Body image issues
Have any of you still have body image issues even after hitting goal weight? I still have issues 18 months post op. Most of the time I see myself on the bigger side (usually looking in the mirror naked. But in some pictures I think I look skinny but in others I dont. I'm a nurse at a correctional facility and I had an inmate call me fluffy, but yet my co workers think I'm to skinny. I'm 5'8" 165 pounds with BMI in healthy range. How do you deal with your body image issues?
Highest weight: 265, surgery weight: 245, surgery date: 9/11/17 RNY m1: - 26 m2: - 14 m3: -15 m4: -10 m5: -8 m6: - 4 m7: -6.5 m8: - 1.5 m9: -3 m10: - 0 m11: - 2 m12: -0
Therapy. It's the only thing that's helped me. I hated myself fat, and then I hated myself thin. Then I got plastics and...still hated myself. I started therapy in June and it's been really great. I'm not sure I'll ever be 100% "there" but I'm far more accepting of my body than I ever have been.
VSG: 1/17/17
5'7" HW: 283 SW: 229 CW: 135-140 GW: 145
Pre-op: 53 M1: 22 M2: 12 M3: 12 M4: 8 M5: 10 M6: 11 M7: 5 M8: 6 M9-M13: 15-ish
LBL/BL w/ Fat Transfer 1/29/18
on 4/9/19 3:50 am - GTA, Ontario, Canada
To answer your question "any of you still have body image issues even after hitting goal weight?" The answer is 100% yes. I am 5 yrs 5mos post op and every single day I see an MO woman in the mirror. Even at 5 yrs post op I have found myself shopping in the plus size section of clothing stores and then have to snap myself out of it.
No matter what weight I have been I have had body image issues. I unfortunately came from a family of anorexics, my grandmother was anorexic at one point in her life & suffered from body image issues, my mother was anorexic for all of my childhood & teenage years and has major body image issues. I was also anorexic in my late teens/20's and have been dealing with body image for as long as I can remember. How do I deal with it, being honest with you I don't. For me personally I have other major things going on in my life and dealing with body image is very low on my list of priorities. Can you look into an EAP program at your work? Start working with a counselor?
As for the inmate who called you fluffy, looks like that person was trying to get into your head as your height and weight seem fine to me.
Best of luck
Daisy 5'5" HW: 290 SW: 254 CW: 120
Nov 15, 2013: RNY - Toronto Western Hospital, Nov 2, 2017: Gallbladder removal & hernia repair
Sept 7, 2023: three +1 hernia's repaired in bowel
10+ years post op, living & loving life!
on 4/9/19 4:39 am - GTA, Ontario, Canada
I am sorry that happened to you and its really sad that inmate felt the need to be so mean to you, I guess since he is behind bars he only has "words" he can use!! Since you are the facilities RN maybe slip some Miralax into his cough syrup next time LOL LOL The ***** in me would have said snarkily back to him "I might be fluffy but I am not the one behind bars sleeping this in hell hole tonight." I am sure you are not supposed to engage with inmates but at least you can say that in your head or under your breath!
You look awesome and have done fantastic, as much as his comment hit a nerve remember that no one's opinion matters about your weight or shape but your own opinion.
Yes. I'm not at goal, but I've lost over 100 lbs and still feel like I weigh 350.
when I don't feel THAT, I feel like I've traded my old insecurities in for others. Like I can see that there is less of me, but now I'm constantly worried about hiding my arm flab, or the way my thigh skin hangs over my knees, or how I still look like I'm about 8 months pregnant because the weight just isn't moving from my midsection. Sigh.
Therapy is what I recommend. Also, while I've never really enjoyed shopping and still don't, finding one or two items that fit you perfectly and camouflage the things you don't like is a helluva mood booster :)
HW: 340 SW: 329 Goal: 170
CW: 243
Surgeon: Dr. Kalyana Nandipati (Omaha, NE)