Neener, the same thing happened to me -- before I started Atkins, I had no idea how large I had gotten. I looked basically OK in the mirror, and I avoided the harsh reality of photos like the plague. It took me months to see any difference. At one point, I guess because I was finally starting to see reality, I felt like I was fatter than I had been before I started. For a while there the image I saw in the mirror was so amorphous (? can't think of the right word) I simply had no idea what I looked like.

Body image does eventually catch up with reality. It took almost a year but I am finally able to look in the mirror and see a reasonably fit person. If you've already learned how to take a compliment, you're way ahead of me! I still struggle to say "thank you" instead of "that's nice of you to say." You're right, it makes people feel bad when you reject their compliment.