I start losing weight, but I'm hoping I get more comfortable with who I am.

[Kindle 8,667]

I bet you will... In high school and college I felt awkward and out of place (not necessarily because of my weight, but just because I never quite felt like I belonged). But as an adult, I have been a very strong, confident, independent person. I've travelled back and forth across the US by myself several times and have lived in Pennsylvania, Florida, Wisconsin, Colorado, Wyoming and Idaho. As I gained weight ( especially after turning 30 and again after 40) I started feeling like an awkward teenager again. That body wasn't me and I didn't like me. Just making this decision to have surgery and make all the changes necessary has been empowering and a way to get control back in my life. Now that I'm down to my "fighting weight", I am overflowing with confidence and I am comfortable with myself again. Boy, I missed me!

[kimmie2363 7]

Hello

I'm a little over 3 month post-op and I have stuck to my new eating habit for the most part, I exercise on the treadmill and although my husband tells me that he can see that I'm losing the weight, everything I look in the mirror especially looking at my knees and thighs I still see myself as fat, then I'm discoiurage and don't have the motivation to exercise which I know is part of the key and the funny part is that I know that I have lost weight I'm not sure how much since my 3 week checkup which I lost 25 pounds.