Wow. Great site but I agree - I don't look like the women who are my height and weight.

Two things: we all carry our weight differently... Second, clothing is the great concealer. Camouflage yourself to your best advantage!

Still preoperative but I've lost 90+ on my own so far -- I live life with my fat glasses on, too.

Great post!
I'm also finding it hard to wrap my head around my wight loss. I feel great, but then I think I'm still too big and need to lose more weight. I don't want to because I fear I will start looking ill. I got to my goal weight and decided to lose 5 more lbs. I lost those 5 and decided I want to lose 5 more and I've lost 3 of those 5 and now I think I may want to go even further. When does this stop?
I'll be following this post to see what the WLS vets have to say.
Shelley :o)

I still struggle with this... I look at before pictures and don't connect with "her" but when I look in the mirror I don't really connect with that image either... I still worry if I can fit through turnstiles and things like that... pick up the wrong size clothing... walk into the room and "think" I'm the biggest girl there. When I walk into a group or party situation I head for "my people" any plus size people in the group.

I talked a bit about it on Ricki Lake: http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-ricki-lake-show-wrap-up.html

I came to the conclusion it's going to take living in this body and experiences as a smaller person to retrain the brain.

Good Luck to you with the head stuff... it's the hardest part of this journey IMHO,

~Michelle "Shelly"

Sometimes I think it is just me and I am bugging out. I had the sleeve done September 5, 2012 and I have lost 75lbs. Everyone sees it except for me. I see it in pics but looking at myself in the mirror every day I look like the same girl before the surgery, so it is definitely a mind think. I have been big most of my life so it is going to take longer than 6,12,18 months for me to see the new me. Sad but true. Congratulations on your weight loss though.

I seriously think I have the opposite problem. I don't necessarily see a thin person, but I think I rarely see myself as big as I really am (or other people who weigh as much as I do).

Either way, it's hard to have a true self-image.

Good luck to you!

Seeing myself as thinner has been a struggle. I can physically see/feel that I have smaller clothes on, but I still have big boobs and a gut, so at times, it feels like I'm still that fat person. I'm trying to keep positive about it and focus in on all the things I can do since losing all the weight. Our minds are sometimes too smart for their own good!

Lucy
RNY 11/1/11

araggs....
Great! now I have another thing to obsess about, that site you posted!!

Ok... Just kidding.... I thought it was kinda cool. And honestly, I think I was pretty right on as to how I currently look and how I use to look. Thanks for sharing it

In my head I have always been fabulous! lol I used to wear gorgeous wide leg trousers and cleavage enhancing shirts. Now, I wear skinny pants and tummy concealing tops. A huge belly, I was fine with, but, I have a problem now with a muffin top? Go figure!

I have become half the person I was (size 28/30 to 14/16) and lost a bit of my confidence in the process. But, every day I look in the mirror and smile. I am in the process of becoming a new me. And I guarantee, she will be fabulous, too!!!

Oh my Claire I am so jealous... I have hated how I look for as long as I can remember... I have like so many of us been many sizes through the years... of course all big and bigger... LOL... but what kind of freaks me out is that I have hated my look at every size... but always looking back I'll think... I wasn't that awful... now I don't think I'm ever going to say that about almost 400 lbs... eek... but for right now... I feel almost good at 286... Claire how ever you have the ability to think positive about yourself... I mean as in serious... please share... I am so tired of beating up on myself... so maybe I had to go to the extreme to realize maybe I better be grateful for where I am today... tomorrow could always be worse...

A guy realy don't care how he looks, at least I don't. I have lost 75 pounds so far. I am shocked when I look in a mirror and see how old I look! I guess the fat kept the wrinkles stretched out! I got turkey neck too! LOL! Like I said I really don't care I feel wonderful!

I am 5 years out and I still struggle with this. When I was heavy, I didnt picture myself as heavy as I was and now that I am thiner, I dont feel thin either. I still wonder if I will fit thru a space or feel weird in the "skinny girl" stores. I feel like they know I am an imposter.

I think the more time you spend looking in a mirror is supposed to help - who has the time for that lol

Hope it helps to know its normal but I dont have a clue how to fix it.

I'm 13 months out from RNY gastric bypass and I have lost 200 pounds. Everyone tells me how great I look. I see it, really I do. I mean 200 pounds how could I not. I try to look at ptcictures of myself before surgery. I try on pants that I wore pre-surgury. I act super confident but the truth is...I don't believe it. I still see myself at over 400 pounds.

I hear you, it's hard. Our minds do not catch up as fast as our bodies lose weight. Good luck to you. You look beautiful! You are doing great! Don't forget that you have fought hard for where you are and you are amazing!!!

hugs!

Yes it takes time for your brain to adjust to the new you. We are all so use to having negative thoughts that run over and over in our heads...we have to change that recording and tell ourselves that we are doing good and look the part. Congrats on the weight loss! I think that is fantastic! debby

Thanks for sharing that website, I wish I had access to it when I was 16 and felt overweight when I wasn't. I usually felt smaller than I actually was as I was gaining weight. Now I'm having issues seeing any significant weight loss. Am hoping once I break 200 I will feel differently.

Like Claire I always loved the way I looked, dressed and carried myself as a BBW and to be honest I lived in a cocoon and never thought of myself as obese and truly hated it when the doctors referred to me as such. It wasn't until August of 2012 that I had to face that this was indeed who I had become and what a tremendous blow to my ego. I know what size i ordered in blouses and pants but once i put them on, fixed my hair and make up all i saw was a beautiful woman looking back at me and I would truly wink at myself each morning before leaving the house for work so imagine the tears when someone finally shook the hell out of me and said listen lady this is serious. Your bp is too high, your borderline diabetic and you could potentially have a heart attack if you don't accept this and do something NOW!!!

All the self-confidence in the world couldn't make me ignore what I had to do. I am use to the weight challenged Tami, and being on the pre-op side of the fence I know I have to mourn that part of me prior to walking in that operating room and be prepared to embrace a new me. I've pulled out as many pictures of me as a youngster, adolescent and young wife and mom that I could find and I just started looking at them and then it hit me - no matter how accustomed to being a bbw that I had become, that was not always my life. There was a time when i was comfortably a 14/16 and an 18 so I just look at it now as going back to basis.

Just last night i was on fb with some of my grade school, jr. high and highschool friends and we were posting our high school senior pictures and i was completely blown away. They even found one of me on costume day dressed in a cowgirl outfit - i was hysterical laughing at myself but in awe of how small i was. I will post it here for you to see, so be nice lol.

All you can do is learn to love you, your head will eventually catch up with your body. I'm not on that side yet and I've already been asked time and time again not to loose to much weight because I won't look the same (like duh, really) of course I won't. Someone even said please don't become a "bobble head" like Star Jones. In other words don't get too skinny. I mean if I had a real complex about it, behind that I probably would have jumped off a cliff (roflmbo)

Just let me say this, being that I am still on the pre op side, I have truly looked at the majority of your pre/post op pictures and I am so proud of all of you for the commitment you've made and the weight you've lost, you all look fabulous, said from the heart and I can't wait till I am on the post op side with you - so keep your heads up and cut yourselves some slack, your doing great!!!!