When will I feel thin?

[ILKrista 36]

So, I am a little over 4 months post-op and have lost about 80 lbs since January. I am happy with how much weight I have lost so far, but 90% of the time, I still feel huge... almost like I did before I lost any weight. I look at myself and still see all the fat everywhere. I still have 60 lbs to lose. I'm just wondering at what point did you feel like you were thin? Did you hit a certain size or weight and suddenly you really felt like you had changed? Or do you still always feel like the biggest person in the room?

[coops 1,790]

Hey!

I have been battling with this for many months now... only recently I have realised that I am smaller.. a lot smaller... but it took best part of a year. I remember when I was first sleeved and the preceeding months, reading topics about how long it takes for the head to catch up with the body. I must admit, it is true... for some reason, the ole grey cells are reluctant to realise exactly what is happening.

You're 4mths out and lost an incredible amount of weight... try to focus on the positive stuff and not the negative... ok, ok, ok, that is easier said than done... you will start to feel the difference soon... even if it is in spits and spats.

Keep up your good work and congratulate yourself on a daily basis!

Oh, and by the way, we were exactly the same weight on the date of surgery!! =]

[Tiffykins 672]

It took me getting to goal to really feel thin. I still reached for larger sizes for months because I couldn't believe I was a size 8,6, 4 etc.

It just takes time. One thing that helped put things into perspective was to take a pre-op shirt, and lay it on the bed, then take a current shirt and lay it on top of my pre-op shirt. OR, an even bigger eye opener was doing this with pre-op panties. . . Holy crap, there is a huge difference between a size 10 panty and size 7 and it might not seem that way when you're wearing them, but lay them next to each other, and you'll be shocked.

It'll happen, but you'll have to get a to a mental place of acceptance, and that takes work and time.

[NJMOMof2 17]

I am struggling with that too. I am wearing a size 10 and a size small shirt and I buy them thinking there is NO WAY they will fit. Not only do they fit, but they are loose. I still feel fat. I just keep thinking my brain will catch up with my body. Just today, I looked down at my thighs and I was surprised they were smaller.

[Lakelady 2]

I waiver between still feeling big and then the next day feeling like I'm freakishly thin. I can't quite grasp where I'm at.

[MrsPositive 5]

Take pictures and compare. Put the newest one and put it on your mirror. It is weird but the brain seems to see the real you better in pictures than even in the mirror!!! It helps me anyway and my Doc says so too. Joan

[Wheetsin 714]

With my AGB I got to within about 30 lbs of a normal BMI and still felt huge. I would see myself in a picture and think I looked ok, but my mental model of myself never changed. To be fair, it never changed on the way up, either. I was only ever able to "see" myself as a certain level of fat. Anything over that fat didn't register mentally, nor did anything under.

I COULD, though, pick up a normal sized shirt and tell from looking at it that it would fit me (I hate to try on clothes and would rather just eyeball them, hold them up, and bring them back if they don't work). So I did have a concept of my size, at least relative to other items.

I COULD NOT see someone on the street, and determine whether I was a similar size to them. So that concept of size seemed not to apply to other people.

My husband must've been so sick and tired of me saying, "Am I her size? Am I bigger than her? Am I smaller than her?" But it was just me trying to understand what I really looked like.

[kellyw74 258]

I feel the same way. I know in my head that there isn't any way I am the fattest person in the world anymore. That is how I felt before I lost 88lbs.

I look in the mirror and I see a smaller me, but I still look fat. Everyone says I am not fat, that I am thin. I am 5' 8" tall and weight 192lbs. I use to wear a 22/24 and now can wear a loose 12!! WOW! I wear L tops and size 7 panties from a tight 9! I know several people that wear those sizes and I don't think they are fat!

I think our brains get twisted or something and we have to take time to let it soak in! I still go to the big sections at stores thinking that stuff in the small section wont fit me. How weird is that! I pick up L tops and think it will never fit and when it does, I think I look fat in it. Mind-distortion i guess!! SICK!

Hopefully one day it will stop!

Kelly