Fatorexia

[AmethystWitch]

Hello everyone,

I'm new here, so please forgive me if this has been discussed before but I was just wondering if anyone here has experienced Fatorexia? (When you look in the mirror you think you look fine and not generally 'big' but really your very overweight!)
I think I had this... I usually look at myself before I go out and think, yep, I look nice, I look fine...then the pictures come out and then it's OMG! I'm huuuge!!!
Anybody else have mirrors that lie?

 

[Perpleo]

my mirrors are like the myspace angles lmao i only look at the things i like haha

getting better now although i can see any weightloss difference and my bf and his mum both said ive lost lots but really didnt think it was much difference

ps welcome btw

 

[mommyB]

Oh I soo know what you mean- I've had the reverse too,where I think I look huge but then the photo's say 'not too bad' . I seriosuly think it's a mood thing

 

[Ruthietoothy]

I totally get that. It has taken me years of thinking I look fine to get into this mess. Who am I trying to kid?

 

[AmethystWitch]

I'm glad I'm not alone! With me it's also because the weight just crept up on me! I was 16 years old and a size 16 but I was happy, I'm quite tall, so I just looked curvaceous not huge, then the years went by, I'm 27 now and a size 20, it just slowly crept up on me, so I just kept thinking I looked ok, plus with a husband saying nice things to me all the time, which is good! but doesn't really help me to notice that I'm actually more jiggle then curvy now lol

 

[Sonya73]

I think one of the reasons for this (and I'm exactly the same btw) is that when we look in the mirror, we stand up straight, hold our tummies in a little, and crucially, we see ourselves without someone beside us for comparison... so it's very subjective, we have no 'yardstick'...

...in a photo, we are often caught off-guard, relaxed, maybe slumping a little... which often shows off the spare tyre and extra chins to full advantage.. even worse, if there are other (especially slimmer) people in the picture, our size in relation to them is obvious... :cry:and it is often a shocker, as it does not correlare with our own self image...

At my heaviest, I would have perhaps guessed I was 3-4 stone overweight on a pessimistic day... when I finally got on the scales it was more like 6 stone... I should never have believed all those magazine articles telling people to throw away their scales - a daily reality check is just what I need!

 

[jessiemurf]

This is a really interesting post,

I sometimes look in the mirror and think... hmmm not too bad. Then someone takes a pic and BANG im freaking out about my weight. But then on another photo I feel that i look ok. but i always feel in my head i look smaller to myself than what other people might see and i get very paranoid. I've lost 12lbs in about 5 weeks and im very pleased. It was my sisters birthday last week and she took some photos and i can deffo see a difference whereas when i look in the mirror i can't tell that i've lost weight.

I gues mirrors can be very decieving...

 

[Divster]

I think its also called denial! Its a coping strategy.

 

[Perpleo]

another thing about photos is if you have time to prepare for the photo, like some one say oooh all get together its group photo time then you can choose your pose whereas when you not paying attention or your drunk then you get caught of guard maybe at an angle that isnt as flattering as your model practised pose lol

 

[slinkybride2be]

I'm glad I'm not alone! With me it's also because the weight just crept up on me! I was 16 years old and a size 16 but I was happy, I'm quite tall, so I just looked curvaceous not huge, then the years went by, I'm 27 now and a size 20, it just slowly crept up on me, so I just kept thinking I looked ok, plus with a husband saying nice things to me all the time, which is good! but doesn't really help me to notice that I'm actually more jiggle then curvy now lol

I could have wrote this myself, and your original post! My weight also crept up and I knew I was bigger than most but felt ok. Then when I got weighed at the start of my second pregnancy last year I couldn't believe I was actually 16st. I think I too could have been a member of the 'fatorexia' club! x

 

[Jettica]

My weight also crept up on me. I remember being 11 stone when I was in the first years of highschool. Towards the end I was 13 stone. I completely missed everything else on the way up to 17 stone!

Now if I look at myself in the mirror I'm not repulsed but as soon as someone takes a candid pic of me I look like a whale! I am a photographer and whenever I take candid snaps of my friends I take into account position, angles and multiple chins. And anywhere someone looks fatter than normal or has more chins than they should, I DO NOT upload to Facebook.

 

[charm]

I def understand this. I used to be a size 6/8 so in a lot of ways I still feel like that but Im not that thin any more. Im always horrified wen i see pics of myself and cant quite believe thats me

 

[LittleSis]

I had to smile when I read your post Amethystwitch. Last year we went to my friends wedding anniversary
I'm looking good (or so I thought). When I saw the photos I thought "who's that?? Bleep me. It's me

If someone could just invent a camera that dose lie...I'd buy one


Love the picture by the way

 

[begghead]

i dont feel "fat" and when i look in the mirror i dont necessarily see my self as being fat. although its pretty clear i am especially in photos, like many of you have said it is a coping strategy.

good to know its a normal feeling though.

 

[AmethystWitch]

This seems pretty common then! Thank goodness for that! LOL ;D

 

[tarotwoman]

I love this post. I too look in my mirror and home and think I look ok or even good. Strange thing is when I go in the changing rooms in clothes shops to try things on, their mirrors show a different me (like the photos everyone mentions).

Tracey

 

[Jettica]

Bloody mirrors
Bloody cameras

Let's just hide away from the world until we are thinner, yeah?

 

[AmethystWitch]

Bloody mirrors
Bloody cameras

Let's just hide away from the world until we are thinner, yeah?

LOL! Nah! Nothing can keep me inside, I'm a nature hippy! I work my big booty and curves when I'm out lol When I see a bad pic of myself now, I just think...It's ok, I'll be so much thinner soon...lol

 

[Jettica]

To be honest, I love being outside and the only time I feel self conscious is when I'm running. Running gear isn't the most flattering!

Although with all these mirrors that lie maybe I should feel self conscious when I'm out!

 

[happypear]

I knew I'd put weight on but had no idea how much until I saw my holiday photos from Christmas . I mean, I've always been a big girl, but my head seemed to have gained 50% of the weight. I suppose I must have been holding my head in a way that disguised my double chin when I looked in the mirror!

I'm horribly unphotogenic - I suspect I'll still look hideous on photos even when I'm slimmer! I seem to not know what my face is doing! But yeah, I'm looking in a magic mirror I think because I always think I look fine!

Thankfully, 30lbs down the double chin has diminished significantly!!