why do I look so fat?

OK, so I had finally reached the point where I thought I was getting comfortable with my weight. At 5'1.5'', 120 lbs and a BMI of about 22.5, I thought I was doing pretty good and was planning on maintaining.

Then, I go to the gym yesterday and look in the full-length mirror, and God, I look fat! I'd always thought I was so much thinner! How is it possible to be at such a supposedly healthy weight and look bad????

Find another mirror. Not all mirrors are accurate, believe it or not. Just one tiny warp in a mirror, and it can make you look fat. Think about fun-house mirrors.

If it was one of those floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall mirrors, the chances are, it was a cheap mirror with lots of imperfections.

Also the most flattering mirrors are those that are tilted just slightly downward from the top. :-)

If you want a better gauge, try taking some full-length photos of yourself.

(I hate it when I hit post and then have an additional thought!)

Also, it could be what you are wearing. Personally, exercise clothing is not the most figure-flattering for many of us *particularly* those of us who are petite!!!!

For example, if you were wearing gym shorts, and they were not scaled for your petite legs, and they hit at the fullest part of your thigh, they are going to make you look fat and probably also stumpy-legged.

And if the pants come up to high on your waist (too high of an inseam), you'll appear to have a bigger tummy and butt too.

And then there's the bras... they are meant to be tight, so they'll squeeze you like a sausage and make unflattering underarm flab and back flab.

I really wish that someone would be smart and come out with a line of petite exercise clothing... sigh....

lol gym mirrors make you appear fatter, to keep you motivated

A better question is why do we always look in the mirror and see a mass of imperfections and not the beautiful women we are.

I do not believe for a moment that you look fat. I just don't. There isn't a neuron in my mind that thinks ANYONE with a 22.5 BMI is fat. I think what you're seeing is your fears that you don't look like you want to look.

There are very few women who look like the Victoria Secret models. Most of us look like the women in Dove commercials. Whatever you saw staring back at you was splendidly imperfect... and I'm willing to bet there was a half dozen other women there who wished they looked as good.

My suggestion: next time you see a full-length mirror, say, "Hi beautiful." If you say it enough times, you will start to see what everyone else sees.

Oh my God, YES, those gym mirrors are AWFUL. I look stubby and FAT and GROSS in those mirrors. It always *isses me off ... but then I KNOW it's JUST the mirror. LOL!

Jen, if you have additonal thoughts, you can always hit "edit" and add to your post! :)

P.S. Ooooh, I TOTALLY agree with Millington about looking in the mirror and saying nice things to yourself. I know from experience that it DEFINITELY works! Do it everybody!

celtic_rose.... I know exactly what you are saying. I have lost weight and I am sure I look good... but sometimes when I look at the mirror that is not what i think. In my opinion, some people with higher BMI than me looks so much better... they have flatter abs and toned bodies.

I dont know the solution to this problem.... I just try not to look at the mirror too much!!!

Ha, this just happened to me.  Standing next to my roommate in front of the bathroom mirror, I said, "Why is it that I look in the mirror and see the same person I saw 3 years ago?"

He said this, and he was right:

"Because you're insane."

Mirrors are lying ******'s. lol (no real word intended, sub in your own)

Thats why I love having a digital camera with a timer on in. I take a bunch of pictures from different angles, load them on my computer, compare with old photos and smile because I have "beat" the mirror. kinda time consuming but if I keep these photos in my head I can remind myself that mirrors lie and that my perception is warped.

I do the same exact thing.  It is the only way that a get a good sense of what I really look like.  Mirrors are my worst enemy.  Sometimes I feel good when looking at myself in a mirror and other times I can't stand myself.   I know that I have body dismorphia because my sensible side says I can't possibly look as bad I see myself.  I am very athletic and have  low bodyfat for my age, I'm 41.  As I get older it only gets worse.  Any sugggestions on how overcome this obnoxious warped sense of myself.  I'm soo tierd of it.

I Know what you mean. It sucks! I've lost 9lbs so far....( healthy BMI too) and I look exactly the same as I did 9lbs ago. I've done the picture taking... and yep I look the same, I think my face is slightly thinner but there's no real difference. There are those days when I think I look better than before but there are also those days when I don't. I guess it just happens.

I agree with cmillington though, we see a mass of imperfections. So we just have to keep telling ourselves we're beautiful :)

Easier said than done.  My boyfriend can tell me I'm sexy and beautiful all day long and I still feel less than  beautiful.  I don't think it has anything to do with self esteem because believe it or not I have plenty of that.  I know other woman struggle like I do.  I wonder if societys standards of whats beauiful has anything to do with why woman feel like I do.  I know everyone has imperfections and even people we think are perfect feel the way I do.  I ts so messed up.  When did all this self judgement and self criticism  with our bodies start anyways?

I have the opposite problem. When I look in mirrors I always think I look great. Then I see a picture or video of myself and I look huge. I want to believe the mirror in my case.

Seems like everyones got something that twists thier self perception.  Maybe the answer is no more mirrors and no more pictures.  Imagine how much better we would all feel.