Body Dysmorphia

[khath0620 20]

I am down over a hundred pounds but still feel like the fat girl. My head cannot wrap around my new body. Just wondering if anyone else feels the same way.....

Take care,

Katie

[Jachut 487]

I am still struggling with this at six years out, in fact it really got out of control along with a lot of symptoms of extremely restrictive eating whilst I was unfilled and going through cancer treatment. I am working with a psychologist, but truth is, I dont think its curable. I think I will always be this way and in many ways, although I voluntarily sought help (not for this alone) I'm not sure I even want to change. The thought of not dieting and always trying to fix my body is really scary to me.

[elcee 3,340]

A lot of people tell me I'm skinny but I can't see that. I think their image of what is normal has been affected by all the years of seeing so many people that are so hugely overweight. Yes I have skinny legs but when I look in the mirror the first thing I notice is my "fat" stomach. Maybe my stomach isn't fat, maybe my expectations are too high having seen too many perfect photoshopped pics in the media. Even my Dr told me it's normal and healthy to have some fat in that area.

So I'm not sure who is right - them or me.

[Pollyanna12 74]

I am scheduled for lapband surgery next month. I am morbidly obese now, and have been most of my adult life. Though there was about 10 minutes in my 20's when I got down to 180# and maintained for 5 years (OK, it was a touch longer than 10 minutes). During that entire 5 years, I thought I was HUGE. In fact, looking back I was more self-conscious about being big then, than I am now at almost 360#. How nutty is that? I've often wondered if this dysmorphia is the alter-ego of how anorexics view themselves? Would love to know of therapies, counseling approaches that would work for this.

[marfar7 1,528]

Absolutely! It's been over 2 yrs and over 100 lbs for me - and everytime I look at my size 7 jeans, I think I can't possibly fit into them! When I got my fill 3 wks ago, I told my nurse I wanted to lose about 15 more lbs and she said I'd be too skinny! ReallY? Never thought I'd ever hear that. I wear an XL still on top, I wish it would come off just the top of me, but alas my bottom will be flat as a pancake before that'll happen.

I still think I'm fat (and I really am if you look at my top half) but my husband tells me everyday how beautiful I am. I guess I just have to trust that!

Good luck!

Marci

[lorena st 33]

I've lost 48 pounds and I still think I look the same. My clothes are a different size, but I don't see it. I think this is how ignored how big I was, but it also works in reverse. I hope this changes with time.

[BayougirlMrsS 3,933]

wow.... i'm not the only one. What's funny for me is twenty some... years ago i was thin. Like size 0 thin.... I kept getting fatter but i never saw it in the mirror.. it wasn't until i didn't recognize myself in a photo that i saw my true self. I saw a 223 pound person....i couldn't believe i allowed myself to get that big.

Now that i'm getting small.... I now still see my self as the big person i had become.

My husband and i had a huge fight at lunch because i want a TT and he says i don't need it.... but i know i do....

The female brain.... wow.

[LilMissDiva Irene 3,281]

I have this and I have since I was a teenager. When I was at my largest I never felt or thought in my brain I was as huge as I was, and now today I still have a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact I'm rather small. Everyone tells me I am, I get constant requests to stop losing weight, in fact daily yet I continue to do my thing.

I'm not going to stop anyway, I'm currently working on shaping up for the summer time. My belly feels and to me looks big and I want it taken care of.

I think everyone is jus so used to seeing other very large people and they don't know what a real normal thin person looks like. I admit I was the same way. I'll even go so far as to say some people I thought were extremely thin when I was very heavy to me now I can see them able to lose a few pounds. May sound rude, but its how I view them.

Interesting topic!

[Joyce Real 21]

I am a large woman, and losing weight is good for me, but I will always be 5 ft 8 and at least medium to large boned. I am ok with being bigger than other people. I just want to cure my diabetes and be healthy. Being slimmer is hard to see, I have lost 35 so far and I still dont see it. I do see that my clothes are smaller lol I always think they will be to tight, and usually they are too loose lol It is all in the way we are use to seeing ourselves. I know heavy women who have lost weight and still ramble along like they weigh 300 pounds.

[ElizabethAnne 40]

I have been overweight almost all of my life except the few brief time periods when I successfully dieted (Phen-Fen and physician-supervised fasting) and became a much smaller individual. Though I wore a size 4 or 6 during those times when I was smallest, I still felt overweight until I saw my reflection in the mirror. I always thought my body image was probably distorted during those times because I wasn't used to being small and since I was unable to maintain my weight loss for any lengthy period of time, my brain never had time to make the needed adjustment.

However, my slender friend from college, who was thin from her youth through her 30's said each time she saw her much heavier reflection in a window or mirror, she'd gasp and think, "Who's that fat lady?" She said she still perceived herself as the thin person she'd always been.

She said she felt this way even when she was selecting clothing to try on, thinking the size that she used to wear would still fit.

[muelle 64]

I have such a similar story as many of you. When I was in high school and college (the 1st time ), I was 125 pounds and 5'5". People told me I looked ill and needed to gain weight, to me this was crazy, because 125 is the "ideal" weight for my height. I thought I looked similar to how I looked at my heaviest of 244. Years later, after starting my steady weight gain, I saw a photo of myself and was mortified. I looked awful, my eyes were sunken in, and I was a strange shade of grey. I told myself I would never allow myself to feel the way I felt when I was thinner. I gained weight for the next 20 some years and didn't think I looked horrible. I knew I should lose a few pounds, but it wasn't until seeing another photograph of myself that reality yet again hit me....I was huge. So here I am today, and have been losing "just 10 more pounds" for the last 25 pounds or so. I am steadily around 130 pounds and until a week ago, I wanted to lose "just 10 more pounds." A week ago my 14 year old daughter told me I looked really pale and my eyes looked funny. At that point I weighed about 126. That was my awakening, and I realize that I may never feel like I look thin. I have three teenage daughters, and I am terrifed that at least two of them have body dismorphic disorder. Maybe if I get them help now, they can overcome it. Good luck to everyone on your journey!!!

[YngGram 73]

I feel sooooooooo good! I had no idea that I looked as large as I did. I stayed away from cameras because I never liked the results; but I really didn't realize that I was that large. Now, being down about 65 lbs., I can shop in the regular womans dept. I can tuck in a shirt and I can wear dresses that show curves and not hide lumps. I love the way I look and the fact that others can see it too.

[Kimberly Collins 15]

I've lost 48 pounds and I still think I look the same. My clothes are a different size, but I don't see it. I think this is how ignored how big I was, but it also works in reverse. I hope this changes with time.

I ignored how big I had gotten as well before surgery. I look at pics of myself and can't believe that was me.

[karewpah 173]

I'd like to see a third option to vote on because I'd like to be able to say "it depends" some days I see myself as I am, some days I don't...it just depends how I feel about myself and my journey at that particular moment...

[Vanilla sky 28]

I totally see myself as still being fat. Every time my husband and I go out to eat I always get worried that I won't fit into a booth lol I weigh 129 pounds and I am a size 2-4 crazy hu?