When you looked in the mirror did you SEE how big you actually are/were

On June 30th 2006 we took a trip for Canada Day, on the way I got my mom to take a fam picture... I compared my pictures exactly one year to the day and there sure is a difference.. Then I started thinking to myself.. When I looked at myelf back then that, is NOT what I saw in the mirror.. I mean, I knew I heavy but I didn't realize that is what I looked like..

Anyone else experience this?

Maybe denial or not realizing the gradual weight gain?  I feel a similar way when I see pics of myself right now.. I think Wow, is that really me, that isn't what I see in the mirror..I think that is from having the physical part of being thinner but not having the mental to go along with it?  Or maybe I just have really strange mirrors *jokes*

Omg girl you look FABULOUS!! How tall are you? I weigh 157 and would love to get down to 145, maybe less depending on how I look. But yeah, I know exactly what you mean! I look at my old pictures and think "eww who was that girl??" and now when I look at pics I think "damn I look good! But I still have a little ways to go" haha

I didn't know I was so fat either.  Some pictures look good to me and others look bad.  Sometimes it is a pic that makes me realize I have really changed for the good or the bad. 

I usually don't see a fat girl in the mirror.  I think I look just fine and then one day I realize nothing fits anymore and I look at my rear in the mirror and yikes it is a lot bigger.  Maybe it is b/c I don't spend a lot of time in the mirror.  I am busy with my kids.

I just love that you posted this! I seriously knew that I had gained weight and that I was large, but then I would see pictures and think "Wow, I'm bigger than I thought I was!" So I started asking friends if I was about the same size, bigger, or smaller than girls we would see out in public so I could get a better idea. The bad part was, I thought I was smaller than I was and when I asked if I was the same size as some one I thought I was the same size as...I was bigger (so love the fact that my friends are honest)! So I realized that was that...I was not going to be heavy anymore...I want my body back, the great one I had before having kids.

platinumbutterfly ~ You look amazing!!! That is exactly what I'm goaling for! I'm about 163 now (5'5") trying to get down to 125 - 135. How long did it take you?

Sometimes I'm still not sure what I look like.  :-/

I have always had that problem.  I never felt fat beyond not fitting into clothes and being treated poorly by people.  I only ever realized how big I was in hindsight.  Even pictures from 10 lbs ago look chubby to me now, but seemed amazing at the time.  I'm sure when I reach my goal weight that I will think pictures of me now look fat as well.
But I don't mind - it just means I love myself through every stage of my journey.  Kinda cool.

I hear ya!!  I didn't think I was as big as I was until I saw a picture of myself.  I was a tight size 16, but kept thinking of myself as a size 10/12, since that's what I was before I got pregnant for the 2nd time.  Then I saw some pictures, and saw that I really was a fatty!!  I think since then that my perception of myself has changed to something more realisitic.   I don't know if it was denial or what, but I'm glad I was finally able to realize how big I had become.

I didn't really see it in the mirror either. I knew I was getting bigger (way heavier than I have ever been) but it took a picture to really realize it. Wow...it was eye opening.

Also another thing that did it was when I tried to borrow an outfit from my sister to wear to a wedding. She had always been a few sizes bigger than me and when I tried on her stuff...I couldn't even get anything zipped. I couldn't believe it.

But those things were the kick in the butt that I really needed!!

some pictures I look at I feel like "that is NOT me!" or "I am NOT that big!" but I guess I am lol

I am down 15.4 pounds as of this morning...I hae more to go but I cant feel a difference. I should have a friend take some pics of something so I can see if I can notice a difference!

Hm.. I think it's just my brain playing (mean) tricks on me. I didn't and still don't see myself as fat, if anything, I think I look fabulous.

But when I look at them pictures, it's just whole different story. I don't like my pictures because I look quite hideous in them. So I would tell myself that I'm just not photogenic  - but that doesn't explain the rest of my body!!! So like the rest of ya, I'm guessing looking at your own pictures is the key to have that epiphany that you are't what you percieved yourself to be.

-Lemon Jello

oh GAWD, totally!!!

I look at my before pic and want to cry.

or scream.

or both.

how come I didn't realize how poorly I was looking after myself?

they say the camera adds about 10lbs.......

sheesh I musta had about 100 cameras on me that halloween (see my gallery)

For me it was kind of backwards.. I always saw myself as fat when really I wasn't all that fat. it's weird how those things work dontcha think?

that's exactly what made me join... i saw a picture of myself and i was horrified! My arms are alot bigger than i thought they were.. my belly now jiggles as i walk.. they say it's good to leave that picture on your fridge door.. hmm

The sad thing is, growing up i always thought i was fat now i look at back then and wish i could get back there!!!

The turning point for me was i went to a wedding and someone took a photo of me sitting on my husbands lap - it looked like he had a whale sitting on him! It was so terrible and i was so embarrassed that i had let myself get to that point!

That was after my first pregnacy, now after the second bubs i have no idea what i look like because i tend to avoid photos at all costs!!!!!!!

alieajo, I do that!  My turning point was when I asked my mother if I was slimmer than a girl walking past us, and she said no, then pointed out her really quite big mum and said that I was the same size as her!  I nearly died of shock and disgust.  That, coupled with pictures from my 21st birthday when i was supposed to look like a princess and ended up looking like a pasty white pig in a corset and a wig, was enough to make me realise that I wasn't exactly slim any more! I just hadn't realised that I'd become that big...it snuck up on me!!

For me, it was someone's wedding pictures.  I thought I looked good that night, but the pictures (bad angle too, but I can only blame so much on that!) showed how awful things had really gotten!

That, and my evil sister in law who used to always be fat went on a diet.  I can't live with her being thinner than me.  Blech!

Last weekend, I went to another wedding.  I was really careful posing ofr pictures, and I'm down 41 pounds.  This'll be a much better group of pictures to look through!!!!!!

Big or small, I've never liked having a photo taken and I hate looking at them.  The only mirrors I have around the house are head height in the bathroom and one small one in the bedroom that I can adjust to see any bit I need to but never all of me at the same time.  I know that I'm big because if I catch sight of myself in a mirror or a shop window when I'm out it's always a shock and I hate it.  But I don't really feel big when I'm not looking at my reflection!  I suppose I'm in denial...

Well, I mean, I knew I was fat - you cant be 300+ and NOT know LOL. But I always thought I didnt look THAT fat, not 362 lbs fat. In the mirror anyway. But then I saw some pics of me at my heaviest (like the ones in my profile) and thought "OMG, I am THAT fat!" I guess I spent too much time looking at my distorted pics - ones from 90-100 lbs ago or my good angle close up pics of my face only that thru some genius angle work of art hide my double chin! LOL

It can definitely be a big old dose of reality!

I got the wake up call about how my weight gain had changed my body when I went out with a bunch of younger friends in their early twenties to a spa. I thought I was in great shape besides being in my mid-twenties and that I looked the same as my friends. I got a shock when I we got changed and we were all standing in front of the mirror checking our bathers and I realised that I didn't look so trim and taught like I used to when I was eighteen. I was really skinny almost underweight through highschool despite eating plenty of chocolate and junk. After I turned 22 I moved out and packed on 10 kilos by the time I graduated from university. For the past few years I've been thinking that my hips were just 'filling out' like I thought they were supposed to when you reach your mid 20s and it was all bone that was getting bigger.

So funny I've posted the same exact thing a months ago.  I wonder why that is that you look huge in pictures, but when you look in the mirror you feel you look o.k?  That is so odd to me, our mind is playing tricks on us lol!

Alieaho, I do that too!  I still think I am slimmer than I actually am.  I just ignore photos that I don't like and make excuses for them or avoid the camera all together.  I will be happy when I am actually the size I think I am. lol