I have reached my target weight but still feel fat - is It in my head I wonder?

[GetorfsaMotherfuckingMorrisMan]

I think my weight has fluctuated so much in 18 months I can't keep up iyswim.

I was very ill last year, lost a lot of weight, thensteroids made me pile it on. This time last year I was 12 stone 3. In a year of healthy eating interspersed with illness and steroid weight gain again, I have managed to lose about 2 and a half stone and am now 9 stone 11. Which I thought I would be happy with - it's a healthy weight for my height.

But I look in the mirror and see someone fat. I know rationally I am not but I think I could do with losing more. I don't know whether it is tied up with general low self esteem about what I look like (and I am a vain bugger) or just that all the weight changes means I can't see the wood for the trees.

It just feels very strange. Has anyone else felt thsi?

Well done one the weight loss, I've been losing and then gaining the same stone for about 18 months so I really admire anyone who's managed to stick with it.

Could it be that you just need to tone up a wee bit?

I know I could do with exercise to help kickstart the weightloss again, but it's cold outside and I'm cozy and warm in my jeans and woolly pully. Maybe in March.

Well done on the weightloss. What a bugger that you're not over the moon with yourself!

I was doing some reading about body fat percentages because of the skinny fat thread. No idea how to link it but the idea was that its not so much what your weight is, but more what your weight's made of. What with fat taking up more space than the same weight of muscle and interesting bits of information like that. Your 9 stone 11 at 20% body fat would look a lot different to 9 stone 11 at 30% fat iyswim. Have you done much exercise to help with losing the weight? I guess if you've been very ill, exercise might be difficult? Xx

Well done on what you have done so far, and getting to a healthy weight. You've achieved a considerable goal - maybe its time for a new one now that isn't about a weight.

It could be related to a dress size or a body fat % if you still feel unhappy with your physical body. But the other part of your OP suggests that maybe you now need to focus on your emotional being rather than physical for a while.

Is it time to do something abit more spiritual/holistic about learning about yourself, building up your confidence, learning to love and accept yourself? In Bristol there's this magazine the spark with lots of courses - maybe theres something similar in your area that could give you some ideas for things that may be of interest to you.

Thanks very much. I did my body fat thing according to some meaurement guide I found and it is around the 20 percent mark, so pretty low, and am a bit toned as I go to the gym concistently in the last 6 months or so.

Thank you stuck for that link, that's really kind - I think it is more to do with how I feel, plus getting stuck in a habit of looking in the mirror and not feeling happy with what I see, and to carry on dieting.

I am alos recently single so also feel about as attractive as a used flannel!

I need to snap out of it. Bloody shame as I always thought that if I saw 9 stones on the scales I would be thrilled. Bloody typical!

Getorf, yes it is in your head my dear. Aren't you terribly tall? I can relate as I have also lost loads but after initial euphoria I fret about it

I am tall, yes, 6 feet.

I was at work yesterday with mad lifts with mirrors (like trinny and susannahs rooms of mirrors) and I thought ' I look fat' when in my head I know I can't be.

Not that fat = bad. But I was down in the dumps at that weight. I was always around 10 - 10 and a half stone, and I know its daft to focus on numbers but getting under 10 stone was always this fantastic goal. I have now got there and it is not good enough. Bit shite really.

get a friend to take pictures of you when you are out walking
or get them to divert you on a route that you will accidentally see your reflection.

When you look in the mirror, you see what you expect to see.
When the mirror catches you, you see the truth.

Also, how do you compare with the pictures on here
www.cockeyed.com/photos/bodies/heightweight.html