Ok, I "am" fat. but I once was at this weight before and got down to 217 ( after 2 years of hard exercise and a really LF diet ) and I remember never feeling mentally like I was any thinner.

I hope that as I progress this time my mindset changes, becasue I think NOT feeling better about myself last time is what made me go back to the old ways and regain my weight.

The one way in which you can be a good role model to your daughters is to make sure that they develop a more healthy body image than you have at the moment. It is important to acknowledge and celebrate the small successes, not continue to hate yourself until all of a sudden one day when the scales are saying the right thing - you can decide that you are thin - and that perhaps you deserve your self-love now. So perhaps the way to look at it isn't whether or not you are thin, but whether or not you are thinner. One denotes an end result, the other is all about the journey.

Baby steps climb even the highest mountains.

Right here, I do!

I definately have some body image issues I need to work out still. Looking at old pictures of myself helps me a bit, sometimes, so that I can actually see the progress that I have made.

I think a lot of the reason I fell of plan last year was that my body would not get below 180. I felt like I would never be one of those girls in the skimpy bikini and it bothered me. Now I realize I dont want to be one of the girls in the skimpy bikinis, just healthy.

I still feel fat (and still am I guess)
My problem is my belly from carrying two babies. It's not that bad I'm sure but I could deal with the 'largess' everywhere else if not for my 'pouch'.
Oh well, I'm off to do more sit-ups! I swear I must have the strongest abs anywhere but they're shy!

I think what you're feeling is very normal.... I continue to feel fat after losing almost 50lbs. When I look in the mirror I still see the fat that hangs around my middle and forget that that fat used to be a whole lot more!

I have found that exercising has helped me change the shape of my body and (this time around) I feel a lot better about how my body looks. And when I do get down on myself I look at the photos I took of myself "before" with my current photo. That helps me see my progress.

You need to find a way that you can see the progress you've made. Maybe it's comparing photos or keeping a pair of those "fat" pants around. I do both. When I get really down it helps.

Kiks

I still "feel" fat after 18 months at my target weight! I know I'm not cos of my weight and clothes size, but when I look in the mirror I just look like a smaller fat person and when i'm out with friends, I still refer to myself as large and I feel large. what does help me is to look in the mirror while I'm standing next to someone I know to be thin and I can see that I'm the same size. I have actually had a photo taken of me with my slim daughter and we're roughly the same size - wierd, cos I feel so much bigger when I stand next to her

Jo

I still feel like a cow. One person will compliment me and tell me how "small" I am, and then bam two days later someone asks me when my baby is due. Talk about deflating, I"M NOT PREGNANT, I just look that way in real life.

The odd thing is, when I wasn't thinner *lol* I felt alright, but now I feel huge, and I am definately not. What the hell? I am more self aware or something I think. It is a very odd feeling.

I feel disgusting 24/7. I was down to 128 a little over a year ago. I am large boned and have a muscular build... I looked ill at 128 but thought I was still fat. My friends kept telling me to take at easy but I wouldn't listen to them.

your stmt is just what i was trying to say in another post titled "What will you miss the most about being fat?" - which is a good read by the way - so i thought i would copy a question i answered for your opinion and expound - i think/know when you are fat for all of your life especially like i was (fat kid-fat adult) it not only affects your physical health but your mental health.

i think we all know that - we just do not realize the magnitude of the effects. low carbing has changed dieting for me - before on low fat it took forever to lose the weight on less food - now i have successfully kept the weight off (i do seem to gain and regain the same 5-10lbs. occasionally but never more than that and then it comes right back off) for almost 2 years. so i dont think i have ever reached the same point in my previous weightloss attempts.

i have never before had to convince my mind that i was no longer fat. I DO NOW!!! i know it sounds stupid - i guess another way to put it is-
I KNOW LOGICALLY/FACTUALLY THAT I HAVE LOST WEIGHT AND AM NO LONGER FAT BUT I AM STILL FAT EMOTIONALLY!?!

anyway here's my other post from the thread entitled
What will you miss most about fat?

when i was fat i had this way of deflecting the bad stuff by being a BIG bad ass - you know i could threaten to sit on whoever was pissing me off etc. - there was a certain security in the fat - guys did not hit on me at all - and even though i was 5 foot 3 and fat i felt even BIGGER - people didnt notice me - people definitely underestimated me or worse didnt even bother to consider me one way or the other. which i must admit sometimes was a plus.

after losing weight and no longer being fat - i started to get more attention from men and people in general- it was kinda disconcerting.

after having felt huge in more ways than one all of a sudden i was petite and fragile. WTF?!? fragile and petite - me - no way! who the hell knew i was petite? i sure didnt.

my safety net was gone! i was no longer intimidating just because of my size -now i was attractive to everyone - now other women considered me a threat - now people see me coming and dont automatically look the other way - now people take me seriously immediately. now if i threaten to sit on anyone if they mess with me - there really is no threat in it.

dont get me wrong i am glad i lost the weight - but it seems we are losing more than weight - we are losing something mentally as well?? does this make any sense at all??

the biggest problem i have had is not losing the weight - its putting my head around my new size - my brain is having a hard time reconciling my fat mind with my slimmer body.

i am beginning to think that the reason most people put the weight back on is due to the fact - that their brain can not accept that they are no longer fat. do you know what i mean?

i still look in the mirror and see that person that weighed well over 200 lbs. not the actual person in the mirror now.

if you are or have been fat you know what it is like for instance - you tell yourself nobody would be interested in you because you are fat and somehow you project that to the world "I AM FAT - THEREFORE I CAN NOT BE HIT ON BY MEN - AND I CAN NOT BE A THREAT TO YOUR RELATIONSHOP". and in projecting those feelings you give out a vibe that keeps that from happening as a form of protection.

sorry i am trying to explain it but it is hard to put into words. i'll keep trying

Jedswife.... EXACTLY except I'm a guy. Hugs to ya!

Hey, I saw your pics and I think you're a very good looking girl (I'm not saying this in any *lesbian* way ) and at 5"3' & 157 lbs you can't really still be "fat" (let's at least use a prettier word such as volumptious or rubenesque )

I do! I do! I originally lost 80pds a few years back and kept the majority off for a very long time. Well then most people were shocked to see my like that and you hear a lot of good things about yourself - but I NEVER believed any of them. I am my own worst critic. It is horrible how hard I was on myself - I never once "rewarded" myself and said "good job" or anything like that. I just looked at all the bad stuff.

Now - 40 pds gained back, I know that I should have been easier on myself and that I would kill to get back into those jeans I was in before. Urgh...it is a never ending cycle.

For me personally, some part of me will always be the fat girl on the playground no matter what size I am. But I know now this is more a mental issue than a physical one.

Keep your chin up. It is isn't easy being fat or someone who used to be fat. Tell yourself how beautiful you are and make yourself believe it. Just like you had to be determined to lose the weight - take that same determination and put it toward your self-esteem. Just like the fat that came off in the first - the bad feelings and low confidence will melt away.

Me too. At one point I had reached "onederland" and was so thrilled -- until I realized I still "felt" just as insecure and fat as ever. Gggrrrrrr. I was so irritated and disgusted with myself! Who knew that, along with all my other body parts, my brain got fat too?? HHmmmm, maybe THAT'S the last spot to lose weight.....food for thought......