in the mirror

I realize everyone is different, but I am just curious as to how long post op did it take for others to start being able to see a big difference in the mirror?

Took me a good 50 lbs but even then I only occasionally saw it. Pictures were easier for me bc I could do side by side comparisons. Also paying attention to how my clothes fit. I will sometimes try on my fat clothes so I can see how far I've come. Even at 4-5 yrs out,I sometimes feel like im staring at my 420 lb self. 

2 years post op.  Even when I got thin I saw myself as fatter than I was...  

Google body dismorphia..

Oh, you mean that someday you're able to do that?  (Just kidding -- I think).

As others have pointed out, it can take a while.  In my case, almost 16 years out, it's still happening.  For example, I noticed a couple of months ago, out of nowhere, that I have a flat butt.  I have never, to my knowledge, had a flat butt; when I was heavy (very heavy), I carried most of my weight between my waist and my knees, which kind of rules out the flat butt phenomenon.  But I have one.  Still freaks me out.

I didn't really start noticing with any degree of regularity that I was a lot smaller until about seven to ten years in (it blends together a bit).  I'd try clothes on in what I would think would be my size and they would literally fall off me.  It took a long time before I stopped assessing the structural integrity of furniture before I sat on it; before I braved a turnstile, before I rode in an airplane and realized I wasn't taking up all of my seat and half of the next person's; that I could buckle an airplane or a car seat belt without nearly passing out; and so on and so forth. 

At least for me, I've had body dysmorphia for most of my life.  When I was anorexic (yes, it did happen) I weighed 128 pounds on a 5'8", large-boned frame, wore size 7 clothes and had a waist that was smaller than my four-year-old nephew's -- and thought I was gigantic.  When I was gigantic -- all 350-odd pounds of myself -- I thought I looked normal.  Go figure.

That said, I think I can almost see what I look like now -- at least with clothes on.  I go by how my clothes fit, because getting involved with numbers on a scale can be a trigger still for some very interesting and not very healthy behaviour on my part.  And they've fit -- or been too big -- for every one of the last sixteen years.  I'm finally getting to the point where I'm comfortable in this saggy bag of skin I call my body, and I think I see myself for what I really look like.

It can take a while, but we all get there, eventually.

Perfectly said. I honestly was surprised how much body dysmorphia I have experienced.  I think it's because I have been over-weight my whole life, and not seen my true size.  Now as I get smaller, I still can't see it.  It's weird to know something with your head but not be able to "see" it.

I took off about 2/3 of my excess weight before I could see much difference in the mirror but pics helped me accurately see it. It took me a couple of years at goal weight to be able to consistently see myself accurately in the mirror and select clothing that was the right size. 

I'm having that issue right now.  I need new clothes finally... but when I pull something to try on I have been overestimating the size I need.  I hold something up and think 'There's no way... that's going to be too small' and grab a larger size only to have to go back and get a smaller one.   It's like I can't let myself believe that I am the size I am.  What's it going to be like when I have to reach for the small or medium shirt instead of the large? I'm looking forward to that day but I'm freaked out a bit too.. I can't really imagine the day I will fit into a med or a small.

I could see the difference after 50 lbs, and the more I lose the bigger difference it is. However, I still look in the mirror and think I look very fat, and I worry that I always will. Definitely some body dismorphia probs here

It depends on your size. But most people have 50 pounds as a magic number. It takes 50 pounds for a lot of us to go down one clothing size, or have others notice, or say anything.

Later on, 5 or 10 pounds can mean 2 clothing sizes. But not at first.

It's only now that I'm beginning to see a difference.  Day to day I really can't see much change but I have been trying on all my clothes and purging my closet of the items that no longer fit.  When I put on my old shirts and jeans that I wore at my largest it's then that I can really see the weight loss.