I can’t process the weight loss…

[spikyplanty]

NC’d for this but very long term MNer.

Stood on the scales on 28th September and they read 15st 9lb. I was in denial that I had tipped from a size 16 into a size 18 (I’m 5ft 6).

This morning, after six months on Mounjaro, the scales said 11st 9lbs. Four stone gone. 52lbs.

Obviously I’m over the moon…I no longer avoid mirrors or photographs, nor do I spend large parts of my day hating myself and desperately trying to hide my body. I enjoy choosing an outfit and getting dressed. I fit into size 12 clothes and am loving wearing nice stuff as the weather warms up.

BUT I just can’t internalise the fact I’ve dropped four stone. I still mentally see the same person in the mirror. I still feel (in my head) like a fat person. I can’t process that I’ve lost weight. It’s not body dysmorphia - I physically see the weight loss. I know I look SO much better. I just can’t wrap my head around the fact that I’ve actually done it.

I guess I’m wondering if anyone else is like this?

Yes, I can relate too. I don't feel like I look any different, although I must do as I have lost nearly 4 and a half stone. Gone from a size 18 to size 10/12. I frequently pick up a pair of jeans in my style and think that the hips are way too narrow and I won't even be able to get them past my thighs, and then like magic they fit. So I tell myself "goodness, vanity sizing really has got out of hand", because none of it is fitting with my sense of reality.

I can relate. I had weightloss surgery, and lost 8 stone. I went from a size 18 to an 8. Even now when the weather is warmer, I still leave the house with a coat to “cover up”. Looking in the mirror I don’t really “see” the difference, it’s only when I look at photos I’ll think “oh, I do look different don’t I?!”

ive found wearing clothes that are coloured and patterned and not what I’d have worn when bigger, does help! X

I’m still shocked when I see myself in a mirror. Sometimes almost startled at how much different I look. In a good way but still 😱

What a fantastic thread, well done everyone!

Try Vinted, great bargains and you can re sell when they’re too big !

Can’t say I feel like this but hope I do soon!
lost nearly 4 stone on MJ in 8 months and 1 stone before.
4-5 stone to go.
Wearing smaller clothes but not a huge change.
I think it’s the paper towel effect.
Banking on the next couple of stone making more of a difference to clothes sizes.
From past experience it should do and can’t wait to get back into my smaller clothes.

Just to say huge congratulations to everyone on here

Must feel amazing to be slim 💐💜

Similar stats and feelings to you op!
5’7, started at 16st and a size 16-18 and did my first jab the last Saturday in October. As of this morning I weigh 11st 8lbs and am in a size 12. It’s been years, maybe 10+ years since I’ve bought size 12 clothes and I don’t think they’ll fit until the second the zip does up or the buttons all close comfortably.
Feels like impostor syndrome, living in someone else’s body. Not quite used to it yet but feeling so much better and I have actually found it totally effortless.
I Suspect I will be on this long term as I have insulin resistant PCOS, i don’t think it will be as simple as just coming off. The injection wont have made my body work and naturally increase my insulin sensitivity by itself. Well, I guess it’s a bit of an unknown at the moment and I’m open to other maintenance options.

I can understand it. It happened to me when I lost weight in my early 20s. I'd been only a tiny bit overweight as a teenager but usually a stone less than that, about BMI 22/23, and I'd never been less than a size 12. Then I lost more weight through running and being more careful with diet and was a size 8 - in fact at one point I remember going in a shop and nothing fitted as I must have been slimmer than an 8. But still I couldn't process that these tiny clothes fitted on my body.

And then after having DD1, I wondered how they ever had!

I think this must be so common. I lost around 25% of my body weight. It's been off for almost a year now, but I'm still stunned when I order something in a size 10 and it fits easily. Always see it and think, oh crap, that'll need to go back. Also still automatically suck my stomach in when someone takes a photo.

Yes! Size 10 clothes now generally fit me best, but I’ll always order a 12 and 14 too as I just can’t allow myself to have the sheer audacity to assume a 10 will fit.

This is one of the reasons I get on the scales every day. It normalises the weight in my head. It is something I found hard the only other time I lost significant weight. I also do picture collages so that I can look at the changes over time. It sounds weird, but these two things have really helped me match my perception with reality. Although it still surprises me that I can get into size 14 without a struggle when I was a size 24 for over twenty years.

This is interesting because I can’t relate. Having lost a large amount of weight before, I saw and accepted myself at every stage. Mind you, I always think of myself as being younger than I am too, ha ha!

Yes I struggle to catch up in my head. I put on a top last night that didn’t go fit me in January but now does. I can’t quite process that change!

This morning, grabbed a t-shirt from the drawer and it's just ..huge. It was a normal t-shirt, but now looks like I'm going for 'oversized' baggy look.
But.. I didn't think I was that big when I could wear it normally. Weight blindness is really a thing.

Yes excatly how I feel. Have lost over 5s - 75lbs - an elephants penis is the standing joke at 60lbs and a few small furry animals 😂

5ft 7 - was 17.4 and now 11.13 - it’s the sizing that gets me - was a 20 but now I’m still in 16 for jeans and that annoys me big time as have large hips /thighs

I want to be a 12 like so many others who have lost similar weight to me

yet can fit into a m jumper /14 dress tho snug on thighs

I know I have lost weight. Obviously. But I still don’t really see it and still am overweight via bmi and need to lose just under a stone to get into too healthy weight

I pick up dd who is 3.5s and sometimes struggle to carry her - yet I’ve lost over her weight and think how did I manage to walk to school with the extra weight as I certainly wouldn’t be able to carry her all the way to school

but it is not an easy fix that so many think it is

you still have to think about what you eat. I calorie count and I don’t get the total lack of food noise so many mention and I do still eat crisps and chocolate and pizza for example - but smaller portions - I could def eat more but stop myself.

I do look in the mirror and think is that me - then see the fat thighs (which my support group say I don’t have) but I do as otherwise I would fit in a bloody size 12 !!!

So true. I’m probably starting to realise just how far into denial I was when I was over 15 stone. The clothes I wore then really do speak the truth now.

Absolutely! I’m 10 stone down on my heaviest weight and finally a ‘normal’ weight. In my head I’ll always be plus size, and I regularly do a double take when I pass a mirror.

I absolutely get it. After an adult life of trying unsuccessfully to lose weight, I did Mounjaro and have lost 4 stone. I”m 5’9, I was a size 18, but I’m still in a 16 bottoms, very occasional a 14. I’m still wearing 18 tops. I can’t get myself to buy smaller sizes and am just wearing everything large. I did manage to buy and wear a dress in Medium, but I feel a bit gross in it.

On top of that I have a lot of loose tummy and my breasts have sunk like two half filled water balloons. I feel like anything smaller would be a joke on me and emphasise all this. I don’t feel like I see anything different when I look in the mirror except slimmer thighs, a slimmer neck and saggy boobs.

I didn’t actually lose for appearance, I wanted to lose for the sake of my health conditions. People will ask if I have less pain now and the answer is absolutely not. 🫣 HOWEVER, doctors treat me better as do people seeing me on my mobility scooter, so it was worth it. I just wish I got to enjoy a nice new body into the bargain.

Part of me is considering a breast lift and tummy tuck to see if it will improve matters.

It takes time lovely.

I went from AA boobs to SD boobs (still wearing AA bras) and couldn't see the difference. I couldn't figure out how to dress or what looked good as I couldn't "see myself" as I was now, only how I used to be.

Congratulations 👏🏻 on dropping the weight, it's hard!

I wonder if these experiences are proprioception-related.

Proprioception is the sense of knowing where your body is and what it's doing. An example - close your eyes and touch your nose with a finger. You did it without poking yourself in the eye, didn't you? Because you were able to sense where your nose was and where your finger was, even though it was moving.

Proprioception is the reason children having growth spurts are often clumsy. The length of arms, fingers etc changes too quickly for the brain to keep track - as if it has a 'map' that it needs to redraw, but hasn't yet. For example, the brain thinks the arm is x length, but it's now x+1cm. Child reaches for something but the arm is longer than the brain's sense of it, so instead of reaching the exact length needed, their hand hits into what they were reaching for and oops the glass of water is spilled. Then the brain catches up to the new lengths and the map is redrawn and the clumsiness abates - until the next growth spurt.

Perhaps your brain has yet to redraw its map?

You need to take it longterm.

It sounds like you need a higher dose.

I totally get you. I’m gutted though as I’m pushing 50 and instead of the body of my dreams and I’m just getting saggy skin

Why would you say that @Riaanna?