I think that it is the energy we spend thinking about our diet and our weight that does this to us. I go through phases where I am much less satisfied with myself than I was 75 pounds ago, but those phases tend to be temporary. It happened to me more in the beginning -- when I first started low carbing and hadn't yet really incorporated it as a normal part of my life. However, I had a bad spell of this about a month ago and stayed off of this forum for a while -- everyone who was so much smaller than me griping about how much they weighed and how unattractive they were really got me down.

If you have never dieted before then the intense focus and thinking about what you are doing may be what is causing these feelings in you. It will probably pass, but it may take a while. I, personally, have stopped any weighing, measuring, or recording of what I eat. I want this to be a natural part of my life and at this point I have a good idea of what I can and cannot eat. I do not need Fitday to tell me. Getting away from all that lessens the obsession somewhat. I'm not advocating that for someone who is new to this way of eating, but as a long-term strategy I think it makes sense (I've been doing this for 8.5 months).

As you lose more and other people start to notice and remark upon it, that also helps with your self confidence. For me, no one noticed until I had lost about 35 pounds. However, for people who start out smaller, it becomes noticeable earlier.

I've never had a problem with categorizing other people as fat or thin. Almost everyone else is smaller than I am, so I don't even have a good reference point to allow me to do that.