Do you think the reflecttion in the mirror is right?

gidget1978

gidget1978

Cathlete
When I get dressed in the morning and look in my bedroon mirror, Im kind of like..."yeah,alright". I look wider but nothing severe. Then if I am in the bathroom getting ready, I look a little smaller. Then if the reflection in the mirror at work is right...then I think I look pretty good.
How do we know what we really look like? Im not talking about what we see v.s what other people see b/c I don't think we see ourselves the way we really are, Im talking about reflections in the mirror, why are they all so different? Some days I feel like I am at the carnival!;)
Lori:)
 
I think it has to do with the lighting. I always feel washed out in my bathroom mirror but I go into my son's and I feel like hey I look good. I think it's all about the lights. Maybe we should have a lighting crew follow us all day so we can all look like stars. ;-)
LD
 
Along with lighting and angle, some mirrors may have slight defects in them that make them reflect differently.

In general, I don't think we really look the way we do in a mirror. Have you ever looked at another person in a mirror and thought they didn't quite look like themselves (not a huge difference, just not the exact image)?

When I was a grad student, I was passing through the science building one day, and came upon a room that had various displays. One was a mirror that was set up in such a way as to reflect the way others would see us (so left-right were reversed vs. what we usually see in a mirror). Interestingly enough, just that bit of difference does create a different image.
 
Hi Lori! I recently had the same experience. If I'm in my bedroom and look across the hall into my DD's mirror, I see muscle definition and think "yeah baby!", then I go in the bathroom and presto, it's gone!

Same happens in outside light. I'll be carrying in the grocery bags and catch my reflection in the window and BAM...biceps!! Then I look in another mirror and again, GONE!!
 
RE: Do you think the reflecttion in the mirror is righ...

I hear you Lori:) Your post reminds me of a gym I used to go to. The group fitness room was lined with panels of mirrors and one of those mirrors (the only accurate one;)) made everyone look leaner. We used to chuckle about it that there'd be 25 women in the room vying for a position in front of that particular panel.

Take Care
Laurie:)
 
RE: Do you think the reflecttion in the mirror is righ...

I don't trust mirrors. Simple ;)
When I first signed up at the gym, few years ago when I was a little overweight and looking to drop about 20lbs and get muscle.. I was in the changing room getting ready to hit the pool. I was in my string bikini that I got before I gained half the weight. I was baout 10 feet away form the mirror and got a glimpse of myself. Now, mind you the mirror was semi-funhouse.. I don't think that it was even glass but that plexi-glass, bendable stuff?
Well, to say the least I LOOKED like I was in a funhouse!
Very pear shaped (which is not my usual shape anyways) I was appalled!
I think I skipped the pool and got my a** out into the gym and on the treadmills for the rest of the day lol!
It motivated me though.
Ive found that certain lightings make me look hot, others.. not so much :T
Tanning salon lighting (although dark) is the best! Natural daylight doesn't always do it for me. I like mirrors that make me look lean and tight (usually darker lighting or further distance from me and the mirror).
I have a digital camera with auto setting on it. I set it up on a dresser or something and then take a photo of myself. Silly I know. But sommetimes I want to know how a certain outfit makes me look. Not always the same as the image I get in the mirror.
At the beining of every month I take these photos also to check my progress doing the weights.
Its amazing how much different we look in photos vs mirrors. I like to notice the difference with others in the mirror as well so I have an idea of how warped my own image, might be in the mirrors :)
Ive also come to realize that the image that other's have of us is based on more than the appearance, but also the impression we have on them, so they will almost neve rsee what WE see when we look n th emirror.. we know our real selves and see ourselves differently than anybosdy (not always good, not neccessarily bad).

Ever have someone make an observation about you that you just didn't get? Like that you look like someone.. and you just don't see it? Or they think that you would you like something, and you absolutly do not?
Even have a couple kids that make you drawings of yourself and they all look different? Those are ways that different people see you (or anyone or anything).
Sorry Im getting philisophical, but I find it facinating!
I know poeple that Ive worked with for three years, one thinks Im goth (im really not) and Ive had many comment on outfits Ive worn or things ive done that they "couldn't picture me doing", or wearing.. funny I never get how others see me :)
 
RE: Do you think the reflecttion in the mirror is righ...

At Weight Watchers they actually have a "traveling mirror" that makes you look 20lbs lighter. They move it from meeting place to meeting place. It's used as a motivator. When it showed up at my WW location I wanted to spend the entire meeting in front of it! Now all they need to do is invent one that makes you look 20 years younger. :)

Gabrielle
 
RE: Do you think the reflecttion in the mirror is righ...

All I know is this: Nordstroms or other department stores have the worst lighting in the world. Woe unto the poor woman who turns around and checks out her arse in their dressing room mirrors!:eek:
 
IMO - the truest reflection that lets you see yourself as you really are, is from a window you walk by, say when you're walking down the street, or in a mall window. There are definite "fat" mirrors and "skinny" mirrors.`

I think another "reality check" is photographs. Time & again I've read about folks who had no idea they had gained a lot of weight until they saw photos of themselves. The camera doesn't lie!
 
RE: Do you think the reflecttion in the mirror is righ...

I totally agree with this. You think they would have good mirrors and lighting. I mean they are trying to sell us something. Why not make us think it looks good!
LD
http://pic40.picturetrail.com/VOL395/10721112/19111645/307955868.jpg[/IMG]
 
All mirrors are not made equal. :) The wider the mirror, the wider you will appear and vice versa. I NEVER trust a mirror. I think photographs are a better reflection but I believe that digital images can distort somewhat.

Just my take.
Carolyn
 
Digital images can definitely distort. And, of course, there's always those pics where someone catches you at a weird angle and you look completely awful (such is the case with every single picture ever taken of me - true story).
 
RE: Do you think the reflecttion in the mirror is righ...

Well, ladies, let me share with you how I got rid of ALL of my cellulite.

One day I was getting out of the shower and saw my butt in the mirror and noticed things were looking better. I thought, WOW, all that exercising is starting to pay off....

I then realized that I had forgotten to turn on the bathroom light .. and it was dusk.

I now only shower in the dark:7

Laura
Queen of Denial
 
I just dealt with this yesterday actually. I took my hand held mirror to check out the backside of me and I thought "Wow, I look pretty good" Then I grabbed my digital and took a picture and thought I looked 10 lbs heavier and looked awful. How can there be such a swing of difference?
 
RE: Do you think the reflecttion in the mirror is righ...

There are definitely "fat & thin" mirrors. We have a store and we had a mirror at the bottom of the stairs that made everyone look thin. People would stop back up and walk by it again. Even the guys commented on it. Someone finally just bought it. I really hated to see that mirror go.
 
RE: Do you think the reflecttion in the mirror is righ...

>My therapist always told me that the truest reflection is a
>photograph.
>
>

If that's the case, I'm in trouble. :-(


*♥´¨)
¸ .• ♥ ´¸.•*♥´¨) ¸.♥•*¨)
(¸.•♥´ (¸ ;.♥•Jennie•♥


Smoke free since: 2/05/08
 
RE: Do you think the reflecttion in the mirror is righ...

No, we all need to enlist the help of good photographers!;)
 
RE: Do you think the reflecttion in the mirror is righ...

This is funny because my current avatar is actually a mirror image of the actual photograph. It looked funny until I flipped it so it looked more like what I see in the mirror. So if I make it to the August RT and meet some of you there, I won't look quite like that to you. :)

[font face="comic sans ms" font color=green]***Lainie***
fitness blog: http://fitnessfig.blogspot.com
http://bestsmileys.com/exercising/7.gif
"If you want to give God a good laugh, tell Her your plans."[/font]
 
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