The mental distance between then and now / reality gap

[Mrsmunchofmunchington]

I’ve lost about 8 and a half stones over a year, partly on my own and partly with mounjaro, and I notice that my head is taking time to catch up with my body as I lose weight.

I look at clothes I have bought (thank you Vinted) in the new size I now know I need and hold them up thinking “That will never fit me” and then feel a bit bewildered when it does fit.

I also notice that although I am actually a stone or so lighter now than I was in old photos taken before my huge weight gain I think I look bigger now despite the scales telling me I can’t possibly be bigger.

Suppose some of that might just be aging (and disability) though because things are wobblier.

Has anyone else experienced this?

I do think as we age, especially perimenopause and onwards, our fat deposit and body shape changes so our bodies look different and we will never get back to the way we were when we were in our 20s. I feel exactly the same as you, I'm lighter than my weight measured at GP in 2008 when I was 26 but I still feel bigger.

I have started doing youtube body toning videos since Monday, done 3 so far and it's working on my waist and my bum is not as flat. I think maybe it is just less muscle and more fat that we have after losing so much weight, which altered our nody shapes, ive always been an apple. I've basically been sat around for 10 months, other than 1 yoga retreat! Where as when we are young we are a lot more active. I definitely like my body better since starting the classes.

They also say that when you lose a fair bit of weight you have body dysmorphia for a while as your brain hasn't caught up with how you now look.

I have lost a little under ten stone and am definitely still experiencing a degree of body dysmorphia (although I think it also goes both ways as I was in denial for a very long time about how big I was and perhaps didn't feel as fat as I actually was).

I found the vacuum bag of 'one day when I'm skinny' clothes that I had put away and kept even before I had my first child. There are things in there that I either last wore when I was 21 or which never fitted me even then. They fit now and it's incontrovertible evidence that I'm pretty much the smallest I have ever been as an adult but my brain is taking time to catch up.

Give it time

Well done on all your fab losses.

I'm similar after 7 and a half stone loss.

DD and I are both hourglass shapes, both the same height and both weigh the same now, but I hold fat in places that she doesn't. She has great muscle tone from years of dancing, but I have had 2 kids so have a c section overhang, a pot belly and bigger boobs....not to mention lots of loose wrinkly saggy skin!

This sounds very normal @Mrsmunchofmunchington and there have been quite a few posts with people expressing very similar thoughts and feelings. I can certainly identify with what you say.

Last weekend I got out all the winter clothes I had put away in May.
I spent 2 days adjusting and tailoring skirts and dresses, but when I put them on I just feel very overweight again, even though I am now slim and at target. My brain can't seem to see the slimmer me in the old me clothes.
If I put on a new outfit I feel that I look slim.

I've done the same adjusted a lot of my bigger clothes on my sewing machine to fit and save money, otherwise they hang off me and a lot are still good condition, but I can't see the smaller me. I wonder if that's memory of wearing them before coming through.
I have found a lot of the neck lines are too low for me now, so I've had to pull them up and some of the shoulders too long and have needed to be brought in too! It's not been easy.

I’m exactly the same. Have lost over 9 1/2 stone on Mounjaro and the “total head f@@k” is hard to deal with. I look at myself in shop mirrors and don’t recognise myself. I struggle with clothes and sizes and am finding it hard to adjust to the new me. It is getting easier but I think it will take quite a bit of time to adjust. I’m so scared to go back to the large me as I am in my sixties and have yo yoed all my adult life. Hoping to stay on maintenance if I can afford it as too scared to come off.
I think we need to accept that although we are overjoyed at losing large amounts of weight that it brings about overwhelming feelings we never expected. It is so weird but hopefully time will help.