I just wanted to share with you something that I noticed of myself when I went shopping yesterday to search for a pair of slacks.

It seems that despite losing 39 lbs when I go shopping, I still think of myself as "heavy" and thus the clothes I tend to browse are still as if I was a plump Size 16. I noticed yesterday I would still look at the looser cut clothes, the large billowy tops....it seems that despite my now being able to wear Size 9 Junior slacks I can't seem to put my mind in that mode that I am not what I used to be. Thus, I am having difficulty showing off my body. Now, I am a mom with two older kids and I don't mean to wear low cut tops or short-shorts....just anything "clingy" I feel uncomfortable with although everyone says that I look good and my body now is definitely not what it was 10 mos ago or even 5 months ago.

So how does one get themselves out of this mode of thinking? I hope in time I can accept me as I am now. Believe me, I am ecstatic with my new body and I know that the remaining 19 lbs I need to lose will make me even more happy with the way clothes fit but its just funny how decades of thinking are hard to break.

Just wondering if anyone else feels the same way I do and how you overcome it.

Have a good day everyone

All it takes is time. Have some pictures taken of yourself and look at them. REALLY look at them. It takes a while for your mind to catch up with what you look like. I actually had the opposite problem for a long time. I was always a tiny girl and still thought of myself as small, even when the pounds kept packing on. It wasn't until I couldn't get into my fat jeans and went shopping for clothes with my mom one day that I finally saw myself as I really looked. ACK! It was depressing. I am now just getting back to looking like a normal person and it rocks! I keep wanting to wear smaller clothes.

You have done well and you look great! Congratulations!

YOu are definitely not alone... Ifeel the exact same way. I have gone from a size 20 to an 8. I still look at clothes you do not tuck in...I hate wearing anything even remotely form fitting. I look at pictures and see no difference in me, even though I know there is. I keep thinking that 61 pounds has to look like more than that I hope I feel better about my body soon.

I'm so glad you started this thread Yvonne, because I've been thinking about this exact thing the past couple of days. I can fit into almost all my old clothes, and when I was this size before I felt like I looked really good, but now I feel way fatter. A friend said I was looking "tiny" the other day and all I could think was "wha???" I didn't know what to say. When I look in the mirror I look so fat, like I've hardly lost anything.

Like you Paleoanth, it took me a long time to realize how overweight I had gotten. In the mirror I saw a much thinner person, and I either avoided having my picture taken or told myself it was a bad photo, I don't photograph well, etc. I had to face reality before starting Atkins, but now I seem to be stuck in that fat reality! I could really use some advice on how to mentally catch up with the new thinner me. I like your photo idea, but I genuinely don't photograph well so it's hard to get a decent "after" picture. (hey Paleo, you and I have almost the same stats! )

--Sarah

I am not sure I have completely caught up. Some days I feel like I look alright, others I don't. I am still such a scale slave-it is almost like it tells me whether or not I look OK.

When I started this, I took pics of myself in workout clothes. Yes, I know-TORTURE. But I kept at it and now I have before and now pics to compare ( I cannot wait to take an AFTER picture). That helps-because I can really see a difference. I also try really hard not to take this weight loss for granted. I know I must look way better than before-my tape measure shows a pretty dramatic drop in my waist size. As my mom told me once while she was in the middle of OWL -It sure looks better coming off than it did going on. She is also having to deal with readjusting her mindset to the weight she has lost.

So, find one of those pics of yours from before if you can and take a new one in a full length mirror of yourself in those same clothes. It doesn't matter if it is a good pic-no one else will see it! See if you can tell a difference. I will bet you can. I am going to attach my start LC and now pics. I had actually already lost 5 pounds before I started LC-so my true before pic is bigger.

Cool that we have almost the same stats! We can egg each other on!

Paleoanth

It took me so long to actually buy my right size. My wife would say "That shirt is 2 sizes too big" and I would say "But if i get a smaller size it feels too tight" I finally broke down and started to buy 2x instead of 3 or 4x. I can even fit in some 1x shirts. I pulled out my fat pants the other day. size 56. I actually put both legs into one pant leg. Now that felt good. I am now a size 44,which is still big but no 56.



Jon

Hi Paleoanth! I can really see a difference in your photo, good for you!! I wish I had been able to take a photo of myself in fitted clothes before starting, but at that time I could barely stand to look in the mirror. Taking measurements was painful enough, but I'm so glad I did that because my waist has shrunk a lot (8 inches so far) and I wouldn't have known that if I hadn't taken those measurements.

I will work on trying to get a current photo in fitted clothes that I can use for comparison. But I doubt I'll be brave enough to post it on the site. Just the thought makes my stomach hurt

You should take a picture! It has helped me to stay motivated. I have also lost around 7 inches in my waist. Guess where all my carbs used to go?

I wasn't being brave-I figured not too many people would actually see the pic!

... but I actually feel "fatter" now than I did the last time I was at this weight, which was just before I started college. I am actually a bit slimmer, as I'm now a definite size 10 instead of a small 12, and the clothes that I saved from that period are too big. I feel like a horrid ingrate for looking at the mirror sometimes and still seeing the fat instead of the loss, but it's the truth. Back in early high school, I had a relatively brief and non-serious bout with anorexia and bulimia, getting down to about 110 at my lowest point. Fortunately, I managed to stop the eating disorder behaviors before making myself too ill, and bounced back up to 135-140 in a year's time. I had a good bit of therapy to help deal with the body-image issues underlying the ED experience, so the last time I was this small, I was spending a lot of time trying to be content with my body as-is. Now I'm coming off of a year and a half of the exact opposite behavior, and I'm much more conscious of my remaining "imperfections".

I'm in the process of deciding how perfect I want my body to be, and sometimes I think that's harder than actually doing the physical work to get it that way. Turning down the potato chips may not be easy, but it's got nothing on the temptation to drop my goal weight another 5 or 10 lbs, especially now that I'm almost there. I don't have a problem motivating myself to work out, but it would be easy to let myself overdo it, especially the weight training. I basically let myself go on a mental holiday while I gained all the weight -- I never really looked at myself in the mirror or thought about what I was doing to myself. It wasn't good for me at all, but some days it's hard to remember that being a "workaholic" in this area isn't any better.

Atlee