Mental Images - Real or Not???

Reenie replied to my post about my updated pic. I hope that she doesn't mind that I am using her reply to pose this question... Reenie: I'm trying to figure out what I need to weigh to get into a size 10. Thanks! Maureen Me: When I was younger I weighed about 135lbs. and I was wearing a size 9/10. As I lose the weight now I feel as though I weigh a lot to be in the size clothes that I am in. How is it that at 158lbs I am wearing a size 10 (almost...12's to big 10's are tighter than I would like them.) Is it that we are losing inches so fast that we are in smaller sizes? My daughter is lighter in weight than I am and we are wearing the same size jeans. This leaves me boggeled. Maybe some one can help me with this. Reenie, I am not sure what weight will go with a size 10, it will be different for all of us. I am almost wearing a size 10 and I weigh 158lbs. Not sure I have helped in answering your question. I hope that someone can help me with mine. I do still see myself as a heavy women. Always starting in the plus size dept when shopping and working my way to the misses...my daughter will tell me come on Mom these don't fit you anymore. I can look in the mirror and think wow I have lost a lot of weight...the next thought that always follows is you still have a long way to go fat gurl!!! Not sure I will ever get past the mental/body images that I have in my head. Shannon The Irish Lassie 266/158/140

Shannon, I really think that sizes are different now than they used to be. I have several pairs of size 14 pants from 15 years ago that are NO WHERE near the size 14's that I am buying now. And even in today's clothes, sizes are not consistent from designer/manufacturer to designer/manufacturer. You can pick up the exact same style and make of something in different colors and have them fit totally differently or not at all. My goal is to be a size 8. I have no idea what weight that will be or if it is even realistic for me, but that is my goal. I don't expect that I will have an entire wardrobe of size 8 clothes. I think there will be 10's and maybe some 6's even sprinkled in, and who knows even a 12 that is cut really oddly. If I like it and it looks good I am not going to be hung up on the sizes. You are doing great and you look fabulous. Hugs, Mo

I don't know if this will hel*****t, but it kinda made sense to me. The last visit I had with my nutritionist we discussed goal weight and clothes sizes. I told her that I would like to be 130lb at the end and she said that would be to small for me and that 144 was more where I should end up. She explained that you need to add 15% to your end weight to give you the weight that someone who did not have the surgery would be at compared to me after surgery. The reason she explained is that the extra skin that we have weighs a lot. So those who don't have the extra skin will weigh less but wear the same size as I would,as the skin can be compacted and we can shove it into a smaller size. I'm not sure that I explained that very well. I weigh 160 if you take out the 15% of the weight to account for the loose skin I am comprable to someone who is 136lb. So me at 160 can wear the same size aprox as someone who weighs 136lb which curently is a size 10 at 5'4". I also know that the cut of todays clothes is different that the cut of clothes from when I was in High school in the 80's (which is the last time I even came close to my current weight). In the 80's every thing was cut to be tight because that was the style i.e pencil leg pants very tight jeans. Things are ment to be cut looser today and you don't see as many people in skin tight jeans as they are not in vouge right now. Hope this helps. Leslie P

Shannon, thanks for this. It's all very confusing to me and very strange. I see a smaller person in the mirror; people continue to compliment me on how well I'm doing; but I FEEL the fat, does that make sense? Phantom Fatness. Reminds me of when my brother became a paraplegic after a hunting accident -- he lost the total use of his legs, couldn't move them at all, couldn't even feel when someone was touching his legs -- but he would tell me that he had feelings, sensations like he was running. He called it a phantom feeling, like something that used to be there wasn't there anymore but he felt it nonetheless. That's how I feel about the fat that I've lost. It's not there anymore, but I feel it nonetheless. Anyway, thanks so much. So weird. Maureen

i think it just depends on your body shape. I'm 140/138 right now and wearing a size 6. When I was 160/158 I was wearing a size 9/10. My mother who is the same weight as me right now is a 8. My friend who is 135lbs wears a 4.

I know that I have had in my mind that I "just wanted to be able to wear a 16". I don't ever remember wearing that size. Sort of went from a 12 to a 18, and then sky rockets to 24-26. Today I was able to put on a 16 pants. Yahoo!!!!!!! OK they were stretch pants but they were a baggy fit. I have no idea how to determine what I wear anymore. I still start looking for 24s then I remind myself "Never again". It is all a new adventure. Jane 309/219/160

I'm not sure if this is wls urban legend, but it sounds plausible to me... I've heard that because most of us were so heavy for so long, we built up bone density from carrying around extra weight and this extra bone density weighs more. It has been proven that weight bearing exercise builds up bone density so this makes sense to me. I cannot take calcium supplements because of a kidney disease. I'm always worried about my bone density and get it checked from time to time. In spite of no supplements, my bone density has always been high. I think it's because of the weight lifting that I have done for the last 10 years and from hauling around an extra 150 pounds. A woman in one of my wls support groups is 5'2", weighs 152 pounds and wears a size 2. Even her doctor thought this was strange and out of whack and sent her for body fat analysis (the kind where they dunk you in water) and a bone density test. Her body fat was minimal and bone density was way up there. She does 5 miles on a treadmill everyday and lifts weights. I also have to agree with the changing clothing sizes as a contributer. I have a tweed blazer that is probably 20 years old. It's a size 18 and snug. In todays' sizes, most blazers fit at a 14 and some 12's, depending on the arms. Thanks to both of my grandmothers, I have arms that Schwartznegger would die for. Well, maybe not the flappy skin part. Connie