I want to see what everyone else sees!! I have been banded for 19 months and I am down 161.5 pounds!! It is absolutely amazing and I am almost half of the old me. 18.5 pounds to go. I feel fantastic and I know that I look good from the compliments I get. But WHY when I look in the mirror I still feel like I have so much farther to go...still the FAT girl! The flabby bat wing arms...the saggy thighs and the rolls of hanging skin on my stomach. With clothes on, it doesn't look so bad. Shapewear can fix almost anything! Will I ever be happy with my body? I know that plastic surgery is in my future and with it I know that I will look great but even then will I always see that FAT girl in the mirror???

I know that even the smallest of women find faults in their bodies. I know I will never be satisfied 100% with my body...but it's my mind that needs alterations!!

Please tell me that I am not alone and that it does GO AWAY.

-Sherry.

161.5 is a lot... COngrats

I know what you mean. Our brains still think "Fat"

Also, I am wearing clothes that are significantly smaller in size, yet they me be a little tight at the waist, and it keeps telling me I better go on a diet or something.

The thing no one ever tells you about weightloss, is there has to be an inward transformation too. 4 years ago I lost 80 lbs on my own and it took me months to see myself as beautiful. Now that I am on the journey again, I have to make the inward transformation again. The thing with losing weight is you need to consider yourself as a work in process but still look back and see how far you have come, ever pound you lost or will lose gets you one step closer to your own masterpiece. I would start looking in the mirror and say I love my eyes or something like that and everytime add something new to the list. It will also help with your confidence.

I love shapewear gods gift to women!

Oh yes, we are still the fat girl in the mirror, My hubby can tell me a million times I look good, Sexy and whatnot, and I will still think he is just saying that because he wants me to feel better about myself. Its a mind thing, we learned early , and sometimes it took one person to say something about our weight and it has stuck in our mind up to now. We have to shake loose of this image, I used to avoid mirrors neck down, (how sad is that) but lately I am at waist level, but with clothes on.. (hehehe) we didn't go this this pain, these limitations so they would not be enjoyed. , seen. I agree we are and have always been process in the works, Good luck !

Sigh...... It does get better with time we have been overweight for most of our lives and so the tape has been set in our heads to play constant criticism on everything about our bodies. You need to change the tape you play in your head. It takes time but for everything negative you say about yourself you need to say something positive to reset it know what I mean? Just because a bad thought crosses our mind does not mean we have to sit there and entertain it catch yourself and immediately replace it with something good and it doesn't have to be about your physical appearance.

my favorite way to approach this issue is this: we have seen ourselves as obese for how many years? mine is a lifetime! When we had surgery, it was a rebirth of sorts. So that puts us into infancy. It's like your 19 months old, and you have a lot to learn. You're still in your infancy regarding your weight loss journey. keep working at your self image, and congratulations on your tremendous weight loss!

The mind is a very strange thing. I have worn every size from a 6 to a 20 in my adult life. I have only (?) been obese for the last ten or so years. In the mirror I don't see the obese me; I just see me, as I've always been, average. On the rare occasion I can't dodge a camera, to see a photo of myself as a truly obese person is absolutely shocking! I don't know if I'll ever see myself as I truly am, even after I get the weight off.

I feel the same way but I can feel the difference in my clothes. Today, I thought my pants were gonna fall off. LOL.. I look in the mirror and still see the heavy girl with the fat face starring back, but I know that I'm just looking through rose colored glasses. Keep your chin up and remember that our eyes are deceiving..

I hear this is very common. My mom had gastric bypass 11 years ago and she says it has gotten better over the years, but that thought process is STILL there. Kinda sad huh? She looks amazing but she tells me this from time to time, that until she looks in the mirror she still feels like a fat person.