Do you know what you really look like?

[LapNYC 3]

The reason I was able to gain this much weight is that I have no idea what I look like. I was thin once upon a time and went through much of my life as a decently good-looking, well-liked thinnish person. Now I weight 280 but half the time I'm totally shocked when I see myself, or see the people on The Biggest Loser who weigh what I weigh. Reverse anorexia? I look like hell and think I'm a supermodel. OK nothing close to that, but I do think that a strategically placed full length mirror would have done me some good! Anyone else? I'm such an idiot!!!

[LaDawnS 2]

My husband and I both look back at pics from when I was almost 300 pounds and just can't remember me ever looking like that! I know what you mean exactly! It all just kinda creeps up on ya!:thumbup:

[lovelyLorna 0]

It really upsets me that I am going thru all this because 'all of a sudden' I gained 100 pounds! Today I too feel like an idiot for gaining the weight and with the Super Bowl tomorrow I want to SNACK!!

[mellabella78 0]

Wow, I know exactly what you mean. I have been overweight since I was a child, so I have never known myself as anything by "the fat girl". Even when I was 330 pounds I never thought I was as big as I was, now looking at pictures I am amazed I was that size. I am now 225, and 5'11 and still see myself as "the fat girl". I still have some weight to loose, but have come a long way. I sometimes wonder if I will ever see myself as a normal healthy person, that maybe, just maybe someone might want to go on a date with someday! LOL. Funny, but sad at the same time.

[Majj 0]

I hate looking at myself because I don`t feel like I am Fat I feel the same as when I wasn`t over weight , its only when I actually Look I admit to myself how big I have got ..and to walk down the street and glance in the shop windows ..is a wake up call..at first you think who is that fat person ..then you realise its YOU...

I do want to be the person inside that is trying to get out the slimmer me has been hidden for many years now maybe 25yrs , I get scared that maybe she is lost forever ..this banding I hope to have soon is my last hope ......

[fourme 0]

This is a great question,, I didn't even consider WLS until one of my friends and I were discussing loosing weight and I said I was working on it. That is when my friend asked me how I was going to loose the weight,,, diet, exercise, the lap band. I was so upset that someone would suggest that I needed WLS???? I finally had to deal with the fact that I was big and needed to do something. I am only one month out and have to say this is by far the best thing I have ever done for my health ever. I cant wait until I love to see pictures of myself and my family every where in my home, and mirrors... LOL

[BetsyB 9]

I can relate completely. For much of my life, I was of normal weight, and viewed myself as fat. This made it very difficult, as I gained, to really see that I was gaining. It was almost a self-fulfilling prophecy---becoming what I thought I was. But the result was NOT a woman who saw herself as fat. My eyes still saw the thinner woman.

Our heads play really weird games, don't they?

[Humming Bird 275]

I'm not sure how other people see me. I'm not sure if how I see myself is accruate. How would I know? It's what I see. I know I do not like pictures of myself, but they do match up with what I see in the mirror.

[LapNYC 3]

It's not so much what I look like in the mirror. I "know" what that image looks like. But when I'm meeting new people or walking down the street I don't think of myself as being fat. I picture a "normal", confident person which in theory is ok, but it didn't give me the drive to change the situation. When my MIL asked if I would ever contemplate weight loss surgery I looked at her like she was crazy? Weight loss surgery? Huh? That's for FAT people!

[illuminationlady 7]

I've been fat and I've been thin and believe you me I know I'm fat! I especially hate to see myself in a picture. I won't even post pictures here where I won't be judged...notice my cat is my avatar. I might post them after weight loss as before and after photos but while I'm fat...no way......

ps. an eating disorder is an eating disorder, whether it's anorexia or overeating. But I believe you can see yourself in the mirror skinny just as an anorexic sees themselves fat!

[HiMow 0]

I didnt start considering myself fat until I started losing weight. I think I would have been depressed otherwise. The problem is now I feel so fat I am more ashamed than before.

[Jachut 487]

Oh, I know exactly what you mean. I just refused to see what was staring me in the face.

Its so weird how you can objectively KNOW that you're fat, afterall, I went and had weight loss surgery. But i still didnt see it when I looked. I made myself see someone who looked OK becuase that's what I needed to see. Now I look at old photos and I'm just horrified and so so sad. I looked awful. I dont think of myself as a bad person, and I didnt then either, but I looked awful - bloated and unhealthy and not attractive.

I could see it if I really looked, but I avoided doing that and pictured myself in my mind's eye instead and like some above, I never thought of myself as fat in my minds eye.

[carmen74 10]

I've never been thin, or probaly even "average" weight. I've always been fat. But I have NO IDEA what I look like! In my mind's eye, I am average. I KNOW that I am fat, I just don't know what that looks like. When I see pictures of myself or catch a glimpse of my full body, I am shocked/surprised/dimayed. I always say "Why didn't someone TELL me I'm this fat?!?!"

Hopefully this will change!!

[Lapband LaLa 10]

I work downtown, so one day I was walking down the street and happened to catch my reflection in one of the buildings. I stopped dead in my tracks and stared at myself. I am sure people were tripping, but I just could not believe that was me! I always avoided looking at myself when I was 280 and now that person is gone!

[Startingoverat50 3]

Even after losing almost 70 lbs I still don't want to see a picture of myself. I have avoided having my picture taken for years, and as a result I have very few of them with my kids. I regret that so much. A few years ago we celebrated my parent's 50th Wedding Anniversary and of course that meant a family photo. I remember when I saw those pictures. I loomed like a giant over everybody else in my family. That really sucked. It is painful to even look at them. I am really starting to have people comment on my weight loss now so maybe I need to just get over it and have my picture taken. I just don't want to be disappointed. I am starting to like what I see in the mirror, but pictures are different. They don't lie.