The hurdle. Mental sabotage. Being too thin?

[Guest (Lightsider)]

As you all know I have lost a lot of weight. One of the things I wanted to mention about the process that caught me off guard. The fear of losing weight. When I lost around 130 lbs a strange fear started setting in. A fear of being too thin. I still struggle with it. Here I am thinner than I have ever been and I still fear how I appear now. A thin Nicole is a foreign concept when I look in the mirror. I am still working on my figure and I am not letting that fear stop me. But I have come to understand how people can go back to being over weight if they do not work through this fear.

The way I work through it is, I set goals like this summer I will start bike riding. I lift weights, and I go to the gym. I picture a sculpted me. I picture wearing new cloths. I will admit it is kind of a bummer when I clothes and month later they are too loose! But I know I can not let that stop me. I figure my shape will be set by this summer. I am still working on my thunder thighs.

Any way, Weightloss is more than just losing weight. It is coming to terms with the new you, mentally.

One of the things I am facing now is, I have to come up with a new fashion style. What is my fashion style now? I really don't know. But I do know I still dress like a large person...bland colors...shapeless..very conservative. I have to make sure I find my style with out going over the top. I have an artistic personality so I could easily go over the top for my age.

There are a lot of things to consider as you slim down. But you can DO IT! Make it fun and shun the fear.

I catch myself smiling more.

GOALS GOALS GOALS!!!

[Guest SusanB]

Goals are great being too thin is not one of my worries LOL

Hope to keep up the weight loss as i lose muscle mass

Everybody might love Jello but no on their thighs

[JJ]

We differ on this aspect of weight loss. You'd think as a guy I'd fear being too small but instead I fear not being quite small enough. When the Dr told me I didn't have any body fat left and needed to gain weight I felt like I had been punched. It has taken a major struggle for me to adjust to the idea that I need to bulk up some and can do so without jeopardizing what I have accomplished or my ability to stay fit. Right now I feel like I must have gained a massive amount and feel heavier because I ate more over the holidays and didn't exercise a couple of extra days due to weather and a lost phone. Yet when I examine what I have done I unconsciously have upped my hiking by about 4 hours a week. And in cold and deep snow. Which accounts for my favorite pants now drifting south unless I wear a belt to keep them up. I took them off yesterday and then realized I hadn't unfastened them

One thing that helps me is to take pics of myself and look at them. Anyone going through my computer would think I am the most narcissistic person on earth but I can scan through pics-mostly taken in the same two or three places-and see changes and see what size I am in relation to the environment. I also tend to be more realistic and use my artists eye in relation to a picture than looking in a mirror. In a mirror I tend to see what I fear or sometimes expect rather than reality.

The mental adjustments to large weight loss are in their way far more challenging for most I think than the actual loss was and I have read that it is very common for people to regain so they are back on familiar ground. Weight and body image is a very complex issue for anyone who has struggled with it I suspect and there is a lot of baggage still there even when we do lose the weight.

Don't know if taking pics will help you or not but it does help me. Almost all cameras and a lot of phones have settings now that make it fairly easy

Could there also be a component in the fear of being too thin that it would mean you had to gain and once started might not be able to stop again? I know that is something I fear. And probably to some degree always will. I lost trust in myself about food and weight and trust can be hard to regain- especially for yourself.

We'll get this nailed though. Just takes time -and we know we have the determination

Johnny