To be horrified at how I look

[theavianexecutioner]

Just asked my mum to take a pic of me from the back and side, for bra measuring.
Horrified. I've been in SW on and off for a few years, need to go back. I've already decided I'm having a dry january and it needs to continue. I'm 43 in May and want to feel and look content.

Can I echo what someone said further up the thread. I'm a size 6-8 and quite happy with my body. My face though - urgh. Grey, old and tired. My eye bags have there own purses. Think unfortunately ladies it's just a part of getting old (even my hair seems to look old. I'm not grey, it just seems like old hair). Possibly something to do with women over 30 rarely positively portrayed in the media

your all going to want to be sick on my face but this depresses me.i wish you could all love yourselves.i don't know anyone by sight on here and I truly have met some special,gorgeous,inspring,hilarious and beautiful people.i want you to see it in yoru heart and in the mirror and just be.
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I was horrified at a xmas photo of me in a sleeveless dress, I've got arms like enormous slabs of ham don't feel able to tackle it at the moment though as I'm giving up smoking and finding it miserable, so have just eaten about a kilo of cheese! Aargh.

I just found a note book from January 2016 with my measurements exactly as they are now- I must have lost 1/2-1 1/2 stone two or three times since then and put it back on!
Slimming world means yo-yo dieting for me so hoping 5:2 is a bit more sustainable.

Sorry you’re having such a shit time Gin, start your journey on Monday and don’t look back, I started mine exactly a year ago today and like you I had 7 stone to lose, I now have 7lbs to lose to get to my goal of weighing 10 stone, it can be done 👍🏻

The wobbly fat bit under the chin gets me the most. And when you smile you suddenly look like a jolly clown.

Yep - gained about 2 stone over the last two years.

I'm so ashamed to see anybody who hasn't seen me in a while.

I feel like shit. I used to be a size 6/8 I am now 14/16 all in the space of three years, since I had to give up work due to I'll health. I've got no excuses. I have some really expensive gorgeous clothes hanging in the wardrobe, and I could cry, but I am finally going to do something about it. Starting now, no more cakes, sweets or ice cream. I am going to get back to my original weight, and I mean it.

your all going to want to be sick on my face but this depresses me.i wish you could all love yourselves

Agree. This whole thread is full of 'I look like a hideous sack of shit'. Not sure how motivating it is

Well the reality is some people like me are not happy with the way we look now especially compared to before. What's important is we're doing something about it, and to me, that is loving myself. Not loving myself is knowing I am unhealthy, feeling bad about how I look, but not doing something about it and yet continue to berate myself while doing nothing.

I'm starting tomorrow. I totally love myself and think I'm fab, however I seemed to have turned fat, frumpy and over forty. And thats NOT me! Can do anything about the age but can loose the fat and start to wear want I want, not just was fits/covers the lard.....

Sorry kateandme - I do love myself (a bit) - but I don't want to spend the rest of my 40's and beyond being overweight. I won't slap you though

It depresses me. I feel less energetic, and less happy. I hate that feeling of being like a big stuffed sausage in clothes. It has health implications that I don't want to deal with - I want to be slim. Slimmish would do. But right now, I'm over my BMI ideal weight - medically overweight - now and I'm going to do something about it.

And I have to say, I've found this thread useful. Solidarity in the "bloody hell - the Christmas photos! I'm going to do something about this"

Me too, ShoesHaveSouls

Yep I'm with team positive: two days of clean(ish) eating in and I'm feeling lighter and more energised. Eating crap makes you feel sluggish, lethargic and bloated. Eating healthily gives you a spring in your step and makes you feel motivated and positive. That is what this thread is encouraging us to do.

"i want you to see it in yoru heart and in the mirror and just be."

That kind of hippy-dippy stuff is all very well but I am actually struggling to get up from a seated position. My knees ache after a morning of walking around the shops. I get out of breath. So "just be"ing hasn't really got me anywhere! Now I'd like to be healthy and be able to play with my DCs without struggling to keep up.

Ryder63. Your comment has cheered me up no end.

I’ve wasted my life being self conscious about my looks. Now in my 60s I still am depressed about being ugly and feeling not good enough. I hate any photos of myself and vividly remember at 30 seeing my reflection in a posh dress shop changing room corner mirror and wondering who the fat old woman in the room was. It may sound funny but underneath is a lifetime of low self esteem and misery. When do we start learning we’re not good enough just as we are? Why are we spoiling our lives trying to be something we are not and thinking we are unacceptable and ugly? It’s too cruel. Mums, look at your daughters and tell them they are beautiful no matter what size they are.

I'm in - I'm doing Yoga with Adriene's new January series of videos on YouTube, was trying to do yesterday's in my jeans, had to take them off and then saw my thighs while I was in downwards dog, which seem to have doubled in size since I last had a proper look at them! I've got 2 stone to lose, thanks in no small part to things like eating 9 profiteroles for breakfast on Boxing Day This morning's breakfast was 2 eggs scrambled with a handful of spinach on a slice of seeded wholemeal bread and, to be honest, tasted a lot better!

I'm in too. Will also take a look at the low carb boot camp as I did manage to lose weight doing that last year.

Another fresh day ladies!
What's your plan for today?

The Truth about Slim People programme was really interesting, so thanks to whoever suggested that.

I have started sooooo many diets and am just the same size as ever. So this time I am simply going to try the NO SNACKING approach. I only have a stone to loose and am not massively fat, so I think this could work need to do sonething different anyway,

kateandme, I know you’re just trying to be nice, but it is not helpful. Being overweight is unhealthy and leaves you prone to diabetes, heart problems and cancer. “Loving Yourself” should mean looking after yourself and your body, by giving it good nutrition.

I am on Day 5 of:

• Veganuary (vegan anyway so easy)
• Dry January (fookin hard)
• Yoga twice a week
• Pilates twice a week
• Dance twice a week.

I am also substituting 2 meals a day with a Meal Replacement Shake. I know these are controversial but I have found one that doesn’t make me bloated. And having a huge healthy evening meal. And trying to drink more water.

The lack of alcohol is a killer, though.

kateandme that just comes across as a bit patronising.

It's fair enough that people are motivated by saying how disgusting and hideous they look (lots of comments about saggy faces as well, which wouldn't even be solved by losing weight) but lots of them are from people who are not significantly overweight. For a person with lots to lose, they might be disheartened by hearing someone who is 11 stone going on about how they look like a michelin man with sagging jowls and how they have failed by gaining weight. But it's good that lots are finding it motivating. You can take steps towards self-care and treating your body well without saying that you hate yourself for getting into a disgusting state though.

Same here. I'm sure my bum is bigger. I've haven't done so much exercise lately though due to being poorly. Mmm....oh dear