Fatter after exercise?

Does anyone else feel like they look disgusting after they work out? I can walk into the gym feeling cute and thin, but afterwards when i catch myself in the mirror, I look disgusting and bloated and whaley and all the happy endorphins from the work out go away.

Does this happen to anyone else? All my friends say I'm crazy; they all think they look better after they exercise.

If you exercise hard, your muscles will retain water for a little while after you're done.  That's probably what you're seeing - though I suspect you're seeing a *lot* more bloating than anyone else sees on you; we tend to be our own worst critics, after all.

Personally I think I look better after I work out. However, in your case, I suspect that perhaps before you work out you don't expect to look good or you don't necessarily care how you look because let's face it you're going to work out and it's not a beauty contest at the gym. However, afterwards, you're happy your workout is over and you in a way expect to look good because you feel as though you should since you worked out. This heightened sense of "I should look good now" or higher expectations to look good might explain then why you don't think you look good.

It sounds weird but it happens to me all the time. When I'm at school I don't care at all how I look. I don't shave really and I just wear sweats and stuff to class. When my parents come up to visit me though I want to look good. I shave and dress nice for them and even though I then look 100 times better than before, I normally don't think I look good since I now EXPECT to look good, whereas previously I had no expectations to look good and therefore could not care less.

I find particularily my stomach looks fatter after I exercise, maybe I'm just tired and can't really focus properly, but I definitely do feel worse afterwards. Yet if I bypass the mirror those endorphins do their thing and I feel great for hours afterward.

If I start to have a bad day in the morning, I'll think back to yesterday or the coming afternoon and focus on my exercise and mentally talk myself into thinking I'm getting fitter and looking better.

Yet mornings are my favourite time of day, there's no food in my stomach and the empty yet happy feeling is there and it makes me feel flatter.

Maybe you should try not to look in the mirror just after you exercise, wait and hour or two once you've cooled down and changed into different clothes, then see how you look. Good luck!

I definitely feel like I look fatter afterwards too. Everyone else tells me I'm crazy as well, lol. Glad to know I'm not alone!

I always thought it was just that I was exhausted so I slouch and have bad posture for a little while afterwards, but I never considered the retaining water idea before. 

Oh I definitely feel fatter after I workout too! Good to know I'm not the only one! I think it definitely has something to do with water retention for me. Also probably that I work my abs to exhaustion and then don't have any "oomph" left to keep 'em sucked in!