Having a Hard Time Realizing You're Smaller?

Is anyone having difficulty accepting the fact that they're smaller. Like I am hesitant about buying smaller clothes because I can't believe I will fit them so I end up buying clothes that are too big. Has anyone else experienced this?

Welcome to my world... in a year I've lost 70ish pounds and am a totally different person in every way. I have about 25 pounds to go to get where i want to be, but I don't even look/act like the same person... I get lots of compliments (someone the other night called me skinny!) and my old clothes are unwearable. But with all that I cannot wrap my head around it. In the mirror, I still see "fat" me most of the time. In photos, when I actually agree to have them taken, I still see "fat" me (I'm still trying to figure out how to post them in here and not on my "page") and I still head to the big lady racks at the store first thing before I realize that they won't fit, they're just too big. 

My therapist swears it takes some time and my brain will catch up, so you are definitely not alone. We just need to give ourselves a break and embrace the "new" people we are. A nice, full embrace that won't take all our arm space to get around our mid-sections anymore! ;)

Yes, absolutely. I also had an anxiety attack (literally) in Kohl's a few weeks ago because I was completely overwhelmed by the fact that EVERYTHING FIT!

I don't buy clothes too big because I try everything on, but I definitely find myself picking up things that are 1 or 2 sizes too big and having to go back.

It is a good problem to have, don't get me wrong! But it definitely takes some getting used to.

Absoultely!  I literally had to wean myself off of my fat clothes little by little.  So, I decided that for each piece of clothing I purchase that fits me properly now, I will get rid of a piece of fat clothing.  Getting rid of a few items here and there didn't seem so scary.  It gave me time to get comfortable with my new body and convince myself slowly but surely over time that I will not need the fat clothes any longer.

Not a problem I've had since I only lost 20 lbs with my band.

I have this problem still at 2 years out.  I've lost 157 pounds and have went from a 26/28 to a size 6 in jeans.  When I first tried on the size 6's, after much convincing from my husband and a sales lady, I couldn't believe they fit me!!!!  I mean even a week later, I was convinced it was just because those jeans had a little stretch in them and not because I actually could wear a size 6.  I had to go to the store and try on a different brand before I was convinced that it wasn't the brand or what they were made of..... I actually wore this size now.  lol It's amazing! 

I have dropped from a 3x to a 2 x in shirts and pants from a 26/28 down to 22/24's and I feel very awkward in them lol.

I haven't bought a bunch of new clothes but I do buy them when I find them on sale and I wore a very pretty outfit to bowling the other day and I felt so out of place like everybody was staring at me .

It was very weird .  My shirt actually fit on me instead of being baggy and large like I usually wear them and I wanted to keep tugging at my shirt to stretch it out lol.

So I'm right there with you I have quite a few clothes that are in my size now and I always go back to my higher clothes I guess its comfort and habit.

I find that when we see ourselves in the mirror everyday it can become hard to recognize progress.  I've been taking a picture of myself everyday, just a little cell phone self-portrait, nothing big and just of my face.  But every few weeks, I take the latest one and put it on top of the first one to see my progress.  And I do see it.  Right there in front of me.

And when I put something on and either I notice it is too big, or my husband (who I have made the person in charge of not letting me leave the house looking like a homeless person) notices it is too big, I immediately take it off, fold it up and add it to a pile of things that I am going to either donate or take to the plus sized consignment shop we have here in town.  And I have to tell you... that pile is growing!

Noticing our progress requires that we look at ourselves carefully and with a critical eye.  And if there's one thing I've become VERY aware of, it's that I haven't REALLY looked at myself in a mirror in years.  I had become an expert at gtting completely ready, clothes, shoes, hair, makeup and seeing everything but ME.  I think it's a form of coping mechanism, like blinders that we put on.  And the day after my surgery, I did something kind of hard.  I went into the bathroom, stripped down and really LOOKED.  I looked at myself from every angle.  Because if I was going to finally learn to love myself enough to make this work, I had to get to know myself first.  It was like looking at a stranger.  But it was really therapeutic.  It was as though I was finally coming out of this fog.

So it sounds crazy, I'm sure.  But I would encourage you to do the same thing.  Recognize where you are, where you've been and where you want to be.  I think that when we can't see our progress, it's because we never really acknowledged where we started.  For me, that was a vital step in starting this process.  I know that's probably a more touchy-feely explanation than what you were expecting but it's something I've learned so far and I'd like to think that I'm not the only person who dealt with it...

Good luck!!!

Yes -- it is so incredibly weird. Some days I look in the mirror and see the old me and some days I see a face so thin it looks like that of a stranger. I went shopping last week and immediately paraded right by the misses section on my way to the plus section and my sister said "whoa -- where are you going? You can wear these clothes!"  Sure enough they fit. I would've NEVER guessed!

I'm the same way.  I have to try everything on now and still can't believe the sizes I am buying now!!  I always end up taking in two or three of the same shirt/pants in different sizes, because I can't tell if they are going to fit...LOL...

I agree about the tossing out the old clothes from an above poster.  I recently have been doing that and it really helps me emotionally as well.  I seem to carry memories/feelings with clothes and just looking at them takes me back to the way I felt when I was wearing them.  So I recently threw out all of the fat clothes and my mood has been really uplifted.  I didn't realize just having them around could still play a role but it does, at least for me. 

No need to have a reminder of bad times...It's a great method....Now my closet brings me joy when I walk in