I have been banded for about a year and a half now. With the band there are many things you come to expect and rejoice in such as losing weight and getting healthy. One thing I did not expect to still be struggling with was my body image. While it has improved beyond measure, I still find myself comparing my body to other people's bodies, and looking in the mirror with disdain. Why do I do this to myself? I am so much happier and healthier, I have lost 85 lbs, my relationship with my friends, family, and husband has improved, I do things I never thought possible, and all around my life is significantly better. I suppose that to some degree I will always be just a little too hard on myself, I just hope that with time I learn to truly love my body and appreciate the progress I have made. One thing that I have also noticed is that before when I was bigger, I had no idea what I would look like at a certain weight. I could only guess that at 160 lbs I would be __ size or at 150 I would look like __. So now that I am actually hitting these numbers it's odd to compare how I look in reality, to how I imagined I would look. Can anyone else who is a ways out from surgery relate to these feelings?

Ok...I really shouldn't use the word "disdain" it's much too harsh. Don't get me wrong, I do love my body and I am so thankful for how far I have come. I just still have those days where I feel fat or I wish I were skinnier.

The band may make us skinny but it doesnt change our brains.

I have had a hard time with my body especially most recently because I started plastics. My body is not even my body anymore. It took a while to get used to it and i have accepted it but with my clothes on I still think of my body as how it used to be ( ie bend over and my extra skin will hang over but its really not there anymore).

A while back I gained some weight from surgery but it didn't seem to go away. I stopped stepping on the scale, I was convinced I was 15 lbs heavier and it was really bothering me. But then for some odd reason I stepped on the scale one day and found I was back to my lowest weight and what I was seeing in the mirror as the "bigger" me was just all in my head.

Even now that I am at the lowest weight i have ever been ( after losing lots of weight) I still see my self as big. I have pants that I kept from years ago when I was at this weight and I always stared at those clothes and wished I would fit in them again because I would feel so skinny again. Now those clothes are too big and I STILL see myself as being big.

Our minds and bodies are strange things for sure!

I have been banded since March 14th of this year. I have lost about 36 pounds since then...my clothes are falling off, I get lots of compliments, all that good stuff. When I look in the mirror, I still think FAT. I've been overweight most of my life and I don't know any other way to be. I'm hoping one day I will accept that my weight is on the way down for good and I'll learn to appreciate my new body.

It's completely normal. It can help to discuss it with a therapist who works with eating disorders and body dysmorphic disorder. They can help you reconsider why you see yourself the way you do and the thoughts behind it.

I actually posted sort of a similar post. It's extremely hard and I'm struggling with it too. I look at my hands, my arms, my legs and they just seem huge still. MASSIVE! But I constantly get told I'm tiny, but I don't see it. I think part of it too is that I also don't know what I look like at these weights. I was always a bit chunky before I gained a lot of weight when I was 17, but I haven't been a 'normal' weight since I was 5. But now...I'm 125 and I haven't been that since I was about 7 or 8 and about 4'9". It's all new territory.

i was always chubby...when i hit puberty i gained quite a bit a weight and when i turned 21 for some reason i had lost like 60..70 pounds..and i felt that way that i looked fat..i didnt know what i looked like when i was thin..now that im over weight again..i need to lose a good 100 pounds if not more.. and i look at pictures..i freak at how dry i looked..how thin i actuallly was..i was hot damn it!!..and i considered myself big..like someone said its all inthe brain!!!