getting it in my head!

I am new to this board but not new to OH at all.  I post on the Indiana board most the time.  But I have turned to this board because you all will know this feeling better than others that may have never been there like I was.  So here goes,


I started out at just under 300 lbs and for a 5 foot 2 inch body I was 2 inches bigger around than I am tall.  I had horrible self image.  Now that I am 8 months out and have lost 108 lbs.  I am having issues with seeing my body at the size it is now.  My shirts say large and my pants say size 16 but I still she me as size 30 and cant seem to get it in my head.  Have any of you experienced this?  How do/did you overcome it?  My family and friends tell me I wear clothes that are too big for me but I just can't figure out my size at this point.    Im so grateful for the surgery but my brain just isn't getting it yet!  LOL

hi tracy -- good to meet you! congratulations on the 108 lb loss! way to go!

yes, i had (and still do have to a lesser extent) this same problem. my coworkers were constantly telling me to buy smaller clothes. i used to be so focused on wearing long tops so my butt and stomach would be covered, and if i bought smaller sizes, i wasn't getting that length i was so concerned with. everyone kept telling me i didn't have that butt and stomach that needed covering anymore, but i just really had trouble getting that thru my head.

i had some skin removed via plastics and that has helped quite a lot. but apparently i still don't see the same thing as everyone else when i look at myself. i'm getting a lot of those "you're getting too skinny" comments and i just don't see that at all. i know i'm incredibly thinner than i was when my bmi was 66, but i sure don't see "skinny" when i look in the mirror! and just last week i bought a sweater that everyone says is too big...oh well, i know i could have worse problems than this!

i believe it to be one of those things that just takes time to balance out. the weight comes off fast and our minds just need some time to catch up.

all the best to you!

deb

Hey Trac
Glad to see you on here we talk about this alot to get shirts to cover my belly they hang off my shoulders.
Sweetie you are doing an awesome job,i just think that we will never see ourselves as smaller.
But welcome to this board Tracy ,they do understand where you are coming from and they are a sweethearts.

Yes I have this problem, and honestly I think being short makes it worse because things fit funny to begin with. Granted I am still heavy enough to qualify for surgery, but I find myself constantly picking up clothes that are too large and having to go back for the next size. I also laugh when I pick up pants especially that look TINY and they fit. Go figure.

One thing is for sure, when I look in the mirror at home I look exactly the same to myself as I did before. When I am standing in a dressing room looking in the mirror I look completely different and I am usually surprised how skinny I look. Our brains are lagging I guess.

You are so right about the mirrors too.  I walked past a mirror in Walmart by the fitting rooms and I had to do a double take.  I know I have passed that mirror before and couldnt see all of me in it... now I can and the girl in that mirror is wayyy smaller than me.  LOL   But my mirrors at home still have the same old me in them. 

I folded jeans this weekend and put my jeans in my daughters dresser... she laughed at me and said "mom these are your new jeans!"  When I folded them, I held them up and thought to myself they were small so they had to be hers.  DOH!  I guess that should be a WOW moment for me.   I just wish I could get the picture in my mind.

I think since I lived in a super morbidly obese body for so many years that it'll take awhile for it to all catch-up! Size 12, me? No way, never, but the tags don't lie. They didn't lie then they were a size 34 Woman's either.

I still don't see the thinner person in the mirror, but then again I NEVER saw the fat person in the mirror. I think my mirrors were the same ones the wicked witch in Snow White had ... I'm the most fairest in the land ... lol!

I have shocked myself a few times when walking by a window, I'll look and think to myself,  oh that woman is nice looking, wish I was that size. Oops, after a double take I realize it's me!

You're doing great with the weight loss, just give your brain some time to let it all sink in!

Jan you have done amazing as well!  I am just noticing you are almost to your goal!!!!  I hope that I will be seeing that success this summer.  I sure want it so badly!

Thanks for your words of encouragement!

Honestly  - I've been at the same weight now for at least 8 months, just up and down the same few pounds. I don't think I need the goal anymore, but I haven't changed my ticker.

If and when I have plastics, the PS told me he would take off between 18-26 pounds of skin. I think it won't be until then that I'll get under my goal.

I'm very happy where I am right now.

Keep up the good work and you will see more success, heck, you are seeing the success now!

Hi Tracy,

I started out at a weight a little higher than you, and am 5'2 also.  I have the same thoughts.  I am the only girl in the house, and I find that when I do the laundry, I am like, who the heck are these pants gonna fit... oh ya, they are mine!!!  I still feel like the "circus fat" girl that I once was.  I am starting to get over that a little, helps to look at my beginning pictures, and compare them to my current ones..  That really shows the difference.  I have also just charted my measurements.  I looked at my measurments the day before surgery, and the ones I took at nine months out (just a few weeks ago).  I realize that I have lost over 75 inches all over my body.... thats 6 feet!!!!  It's hard to imagine this.

Get out your beginning pics and compare them to know... with your great loss so far, you are sure to see the difference!!!

Keep up the good work!!!

Caroline

Caroline, that is just what I have been doing.  I got married 4 weeks before my surgery and went on a cruise.  So I have been looking at the pics.  It does help me to notice it some. 

I have taken measurements every month along the way and put them in an excel spreadsheet.  I have lost 75 1/4 inches and nearly 17 inches off my waist.  It just is surreal.  So last night my DH got out some of my fat pants and had me just step into them.  It was funny but still unbelieveable.

Congrats on your success as well!  Us short girls have to stick together!!!  LOL