Ever notice how you can almost always tell the newbie and veteran patients apart based on their profile picture? It's not the size of the person in the picture that is the give away. It's that newbies (I know I did this) will have only a face shot while the vets have become a little more comfortable and show their whole body. Now far be it from me to say that we have achieved complete comfort with the way we look, but I think the ability for us to at least let others see a better overall of what we look like is a move in the right direction.

So if you haven't done it yet, back that camera up and show us what the new you looks like.

Perhaps you should try taking one on the nude so we could REALLY get an idea of your success

Paul, I hadnt thought about it before but that is true, atleast in my profile as well.

I have the whole series of photos of my transition, thanks to my mum, who just had to take a full length photo of me everytime she saw me...but even now I dont like to see them. Before it was all about my "pretty face"

I was once on a weight loss forum where you could always tell when a cute new guy had joined cause all the avi's changed to gorgeous head shots. LOL.

For a while there my sig pic was just my feet. I think I've come a long way since then. Funny part is I'm about 50 pounds lighter than my current pic. I just haven't updated it in so long.

My avi hasn't changed for a long long while but I sure have, I'm still not that confident with myself so I hide

I guess some things don't change, I thought I might lose some of this shyness with the weight loss but I still feel blah

I haven't posted a recent pic either...I guess waiting to get alot closer to goal to strut my stuff. I'm still dealing with the changes I'm going thru but I am so happy with my sleeve!!

I think getting comfortable with our new bodies and being able to have confidence in our appearance is going to be an ongoing battle for most of us, I know it will be for me. I certainly don't mean to imply that we went through this process because of vanity but we need to learn to be comfortable in our own skin, even if there is more of it sagging around us .

I don't think I will ever be as comfortable with my appearance as is a person who is my same weight without having been obese previously. I know I am still not accustomed to seeing what I see when I look in the mirror. I almost expect to see the nearly 500 lbs me in my reflection. Learning to feel ok with ourselves physically is an important part of our transition process. I know I spent the majority of my life ashamed of how I looked and I don't want to feel that way anymore. Taking some risks and putting myself out there for others to see, I think, is a way to move past the feeling of shame. Developing a good body image is important.

laura-ven......my nude pictures are in a different thread. It's titled, "Nasty images you will never be able to get out of your head".

I think I got spooked about my photo and staying anon so I switched to an avatar. Dumb because I have posted progress pix....

Paul,

Now that you've mentioned it I am starting to really notice everyone profile pics...the faceless featureless blank blobs are starting to concern me a bit!

I read a thread the other day asking how many texans did this for vanity.. Although I think most of us did this for health reasons. Body image does play a role in it for everyone! Who doesn't want to improve their appearance..

Being comfortable in your skin is an issue I think all of us have to work on at some point. Thinking back on it personally, I have been large and I have been small. I don't like being big and getting noticed for it. But I have also gotten uncomfortable being "noticed" when I'm smaller. Sometimes I think the fat suit is is good insulator.

Being comfortable I'm our own skin, no matter what it looks like, is a good goal I think.

Oh and as far as your nude pics go, I will look for them.

Maybe I'll post my own, so you better watch out

I think that you're right - to some degree vanity has to enter into the equation. Yes, we can be influenced by co-morbids or lifestyle changes that will make our lives better. But in so many cases we want to feel normal and we want to feel comfortable in our bodies.

I still have a face shot, but you can see my collarbones and tell I'm livin life at goal. Of course I do have a full body shot on my profile.

There will always be some people uncomfortable with posting their pictures on the internet. It amazes me the range of people we have here - some folks bare all and do before and after shots in a bikini...something I would never, ever feel comfortable doing at any stage of my journey. Not even after plastics! I'm just never going to be okay with showing that much of me to anyone but my husband!

~Cheri

Interesting... I've always focused on face shots just so you can see what people LOOK like because avatars are so darn small. I do put full body shots on my profiles where available though. I never really thought much about it!

Having said THAT! I use a real photo of myself now and not one of those "make yourself a cartoon" things!

I have a tendency to love the colors in my avatar and yes, I am hiding bc I don't feel comfortable with my face yet. I have developed a habit over the years to not look at myself and just do what I have to do.....Now having put this out there, I have noticed that when I see my body in the mirror, I love it, it's just that I believe I need a face lift to get rid of the baggy stuff. This is what I will be working on for now on......accepting the aging process. So my question is, Is this an issue with our body images and how do we challenge our beliefs on body image? This is a life time process and there are no easy answers. I will work on taking another picture of my body and post.....That is my first step. Give me 1 week time frame, I'm recovering from a cold and my eye lids are swollen and itchy.....wouldn't want to scare anyone out there! LOL

Hmmm. This is an interesting topic. My pic is always a pic of me in my most recent adventure. I love being able to "do" things. I want it to represent me at my current state. I want it to reflect my state of being. I change it often and I enjoy doing so. maybe that's just me though- I am always changing. Hmmm.

Sent from my iPhone using VST

This pic I have of myself on here was taken before surgery....I guess I should put up a recent one...

There. I changed mine...whoops, I backed up to less body. Oh well. The nice thing about living out in the country is you can go for a bike ride, stop in the middle of the road, sit down and eat a snack, take a picture....and not worry about any cars coming along.