I looked bigger than I thought I was [title edited by MNHQ]

[Chrestomanciscat]

Thought I looked good going to casual do today. Had husband take photo and 😭💩 !! I'm overweight quite noticeably, my legs belong to a diplodocus!!! This has happened before, thought I looked ok not thin but at least with a shape, then seen photos👎 does anyone else feel like this? 😖

Keen - kitten

I'm 5'6 and just weighed myself 😱13stone 4, actually not surprising then!! The trousers are suede skinnies tho admittedly they do look like leggings!

I don't love the boots but the jeans and t-shirt are fine. Your pose is not the most flattering, learn how to stand well in photos and you will look better. MIL went to a finishing school and one of the things she kearnt was how to stand for photos. Always stand at an angle, one foot slightly in fron of the other. Bum and chest out and chin up. Arm closest to the camera on your hip but hidden arm down by your side or around the person next to you. It will feel totally false but will look better. Also, get the photographer to stand well back and zoom in to avoid any lens distortion effects.

You are a bit overweight but so are a los of people. Do you want this photo to be motivation to lose weight or are you happy as you are? Nothing wrong with thinking you look good, that confidence will shine through and that's what people will like about you.

I am always shocked when I wash my jeans how huge they are (waist and legs).

I am in denial 😞

I think I"m slimmer now than before I had my children. I used to eat exactly what I wanted then mind you. I had my second close to my 36th birthday. I definitely snack less now. I weigh 9 stone now and I was 9 and a half 15 years ago before i had the first. I might hit menopause very soon and wonder why I'm ten stone, I don't know, but it isn't true that you have to starve yourself post children!

So that's probably a BMI of around 30 OP, just into the Obese category.

Maybe turn this into a positive and make it your lightbulb moment?

I know that getting into the Obese category was enough to really shock me into taking action re: my size and my health. I'm now in the healthy BMI bracket and what I see in photos/the mirror is almost better than what's in my head, it's a refreshing change!

Is it maybe your mirror? I look really fat/thin in some mirrors. On another note do you wear insoles? Please don't take offence, I mean this helpfully but it looks like you might need sone arch support (if you don't I strongly reccomend you try it, they've made my life so much better).

Tapdancing, I have to admit I'm shocked - thought I was just under 11 stone. Ok, need to start kicking (my own) bottom. 😖

I think you have a lovely figure

On holiday I was naked in the kitchen, making a cup of tea, and Ds1 took a picture of me from behind. I was horrified. It’s horrible. I anyways think I look better than I do. When I see the evidence, the reality, I don’t like it.

It's the boots, they are horrific the light band around the middle also makes them look like some kind of workman boot with a reflective band for night work!

Your figure is fine though. Take the boots off and take another photo and spot the difference

I think you have a really lovely figure. Curvy and in proportion. I’m a tall slim size 10 but my figure isn’t nice at all and I have a massive gross C section overhang. I really don’t think slimmer is necessarily better.

You have the opposite of a serious health condition that has the highest mortality rate of all mental health conditions? Alright then

Anorexia is hell, it’s not a look. Overweight people and people in the normal weight range can be suffering from it (aside from the outdated weight diagnostic criteria). Saying stuff like “I have the opposite of anorexia” isn’t clever or funny, it’s fucking offensive. You wouldn’t suggest you have the opposite of cancer, or diabetes, or bipolar would you? Don’t undermine how serious it can be.

You look grand, but if you want to lose weight just go for it.

Keep the boots but not for socialising in. Just weekend walks and things.

The t-shirt is a tiny bit too long for the tucked-in / tucked out thing, imo.

Having children makes it biologically impossible to be thin?? how?
Op , I think it’s pretty common to not see yourself as others see you, on both ends of the spectrum.
I love the design on your shirt

I think you look fine! But most importantly... are you happy and confident? If you are them just carry on as you are

You look fairly slim it's just mega unflattering clothes.

I think you look fine. I was always a 10 until I started meds 4 years ago and since then my weight has crawled up, I don’t want to weigh myself but I’m 14/16. In my head I’m a 10 though 🙄

Firstly, I have to agree with @lostpurplehoodie. Your thread title, although I am sure was never meant to be offensive, really is.

Secondly, you are overweight but not HUGE and your clothes aren’t doing you any favours. Burn those fucking awful boots.

Finally, I had the same ‘problem’ as you. Sort of. It took two things to make me realise how big I’d allowed myself to get. The first was a photo of me at a friend’s wedding. I looked fucking massive and didn’t recognise myself. I never saw myself as a fat person until that photo. Ugh. The second thing was a ‘friend’ cunt of DH’s who hadn’t seen me for a while and made a comment to DH in the pub that evening about how much weight I’d gained. After those two things, I cried for a while then hauled my size 16/18 arse to Slimming World. I’ve lost over three stone and I’m now a size 10/12. Life is amazing, but funnily enough I still don’t recognise myself in the mirror - now it’s for a good reason.

There's a Louis Theroux programme about anorexia on BBC2 tonight at 9pm. Please watch it and then reconsider whether eating disorders are something to make light of.

You know anorexia is much more than thinking you’re fat when you’re not?

I wonder whether being professionally offended is a disorder?

My friend died due to anorexia haffiana. It’s a serious mental illness.

For goodness sake people, I am not making fun! As I understand it, a symptom of anorexia often presents as an image which is not true to life. Instead of a person seeing themselves as larger than they are, I am a chunky person with an impression of myself smaller than I am. As someone with mental health issues I am not inclined to mock or lack empathy!!

Also we are conditioned to think we must look slimmer to be attractive, that being skinny is the norm.
Actually if you have had children or over 35 this is biologically impossible without starvation, over exercise or both. ???

What?! This is a ridiculous statement or should I say excuse. We are designed to be thin but something has just gone wrong with modern lifestyles and it does our health no good.