Picture yourself bigger then you are?

I am 5'9, 367lbs

I always used to picture myself really big. Usualy when you see people that are close to or over 400lbs they are fairly big people. so thats what i always seen when i looked in the mirror or in a window while walking by. I also wouldnt get on scales because i thought i was around 420. Then one day i decided to take a picture of my body and i forgot about the pic. so i was going trough my camera and seen the picture and realised im a lot smaller then i have been pictureing myself. i am still BIG but just not as big as i thought. then i steped on the scale and it told me 367 so when i thought 420 i was way off lol.  I really dont even know why i would do it. I am a very happy person and i love myself, not an once of hate in my body. Its all just very strange to me.

So my questions are

Does or has anyone else seen themselves bigger then what they actualy are?

or

 felt they weighed more then they do?

I think it's a rare person that sees themselves exactly as others see them.  Otherwise none of us would ever experience 'Shop Window Shock' when we catch sight of ourself reflected in a shop window and do a double-take!

If you're used to thinking of yourself as one shape and size - buying particular size clothes, for example - and then you lose weight it's really easy for your self-image to lag a little behind.   I was still taking a bigger size into the changing rooms for ages ... it's a similar thing.   (I don't hate myself either!)

To reset your self-image, keep looking in that mirror and stepping on the scales.  Keep some old clothes that used to be a snug fit as a visual reminder.  Another good one.... pack cans and packets to represent the weight you've lost to date into a suitcase and carry it around for a while... then put it down and feel that weight literally lifting off!  Keep taking those pictures and pin them up where you can see them... it's tough to see your own progress when you see yourself every day.   Someone you haven't seen for a couple of months would notice a difference.

Keep smiling... you're perfectly normal  

Original Post by gi-jane:

 Another good one.... pack cans and packets to represent the weight you've lost to date into a suitcase and carry it around for a while... then put it down and feel that weight literally lifting off! 

 Wow I've never heard that one. I want to try it now! 

A backpack is good too....  If you've lost 10lbs, for example, and you're thinking 'it's not made any difference' and then you put 10lbs of anything in a backpack and try walking up & down some stairs you quickly realise that it's quite a lot!

they did that a few years ago on the biggest loser.  they had to run an obstacle course with backpacks containing the weight that they lost.  i think it's an interesting idea.

anyway, i have the opposite problem.  i think of myself as being thinner than i actually am.  last week i stepped out of the shower and saw myself in the mirror and it horrified me.  that was a big motivator to get back on track and lose weight.  every once in a while i'll feel like a fat slob, but usually i feel thin.  it's weird and i don't understand it.  lol.

Anna i understand completely what your going through..... thats how i used to be!! I would always think even though my pants are this size im still pretty slim looking lol.  Untill i went to the doctors a couple years ago and he told me i was 350. then after that i would just think of myself as huge lol. i was watching a thing about anorexia treatment and they had the girls draw life size pictures of themselfs, then they would trace them on the pictures. they all made the pictures soooo much bigger then they actualy are. thats actually what made me take a picture of myself! lol now i just think it is crazy how i used to picture myself so big.

But im still way bigger then i would like to be soo that motivates me a lot. Plus i want to have kids someday and i want to be healthy when that time comes.

I go back and forth feeling if I am slimmer than I am or larger than I am.. and it can fluctuate by the hour.. Sometimes I am like "Dang I'm hot!" and then I see a picure of me that same day like hours later and I am like "Oh gosh I am a fattie aren't I?" I don't hate myself and I don't want anyone elses body I think it is just something we have to deal with as being conscious beings. The joys of being self-aware!

People have told me that they feel I see myself larger than I am, but I think I'm pretty dead on. I just think I'm more critical of myself (which tends to be the case with most).

This is something I struggle with a lot...I'm not overweight by ANY means, but I always feel really big (maybe it's because I have VERY skinny model friends? Idk). Anyway I started school this year and my new friends are now chastising me for being too thin - but I don't see it at all! I just see where those pockets of fat are on my body. I think it's definately a self-esteem issue. It might be good to be critical of ourselves, until it stimulates us to do things that aren't good for ourselves.

I have the reverse issue - I think I see myself as smaller than I am. When I see pictures, or catch the shop-window reflection, I am invariably disappointed. Even now when I'm no longer obese (but still overweight).

This is a big issue for me.  People still tell me I carry my weight well when they hear how much I weigh, they can't believe it. They are either very kind or I really do have an inflated view of my self! 

I tend to believe that the view I have of myself is the problem.  Yes I am over weight but I'm not as bad as I think I am.  When I lost 40 lbs with WW, I had a lot of trouble accepting the new me. I loved fitting into smaller sizes, and clothes finally looked good on me but I still handled myself and moved as if I had to be careful not to knock over stuff. I still felt big. The weight slowly crept back on over 3-5 years and while I do blame some health problems for making it difficult to exercise I think the bottom line was, I didn't believe I was or could actually be slender.

I think accepting who you are and believing that beauty can happen at any size is essential.  We have to love ourselves and know that we are worth the effort we put into losing weight and ultimately feeling good.  We have to do this for us and not for others' ideas of what looks good or right.

A book that I have just acquired is helping me. This is Who I Am is a wonderful book that showed me that all shapes, sizes and ages of women either have image issues or totally accept themselves.  Very interesting.

Original Post by heftywhimsy:

This is a big issue for me.  People still tell me I carry my weight well when they hear how much I weigh, they can't believe it. They are either very kind or I really do have an inflated view of my self! 

I tend to believe that the view I have of myself is the problem.  Yes I am over weight but I'm not as bad as I think I am.  When I lost 40 lbs with WW, I had a lot of trouble accepting the new me. I loved fitting into smaller sizes, and clothes finally looked good on me but I still handled myself and moved as if I had to be careful not to knock over stuff. I still felt big. The weight slowly crept back on over 3-5 years and while I do blame some health problems for making it difficult to exercise I think the bottom line was, I didn't believe I was or could actually be slender.

I think accepting who you are and believing that beauty can happen at any size is essential.  We have to love ourselves and know that we are worth the effort we put into losing weight and ultimately feeling good.  We have to do this for us and not for others' ideas of what looks good or right.

A book that I have just acquired is helping me. This is Who I Am is a wonderful book that showed me that all shapes, sizes and ages of women either have image issues or totally accept themselves.  Very interesting.

 Im sorry you went through that and put it back on.

See but im different, i do love myself! i see a pretty girl when i look in the mirror. im perfectly fine with who i am and everything else. its just that when i see people who are really big i think i hope i never turn like that, then alot of them you hear ar 300 and something or 400. Then once my doctore told me i was 350 thats just the olny way i could see me. Even though i know it has to do with the build of your body and height and w.e else. Just when i hear high number i think of someone who is very very heavy, which i know it isnt the case for all.  Even when i seen myself that way i didnt let it change my personality i was still the bubbly girl i have always been.

I actually have the opposite of that problem.  I always think I look better than I do or thinner than I am.  When I look in the mirror I think I am fairly pretty... just tad chubby and then I see a photograph that shows my double chin or buddah belly or worse, back fat and can't believe I look that bad!  Don't get me wrong, I don't think I am a size zero but I'll see someone a couple of sizes smaller than I am and I'll think we are about the same size and I only wake up if I see a picture of us side by side and realize I'm Fricken HUGE! compared to them.  It's so depressing!

Original Post by sweetandbrown:

I actually have the opposite of that problem.  I always think I look better than I do or thinner than I am.  When I look in the mirror I think I am fairly pretty... just tad chubby and then I see a photograph that shows my double chin or buddah belly or worse, back fat and can't believe I look that bad!  Don't get me wrong, I don't think I am a size zero but I'll see someone a couple of sizes smaller than I am and I'll think we are about the same size and I only wake up if I see a picture of us side by side and realize I'm Fricken HUGE! compared to them.  It's so depressing!

 yes, i used to be like that to. I still am sometimes when i wake up after a good sleep and i look in the mirror and no dark circles or anything. lol, but dont let it get you down! just think of it as motivation "i will look better then her soon enough" lol