How do you feel when you look at the mirror?

[brendaliz_r 29]

Before surgery, I had this thing that when I looked at the mirror I didn't recognized myself. I don't know how to describe it but It was like I thought that I looked one way and I looked different at the mirror.

Now that I have lost weight, I look at the mirror and I feel weird, it's a strange feeling.

How do you feel?

[McButterpants 2,846]

I'm interested in ready replies to this...

Sometimes I don't recognize myself in the mirror now. Pre-surgery, I avoided the mirror and if I had to look at myself, I focused on parts of myself - my hair, my eye make-up, etc. It's like I didn't want to see the whole me before surgery. It's different now - I see me, but sometimes it doesn't feel like me. Hard to explain. Sometimes I will catch my reflection in a window or in a mirror and I don't recognize myself.

I have a picture of myself that I refer back to all the time...it was the day I decided to have surgery. It was the day I stood on the scale at the doctor's office scale and cried when the nurse verbalized the number. It was a bad day, but life changing. I decided that day to change my life and I took a picture of myself when I got home. When I look at that picture I see a severely overweight person - one with a bloated face. But more than that, I see a sadness in my eyes. That person in that picture is lifeless and sad. I am so glad I took that picture - I will keep it forever. My son looked at it the other day and said, "I don't remember you looking like that!" It's funny, neither do I!

[WL WARRIOR 692]

I've been overweight for the past eight years (morbidly obese the last two) and still get repulsed when I look in the mirror. That is probably because I take up the whole mirror. For that second before I reach the mirror, I expect to see my old self. I still am shocked when I see my shadow.

I don't expect to get back to my old self with this surgery (which is in 4 days!!!). I just want to get healthy and move on to a new stage in my life. A life where I no longer overeat to deal with trauma and take more responsibility in my health. Maybe then I will be more content with what I see in the in mirror.

[1Day1Life4Now 882]

This is a great topic. Before surgery when I looked in the mirror, I still saw the old me, I didn't see the severely overweight person that I had become. But then when I looked at photographs of myself.... that was another story....I was shocked and embarrassed at what I had done to myself. Now when I look in the mirror, I see someone I don't recognize and when I look at photographs of myself I see myself but yet, I see the new me and someone still larger than what I see in the mirror. Does that make any sense? I feel so much better but there are days still feel really big because my weight loss is slow and I still retain a lot of weight around my waist line. I'm happy with my weight loss but still having body issues.

[thesuse2000 698]

Also love this topic!

Some time before surgery I was at a favorite jewelry store trying on earrings and each time I tried a pair on I just hated the way my face looked - I didn't buy anything because I felt like once I put them on they lost all their beauty. Bad day!

Lately when I look in the mirror I pretty much always smile! If no one's around I tend to say "Hi!" to my reflection. It's really such a delight to like my reflection again!

[LumpySpacePrincess 594]

I don't have a full length mirror at home. I guess I have always avoided it. My boyfriend laughs at me because I look at my lower half reflection in the tv or the microwave!

Recently, though, I was at Ikea and there was a secluded little corner full of mirrors. I went there to check myself out where no one could see. I was amazed at how small my butt is now! In fact, my whole body looked like I'd had some kind of body transplant.

The weight loss for me happened overnight, basically. I've lost it so fast with no stalls and for that I am grateful. But there are times I am at the mall and look in the bathroom mirror and the first thing I do is nitpick little things like my slowly shrinking belly roll, or my batwing arms. I have to force myself to stop putting myself down and focusing on all that has changed for the better.

Do I recognize myself? Its weird, but I was never really aware of how large I was when I looked in the mirror. I have a photo of me a few years ago when I hit 250 pounds after months of dieting and I thought I was so skinny. I think I was in denial about it until I saw a photo of myself from vacation last year, and my face looks like its slowly sinking into some flesh colored quicksand that was my head. Its awful, and I never want to look like that again!

[ProudGrammy 8,322]

How do you feel when you look at the mirror?

brendaliz_r

wonderful, amazing, happy etc

i shop in kohl's

i go past a full legth mirror and walk backwards

i stare at myself in the mirror

usually muss with my hair

look at myself and smile

i've never felt happier

remember............

"I'm cute as a button"

kathy

[Forsythia 882]

Being the vain sort I never really minded looking in the mirror at myself. I look in the mirror and sometimes I'm like, "Oh hey, look you have collarbones." But most of the time I just don't see the weight loss. I see the smaller numbers on the scale and smaller sizes, but to me I see the same rolls and lumps so in my mind I look the same, even if those rolls and lumps are smaller. People swear up and down that I look good, but I fear there is always going to be a disconnect, even with therapy/mental work.