This may seem silly, but I took a picture of myself (to post when I get the courage up), and I look very different. I am used to seeing myself with a fuller face, about 25 pounds heavier. I was used to that face! Now, I am a little freaked out. Yes, I have seen myself everyday in the mirror for the last several months, but a picture really showed the weightloss. I am actually "missing" me. It has to be close to my TOM! How high drama is that?!? Well, I now am really looking at myself in the mirror a lot. Not in a really vain way, just in a "who is that?" kind of way. Thanks for "listening"!

Personally, I've only had the other kind of freak out, when I saw pictures of myself and realized I had allowed myself to get waaaay too fat...

I'm glad you got to have the good kind of freaky

Haven't been freaked out at weight loss... although did get alittle emotional when i was realizing that all the clothes I had been wearing 2 months ago don't fit me properly anymore... and was just alittle sad.
I mean I was happy then (2 months ago)... and a few years before that when i was really overly thin (I know unhealthy... brought on by a substance abuse problem that i had) I wasn't always happy..

I just hope that since now i am losing weight for the proper reasons.. I will still be as happy as i am now... while thin.

I hope you start just loving the new you.... you are great... and this WOL is great...

Sounds like Dstar, your 1st big amount of noticable weight loss is in your face, which happens to a lot of us. Everyone doing this feels the surprise & it's usually through seeing the 1st post-weight loss pic. Expect many more surprises! I do hope you like what you see though! When people saw me after losing 20 lbs, the usual comment was that my face is much narrower now. A pic of me taken in April surprised me, no more double chin!

I hear ya, Katana, it was the same for me... when I saw my pics taken at Chicheniza in Nov 02 (loved your site! GREAT pics! Did you climb the steps?), that's when I thought whoa! Is that me now? The weight crept up over the last few yrs., I was in denial, & in Jan 03, I said time to get it off! There's this pic taken in Oct 02 of me that I looked at & thought there's something just not me about it... it was my face -bigger than it ever has been!

I've noticed lately another strange thing having to do with looking in mirrors.

For the first few months on the WOE, I was looking at myself in the mirror and thinking how much better I looked. For whatever reason, the past few weeks I've been looking in the mirror, and all I'm seeing is how much farther I have to go. I have really been "feeling fat" even though I'm significantly lighter than when I started this WOL. I don't know what mental switch has been flipped, but it is really weird. It is almost as if I have gone back to the way that I viewed myself years ago, when I had first started to gain weight. I know that I have done really well so far, even though it has been very slow going lately (I think my body is treating these last 20 pounds like the last 10! )

Anyway, it is just very frustrating. Has anyone else had this experience?

I g back and forth.. part of each day I think I am looking SO much better then part of every day I feel like abig fat blob who has YEARS to go to look super... I am not sure other than our hormones..women are slaves to hormones.

I do that, some days I am like YAY look at you, then others I think man I am still really fat I have 30 pounds to go, that is a lot! I dont know if this is common but I understand what you are going through!

Maggie, I feel the same way! In fact, I just started Induction again yesterday, I hope it works. It should be easier this time, as have kicked my sweet habit. I realized that I let some things creep in too much, like nuts! I lost most of my weight in the first 2 monthes, I want to recapture the joy! My goal is to be a size 8 by Christmas, then I will be happy with my pictures.

You betcha! It still makes me pause and do a double take every now and then. Seeing collar bones, shoulders that don't just melt into a chest but have definition and realizing that I have cheekbones!

It can sneak up on you - the changes. 25 lbs and you don't look much different, but 26 lbs and suddenly everyone is asking you what you're doing differently, did you get your hair cut? (that one never ceases to amaze me - you can lose 80 lbs and get your hair styled differently and guess what people who haven't seen you for 9 months are going to notice? )

Digressing, sorry.

I've noticed lately the changes are more subtle, but they still require the old mirror gazing. The most recent was an accident. I banged my elbow and was rubbing it to help with the numbness and realized that my palm was bigger than my arm - there wasn't this mushy fat hanging everywhere and spilling over.

IMHO that mirror time is necessary - accepting the new you isn't always easy, resisting change is. Just remember to smile when you ask 'who is that?'

Nat

MocaGyrl - what a difference! You look great!

Yeah, I climbed the steps, but I was much younger then...

Thanx you guys! I posted this at work today and when I got home saw the nice messages. I am crazy mood swingin today. I am even crying over commercials! Well, off the cruz the board with my 1/2 gallon of water (had the other half at work)!

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-8/259084/fat2.jpg


I had the opposite problem, I never thought I was as heavy as I really was. I just floated along, content, clueless munching on some bread!

I have the opposite problem as well. I look in the mirror a bunch of things run through my head:

- I like what I see
- pissed at myself for being careless and gaining 15+ lbs in 3 years
- happy to have changed
- dissatisfied for the slow weight loss
- patient to make it to my goal
- relieved to know this is IT.. I've found the right way to lose weight and be healthy
- vowing that I'll never let myself be careless for so long again

Yup, ALL those thoughts run through my head when I look into the mirror, usually when I'm naked lol.

D star,
we miss you in our thread. Stop by ok. Hope you have a lovely LC evening.