How long before youre head caught up

I am 13 months out and still "see" the fat girl. I wear a size 0/2 but every single morning I pull out my pants and think there is NO way these are ever going to fit. Even in pictures or the mirror I do not see what I mentally picture a size 0/2 to look like. I still see my friends who in my opinion are smaller than me and think why cant I be that thin, when I am about 30 lbs lighter and 6 sizes smaller.

So when did your head catch up to the changes? Will I always just see myself as a larger person? I am worried that I may become semi psycho and lose too much weight and become sickly looking, just so that I can reach a mental status of acceptance. Which I do not want to happen.

I'm a year ahead of you, and it hasn't caught up. I do find that if I happen to catch a glimpse of myself when I'm not expecting it, I am pleased with how I look, but if I stand in front of the mirror, I still see the issues.

Hang in there - you will find a way to make it work.

16 months here and it still hasnt caught up. I still see the fat girl everyday. Although I will say I do feel alot better

My head did catch up with me about 2 years post-op - now I'm over 3, gained 10+ lbs and the "fat girl is back" - even though I know I still look pretty good. 

I still have the "pants won't fit me" days too.... sometimes they do - and sometimes they don't - LOL...

Hang in there.  Like Rebecca said - it was when I caught sight of myself in a window or mirror as I was walking by that was the one thing that let me know "yea, I AM skinny!"

I had surgery a few months before you and I still feel fat...size 0/2 also but my head still says fat! I was down to 109, hovering a pound or two or three higher than that now, it varies daily, and my doctors all want me to gain weight but I still feel fat! Good luck to you, maybe we will figure it out soon.

Body Dysmorphia is a very real condition...and for those of us who have been overweight, it does take time...somethines SERIOUS time. However, we do have a reason for seeing the fat girl in the mirror...at one time  we WERE fat.

For someone who is thin to have body dysmorphia can be a serious medical condition as bad as anorexia or bulimia. The real disease can share eating disorder symptoms as well as compulsive disorders.

But we, the on the way to being skinny just have to give it time...it helps to have others notice. To tell us our clothes are getting too big.

I'm a year out and I still think my stomach or thighs look like melted candles. I don't see the thin person I seem to have become...I still see me as way overweight.

Liz

That's one of the hardest things for us LW's to deal with.  Losing the weight so quickly and getting to goal within a year doesn't give our minds time to adjust to all of the changes.  I don't know how long you have been a 0/2 but after a year or so of buying the same size I think you will finally come to accept it. 

I'm not sure that feeling ever goes completely away though.  In some ways I think it's a good thing to think about it every day and not get so comfortable that we slack off and forget the basics.  I still keep a fat picture up on my revolving  photo screen saver as a reminder.  My youngest DGChildren can't figure out who it is and the older ones say they don't remember me looking like that...LOL....but I remember and I don't want to forget because I don't want to go back there ever again!!!!

I'm over 3 years out and there isn't a day that goes by that I'm not amazed that my pants zip up easily and I can still see my collar bones (I look for them all of the time).  Although, I have stopped asking my DH or DD's if I'm as thin as someone else when I see someone who I think looks thin.  

I use  to take a second look sometimes when I walk past a mirror in the stores because my reflection caught me off guard but that doesn't happen as often as it use to.  I swear there are less mirrors now that I'm thin....LOL

I've come to the realization that I look pretty darn good...could I look better...yes,  but I look pretty darn good.  I think you will come to that conclusion too.  Enjoy your new look and the healthier you....and try not to compare yourself to others. 

I'll let you know what that happens ;)
For me the issue is the excess skin.  As long as I see that it makes me feel fat.  In clothes I am OK.  I see it more in pictures then I do in the mirror.  I still take my jeans out of the dryer and think they will never fit and they do.
What is funny is now that I am underweight I see myself as normal sized when everyone around me sees me as thin.   I learned that I had to just act as if I felt thin.  For me the behavior comes before the feelings.  Intellectually I know I am thin but emotionally I still feel like the fat girl.  It has nothing to do with my size or what I look like.  It is like part of my identity.  I have spent so much time as a heavy person that is how I see myself.  

Thank you everyone for your responses. I am hopeful in time it will catch up. The oddest part I suppose is when I was BIG I thought I looked pretty good, so to now feel that I am fat.. seems off to me. It does help to know I am not alone in this feeling/mental state.

Push forward and see where this journey continues to take me!