Do you "feel" fat?

I think something that sabotages me when I try to lose weight is that I don't really feel fat. I mean, like everyone, the weight just snuck up on my a little at a time, so I'm used to carrying it. I'm always surprised and dismayed when I see pictures of myself and I sure don't enjoy what I see in a mirror. I know I need to lose, but I'm very active and don't have any health issues that relate to weight gain.

So sometimes you lose 6 lbs and you're feeling pretty good, the pants are a little loose and you just eat. I remember when I was young and joined Weight Watchers and they wouldn't let you join unless you had at least 10 lbs to lose. So I was 131 and set my goal for 121. I'm 5'6", btw. When I got to that goal, I must have looked pretty good, but I felt fat. Isn't weird? When I was thin, I felt fat and now that I'm fat, I don't feel fat. Would I be more motivated if, for example, I had to turn sideways to get in a door?

Anyway, I just wondered if there are others that have a self-image that is totally different than reality?

When I was at my lowest,  I actually never felt fat. I think I criticized my body more but I never felt fat. I think being healthy just makes me naturally feel okay with my body. So I guess I was the opposite of you because now I definitely feel fat. Once I start eating healthy for a long period of time, I think the fatness feeling will go away.

when i'm sitting on the couch eating nachos, i feel fat.  when i'm out hiking, i don't.  what i weigh at the time is pretty irrelevant.

I know what you're talking about... I have been fat all my life, and am so used to it that I start thinking of it as normal. Then I'll see a picture of myself (mirrors are totally flattering for me!) and I'll just feel so depressed when I see the reality of how big I am... I'm now 30lb overweight, and struggling to get any of it off... So yeah, I totally understand, and it sucks.. so I would definitely suggest keeping very ugly photos as your reverse inspiration!

I never used to, until I developed an ED. Well, that's not true. I have always thought I was fat, literally since I was really, really little (I suspect I may have a touch of body dysmorphia, because I was really a very skinny kid) but I never did anything about it until a few years ago. I would look in the mirror and not be too happy with it, but I always just sorta figured that as long as I stayed x size or x weight, I was okay. THen something snapped. Call it stress or moving out of the house, or whatever but after I developed an ED, suddenly I was never skinny enough. Even when my weight was so low I couldn't even walk across campus without getting dizzy, I still "felt" fat. Now that I am legitimately heavier than I maybe could be, I still feel fat but I know that I'm healthy and should stay this way. It's not really motivational in my case, so much as it is something I have to work against, if that makes any sense. I keep having to positive self-talk myself into "thinking" I'm thin, I'm beautiful, etc. Because otherwise, who knows what could happen. . . 

My problem is that I think "Well, jeez, I'm not as fat as THOSE people!" and so I'm okay with it. Ugh, how horrible! I think poorly about others while placating myself! I hate it!

>_<

Strange isn't it?  I felt good about myself for quite a few years even though I was chunky. (5' 6" 161) I didn't have  a problem shopping for cloths and wasn't as picky.  Now that I've lost weight (I'm down to 145 with 5 lbs to go to reach my goal) I'm picky, picky, picky and notice evey little flaw.   In my opion this is WORSE than being chunky.  I'm hoping that as time goes by and I adjust to my new body I won't focus on myself as much.  After all as important as being fit and healthy is, there's a big world out there and much to do to improve life. 

I feel fat even at 105lbs.... being overweight really messed with me mentally.

Even though I'm trying to lose weight, I've also been trying to be a little nicer to myself when it comes to body image. (trust me when I say that I was pretty messed up and unforgiving of myself) So I was starting to feel better about my body image in general until I saw an advertisment for Aeropostale and I felt really fat then. So to answer your question: I "feel" fat on occasion but when school starts It'll probably go downhill from there.

I can somewhat relate to the original poster. When I was at my biggest, I never really thought of myself as fat. I'd look in the mirror and think, "I'm bigger, but I'm curvy and cute and definitely not FAT"

After losing 93 pounds, I look at pictures of myself and am embarassed that I didn't realize I was as heavy as I was. Now, I look in the mirror and I see the weight loss, but I definitely don't see myself as slim or thin, even though I amd 5'7", weigh 145, and fall well within the healthy weight range for my height.

They say it takes something like a year or two years for your brain to catch up to your body. I'm still waiting.

i feel fat now - being of the verge of overweight/obese i feel about real.

i did feel fat when i was not even overweight as a kid, but was constantly told i was fat.

When I was fat, I didn't really feel fat. Not daily anyway. I guess you do get used to it.

The only time I did feel fat when I was fat was when my pants would dig into my body. Feeling restricted I felt fat. Not fitting on a ride I felt fat, and I was mad at the ride makers because they didn't suit my needs.

Now that I'm smaller, I feel fat daily. I feel fat right now :)

 

sadly, I do feel fat most of the time, even though I've lost weight over the past years.. and more during this one.. & even after all those compliments about how good I look now... S: i'm always feeling fat..specially when I eat bread, or meat xD i don't know why... it's horrible. But i do look at my old pictures to motivate myself. And i don't know if I hate my body more now, or before, when i was fat. ¬¬ I thought I was going to be curvy or that something better was going to be beneath the fat xD...but nope.  T.T I have that.. boyish figure now. but with boobs.. and for me, it's depressing how my sister has that girly figure. and me..well...this! but I still have like 13 lbs to lose S:

I was always a little fatter than the other kids, but as long as I could shop at regular stores, even if I was a size 14, it was okay.  When I could no longer shop at Bluenotes, or Jacob Connexion (two of my fav stores), it hit me that I was fat.  And then it took me like 2 more years to actually REALIZE I HAD to lose weight.  Now I feel fat almost all the time. Blah.

Original Post by shoe1200:

I think something that sabotages me when I try to lose weight is that I don't really feel fat. I mean, like everyone, the weight just snuck up on my a little at a time, so I'm used to carrying it. I'm always surprised and dismayed when I see pictures of myself and I sure don't enjoy what I see in a mirror. I know I need to lose, but I'm very active and don't have any health issues that relate to weight gain.

So sometimes you lose 6 lbs and you're feeling pretty good, the pants are a little loose and you just eat. I remember when I was young and joined Weight Watchers and they wouldn't let you join unless you had at least 10 lbs to lose. So I was 131 and set my goal for 121. I'm 5'6", btw. When I got to that goal, I must have looked pretty good, but I felt fat. Isn't weird? When I was thin, I felt fat and now that I'm fat, I don't feel fat. Would I be more motivated if, for example, I had to turn sideways to get in a door?

Anyway, I just wondered if there are others that have a self-image that is totally different than reality?

i have that problem,

so sometimes i stand in the mirror naked with a permanant marker

and make make note of everywhere that's imperfect.

It helps make it more easily defined,

with people these days it's easy to say we're not the fattest in the room,

the issue is not living up to our full potential.

why just look hot, when we can look like a model?

it's not weird, we all have our own perception of reality, what we need to do is combine our thoughts with the world's and create a more accurate perspective.

Believe it or not, when I started gaining weight, I was happy - finally had curves.  I made no solid efforts to take it off or to even stop it.  I really didn't monitor my weight (didn't even own a scale), but just went by how I felt I looked - and I thought I looked pretty good - hey, I had curves!!!  Then, stepped on the scale one day at the doctor's office and it read 199.5.  "Hey, wait, isn't 200 pounds considered fat," I thought.  But, I don't FEEL fat!  Well, no, guess not, everytime my pants got tight, I just went up a size and then no longer felt fat.  Then, one day I realized, I'm shopping in the big girl's section and Lane Bryant is sending me catalogs.  Hey, how did Ms. Bryant know I was fat????  Who else knows I'm fat?  I am NOT buying a mumu.......and thus the journey began.

i will say that i do...especially when my stomach is extra bloated feeling or when i'm trying on some jeans to go somewhere real quick and am thinking these would fit perfectly if my waist was 2 inches smaller or something like that. i know it's bad that when i compare myself to some individuals i'm always like well i'm not "that bad" but i know at the end of the day when it comes down to it i have some more work to do and my stomach could definitely stand to go down some, lol.

When I can't get that size 14 pair of pants on.  When I feel myself 'bobble' coming down the stairs.  When I run out of breath coming up the stairs.  When I see myself in group pictures.  When I couldn't get tall shoes zipped around my freaking ankle that I could once almost put my hands around.  (No, not a former ED sufferer, just someone who was once skinny and muscular.)

But it'll change.  The more I exercise, the longer I change the way I'm eating, the pound will leave.  I already feel like I have more energy, and I suspect it's in part because I'm getting the blood flowing with exercise.

I know what you mean... I have always felt fatter than I really am, or should I say appear. People have always said that I carry my weight well. When I was younger, I was a size 5 or 7 juniors for years, but as I hit my forties, I found myself climbing into a 10. It didn't take long until I was a 12, where I remained for years.

After turning 50, one day while shopping, I couldn't find anything 'cute' anymore... I was finding my size 16 getting too tight... that was it, I'd had enough!

I started the South Beach diet because it allowed so much variety of what you could have, and I really love salads and veggies. It was easy for me to stay on it and I soon recruited my husband to join me. We were losing weight and feeling good about ourselves for a change. We stayed on the diet together for over 2 years without much effort.

I managed to lose 30+ pounds and got back into a size 12 easily and sometimes 10s! Then everything changed...

My husband had a heart attack that sent our world realing. He came through everything just fine, but had a new outlook on life and things he wanted to do. Recently retired, he decided we needed to make a change. I quit my job, we moved to California and we haven't been able to get motivated to get back on our diet ever since. They just have so many great restaurants to go to! We both still try to watch what we eat, but when we treat ourselves we don't beat ourselves up about it.

Now I am starting to see weight gain... back into a size 14 and concerned about going in the wrong direction! I know its not too difficult for me to stay on the South Beach, but for some reason, I can't quite make myself get started again. I think also that my working helped to get some of the weight off since I had a pretty stressful job at the time.

I am looking for employment again, so maybe that will help me to get back on track... wish me luck!

Feeling fat doesn't have a lot to do with weight.  When I was 205 I didn't feel fat.  I wasn't even thinking about my weight.  If you asked me, I probably would have acknowleded being fat, but I didn't think about it.  Now that I have lost 20+ pounds, I sometimes feel like I am not at all fat.  After all, I am so much thinner than I was.  Then I take a good look at myself and realize that I still have a long way to go.

I guess it depends on how much you're obsessing about your weight. Before, I never cared about my waistline, never cared about how I look in the clothes I buy, never cared about what size I wear in stores. But once you start noticing, you just can't stop. I used to be perfectly happy with who I sure; sure, I was aware that I wasn't skinny, but you know, it didn't matter, right? 'cause it's the inside that counted, right? But then one little comment kind of threw me off-balance, and since then, I just kept obsessing and obsessing. Usually, my self-image goes along with what the scale says, though. If I'm experiencing a trend of decreasing body weight, I feel skinny and happy. When I have a day where there's a "natural weight fluctuation" or a wonky scale reading, I just feel like crap, suck in my stomach the whole day, keep on checking my reflection in every shiny surface I see. Yeah, I find that ever since I started dieting, I never stopped watching my figure. Even during periods when I don't restrict my eating, I feel utterly depressed at the increasing reading on the scale; it just makes me feel so vulnerable and out of control. But yeah, long story short: my self-image pretty much rides on my scale reading, and I'm happier dieting than not.