body image: do you not know if you're chunky or thin?

B

bella2005

Cathlete
Just curious if anyone else has this kind of blind spot, where you really have no idea what your body truly looks like to others. In some mirrors I look overweight, and in others I look just right. Sometimes my upper body looks gaunt, other times, roly poly. I'm 5'3.5, 122 lbs, so I know by the charts I could lose maybe 4 pounds but it's nothing serious. I have round hips so I wear a 6/8 even at a good weight. Others wear a 2/4 at that weight. It's so confusing.

Anybody have a blurry body image like that?

Bella
 
My friend tells me that I have funhouse mirrors in my house. I have no clue what I look like. I think I need to lose about 10 lbs but everyone tells me I'm skinny. All I see is flab.
 
RE: body image: do you not know if you're chunky or thi...

I'm also 5'3.5" and was 125 pre-pregnancy and for the MOST part I was happy with how I looked...

I am now in the process of losing my pregnancy pounds and I am happy to say I am finally down to 130 six months after having my son and even though I am 5 pounds heavier, I kinda think I look BETTER than I did before I got pregnant! I think the pregnancy changed the shape of my body a little for the better. I still am looking to lose those 5 pounds though to see what it does for me...

On a daily basis though depending on the mirror I look in, the day and time that I look in it and the clothes I am wearing I could feel that I look fat, thin or anything in between!!!x(
 
RE: body image: do you not know if you're chunky or thi...

Yes, I have a very distorted body image. I still feel like and see myself as an obese woman. Weird.
Then every once in a while I will see myself in a window reflection or mirror, and think I am looking at someone else....who looks perfectly normal. Then I realize it was me!

Julie
 
I think that this is precisely why I am now much easier on myself. You can go into any store & depending on their mirrors, you may look "fine" or you may be a little chubbier than you thought or even worse, you may me grossly obese. Wow! What a difference!

Seriously. I feel smaller than a whole lot of people I work & deal with daily, and I am certainly fitter and stronger. But, then I see pics of myself and I look so thick. No delineation of my muscles, whatsoever! What's up with that?!!!

Marla
 
I don't think many people see themselves the way others do.I think my friends and family see me as a good weight and in good shape, while I look in the mirror and all I see is "thickness" not fat just blocky and thick, does that make sense? I am 5'4" and I am 130 lbs.I feel really good at 125 lbs and everything fits me better.I also run with a girl who is 5'6" and she weighs 110 lbs, she doesn't think she is skinny but the rest of the town thinks she as a eating disorder.She doesn't but she is thin enough to.
I was feeling good about myself yesterday until I visited my moms house and the mirror in my bedroom is very weird.I had to get my mom to stand in the mirror to to make sure it wasn't right.
Every year around this time I lose 5-7 lbs...bring it on!
Lori:)
 
>Seriously. I feel smaller than a whole lot of people I work &
>deal with daily, and I am certainly fitter and stronger. But,
>then I see pics of myself and I look so thick. No delineation
>of my muscles, whatsoever! What's up with that?!!!
>

I feel exactly the way, especially about my upper body.

Namita
 
i always find little spots that need improvement while everyone else things there is nothing left to me. the only one that was honest was an old friend who said i a had a bit of a belly. i didn't take it personally b/c he dated girls who were just a bit overweight(a bit okay i am being generous here). i slim down in the belly bit(this was before i started working hard on the exercise)and sometimes all i see is a pooch and flabbing in thighs and hips. other days i look fine. i guess it just depends on my mood,what i ate, how much water i retain, what mirror i am looking in. i still feel pretty good and clothes fit well so i think i will roll with that. i don't try to get to involved with a mirror b/c it might make me obsessive, which i can get dwelling on it.


kassia



When they discover the center of the universe, a lot of people will be
disappointed to discover they are not it -- Bernard Bailey
 
RE: body image: do you not know if you're chunky or thi...

I definitely have this problem. In my mirror at home, I look okay. Not great, but just okay. In some mirrors in the store, I look absolutely great. In my hairstylist's mirror, I look absolutely HORRIBLE. So I have no idea what I actually look like.
 
another disorted view here! i'm soooo critical of myself.... i wear 0's, 1's or 2 pants/jeans depending on the store and cut and whether it's misses or junior (sizing is such a PITA!)... but i still KNOW i need help in that oh so difficult pear area... my upper body is fine and fat free (and well muscled thanx to cathe)...

if i lose weight, though.. i get gaunt on top... i gain a few pounds and it goes straight to my thighs and hips...

hubby tells me i look fine...

what's a girl to do?????????

-------------
cute work out clothes are good for AT LEAST an additional 10-15 calories burned!
 
RE: body image: do you not know if you're chunky or thi...

Sometimes, I wish a friend would point to someone in the mall or something and say, you are built a lot like her, or even, "At first I thought that was you!"

But even if you asked, most people wouldn't do that for you. Or they would be too kind (or, in some cases, too brutal -- yikes). And even if they did, it would just be one person's perspective. You'd have to ask everyone you know in order to get a more balanced picture. Bottom line, that's a little desperate and best avoided. :)

I can even go from feeling huge and frumpy to comfortable and confident in the same day, in the same outfit! I think it's more a function of our minds than our mirrors, although I agree some mirrors do make us look better than others. I just hate the mirrored door at work. It makes my hips look HUGE! I even look at other people walking in through that door to see if they look bigger, but it's hard to tell, you know. We don't look at others as closely or as critically as we look at ourselves.

Shari
 
I had anorexia when I was 12-13 (at 5'5", I got down to about 96 lbs.), and I still have glimmers of symptoms. I had a relapse when I was in my late twenties (got down to 115), and now don't starve or really obsess, but I STILL have no idea how I really look. I weigh 4 lbs. LESS then Suzy did getting weighed on Biggest Loser, but I, in no way, thought I look as small as she. It's such a bizarre disorder!

Right now I weigh myself only once a week (used to every day), and just try to maintain. But this body-image thing is maddening! I KNOW I'm not fat, but why can't I see myself as I really am? One thing I don't do anymore, is dress like I'm trying to hide a pudgy body. I finally got rid of all my baggy clothes and learned to wear stuff that fits.
Just Do It! :)
 
I go through this *all* the time and thought I was the only one. I can see my muscle definition in the mirror in my bedroom--especially see it on my abs--then I go to stores and it all just looks like a thick, flabby abdomen. Logically I know that it's all just lighting and tricks of the mirror, but I still let it get to me. Very depressing and frustrating--some days I see myself as thin and fit; other days it's the direct opposite.

It's definitely maddening! My BF is wonderful about it--he keeps reinforcing positive things about how I look, pointing out the muscle definition he can see and actually pointing out women on the street who have body shapes that he says are like mine. I just have trouble accepting it. Body image is something I have to constantly battle myself on--what a waste of time and energy!
 
RE: body image: do you not know if you're chunky or thi...

I completely agree. I have no real idea what I look like to other people. I hate seeing myself on video or in pictures because I always look "thick" to myself.

A few years ago Prevention Magazine did a feature on this where they photographed five women in their bathing suits and then altered the pictures up 10 lbs, down 10 lbs, heavier upper body, and heavier lower body. Then they asked the women to pick out which was the real picture. Absosutely all of them picked wrong. Whatever they felt their flaw was, they picked the photo that exaggerated it. I wish I could have this done so I could get some perspective!

Kelly
 
RE: body image: do you not know if you're chunky or thi...

All of you have echoed what I see and feel at one time or another, and yes, all in the same day/hour/week. Now that my body has changed and that sizing has gone absolutely crazy, I have to try on everything. And boy, are those mirrors harsh!

I have the same problem as deserbriez. If my legs lean out, my upper body looks yucky. When I'm bulking up, my upper body looks good but my thighs start looking like they need more work. Notice that I'm using the word "looks", because at the back of my mind, that's all it is, just how it looks to ME, and not everyone else. This is why I hardly ever step on a scale -- it'd only drive me nuts -- and just rely on how my clothes fit to gauge if I'm on the right track or not.

I also notice that when I see photos of myself, what I see is SO different (better) from what I usually see in the mirror.

Pinky
 
RE: body image: do you not know if you're chunky or thi...

Pinky, I've seen you in person and you look very lean! Honestly!



Namita
 
RE: body image: do you not know if you're chunky or thi...

Thanks, Namita. I've seen you in person as well. You're in my online photo album. And if you look at yourself in there, your arms are very toned.:)

Pinky
 
RE: body image: do you not know if you're chunky or thi...

Ummm...when I saw that picture before it made me cringe, because that's where I look really "thick all over." I'm not even going to look again because I'm in one of those "looks and feels really thick weeks."
But, Thanks!

Namita
 
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