Is anyone ashamed of their befores?

After losing so much weight, I used to be so proud to show my before pictures.  I waited to change my Driver's License because I loved showing how far I'd come. 

Recently, I've been traveling a lot with my new Love and I am so embarrassed to pull out that license when I go through TSA.  The last time, the TSA officer told me that he shouldn't accept it because it didn't look like me!  I had to show him my current passport also to verify that it was indeed me!

It seemed like just one day - I woke up and never wanted another person to see my before pictures.  I am ashamed of how I looked.  I love that I don't look that way anymore - and am proud of how far I've come.

Anyone else have that feeling?

 I feel just like you do.  Although I still have a little more to go, I don't ever want to be that person again.  I am ashamed that I let myself become that person to start with!  I thought it was partly because I have since divorced that I didn't want to look back at those pics, but now that I see others feel the same way, maybe it is strickly the weight loss thing.  I remember how excited I was to change my drivers license too!  Congratulations to you on your success and happiness!

First, OMG you lost 312 lbs??  That is AMAZING!!!!!  I am down 95 lbs with about 40 more to go and I've been feeling flabbergasted and amazed that I didn't realize how heavy I was.  I knew I was fat but I didn't really see how I looked until recently.. its weird!  I have a picture of me at the beach weighing 296 lbs hanging in bathroom to remind me of where I was.  The bug man came to spray the other day and I actually didn't have him spray my bathroom because of that picture hanging there.  We shouldn't be embarrassed, we should be SOOOO proud but I understand how you feel!

I have never posted a before picture of me because I hated the way I looked, but I do have a before picture of me right on the refrigerator door.....

I have fielded this question before and it always makes me sad that people want to forget the person that they were.  In many cases the person that we are now is not a whole heck of a lot different then they were before.  Yes, sometimes there are those that gain confidence in how they look and feel more "normal" to the world.   That is a wonderful thing, but for some of us we loved the person we were.

If I dismiss the person I was before losing weight I would be dismissing that person that had two beautiful children, earned a college degree, was a wonderful mother, daughter, sister, aunt and friends to those that I love.  I would be dismissing the first time I fell in love and got married.  I would be dismissing a lot of firsts if I decided I didn't want to be that person anymore.

I choose to integrate the two people.  The fat me, which I was for far more than I am becoming the smaller me, and the new me that I am still becoming.  I lost 135 pounds 5 years ago and gained it all back so that is why I am where I am now.  If I had dismissed that fat person after I lost the weight, well I wouldn't have been able to fit into her skin when I gained it all back!!!

I am never ashamed of how I looked.  I have an addiction to food.   I acknowledge that and work on it every single day.  I could never be ashamed of the person I was, because she shaped the person I have become.

I'm not sure if *shame* is exactly the term, but I don't broadcast my before status.  And I untagged most of my most egregious fat photos from Facebook.  :)   Oh, and my guy hasn't the slightest idea that I was ever overweight.  So, while I agree with the poster above, and I honestly believe that one's life challenges actually make one a better, more resiliant person, no, I don't like to admit to people what I used to look like.   We live in such a fat-phobic culture that confessing that I used to be fat isn't in my best interests, socially or professionally.  But I classify that as good sense, not shame.

and I had my DL photo retaken as well, for exactly the same reasons, although the TSA agent in Boston, when I explained that I'd lost  "a bit" of weight since the photo was taken (we new englanders are famously understated) whistled and flirter "You look GOOD, girl!".  And I was totally ok with that. :)

I wouldn't even let my photo be taken by anyone in the last two-three years, so I don't have any pictures except the one that the surgeon's office took on the morning of my surgery. I am certainly not going to broadcast it - because yes I was completely ashamed that I let my weight get out of control.

I am not ashamed of my before pictures they are a reminder of what I don't want to be again. I do show them, but only if someone asks. I am very protective of them. I don't want anyone to make any comments. No matter how much I lose it still hurts when someone says something. I know they think it is a compliment when they say Oh My God I can't believe how big you were and yes i have heard that more then once. The girl in my before pictures is still in me we share a heart and mind.
I do respect how you feel! You should be proud! You have done an amazing job!

I'm not but then I only lost 20 lbs so they aren't that different! I've never been ashamed of me because I'm an awesome person whether fat skinny or anywhere in between!