Conference rocks::weight_control

    hi this is great to think that other people do this.  mine is just
    the oppisite.  I have always been fat.  I now am within 25 pounds
    of my goal.  I was 215 pounds at the start (this time).  It is hard
    for me to look into a mirror and not see a fat person looking back.
    I still don't like to have my picture taken.  
    
    How does someone learn to reprogram the mind?  I am now able to
    look at myself in the mirror, but I still see the old me.
    
    Robin
    

    I think everyone has trouble seeing themselves for what they really
    are.  I know I do.  I always kidded myself about how fat I was,
    and now that I've lost a couple of hundred pounds and am within
    a dozen pounds of goal I have trouble accepting the fact that I
    am not very overweight.
    
    I have no idea when the transition from not seeing all of the fat
    to seeing what isn't there occurred.  But, apparently, it has.
    
    I think every once in a while we should look at ourselves on vidio
    tape.  If I had done it years ago I may never have reached the highs
    that I eventually did.
    
    The reality seems to be that my vision of myself is always behind
    the truth.  I never seem to realize how fast I was going up or down.
    The solution is, obviously, getting to goal and staying there long
    enough for my mind to catch up.
    
    -Joe
    

    Yes, I, too, was of the "head and shoulders" syndrome.  Until, during
    one of the shopping trips forced upon me by my husband, I caught
    a rear quarter-view of myself in the dressing room mirror.  "Yeech!",
    thought I, "Where did that *stuff* on my thighs and rear come from?"
    
    Only within the last couple of weeks, though, have I stopped looking
    at the weight I have lost (40 lbs.) and begun to see again what
    is left to get rid of (another 40 lbs.).
    
    So I guess I go back and forth.
    
    Anybody else find that to be true?
    
    Lynn

Gailann,
	I suppose this note should be in the 'last straw' topic, but it's also
appropriate here.  I'm 6'1" and during the summer weighed in at 242 lbs.  My 
ideal weight is around 185 or so.  This past summer I caught my largest bass
to date and wanted to get the fish on tape.  During the summer my 'uniform of
the day' is a pair of shorts and a tan, no shirt, no shoes.  Anyway when I saw
the video I was very disappointed, whoever it was holding that bass had a gut
that severely upstaged the star of the show.  Who was that fat man (and why
wasn't he masked;-)??? 	

	Since then I have lost about 25 lbs or so.  Now to get to the point,
even now when I look at my self (without a mirror) I cannot see the girdle of
fat around my middle even though I'm looking for it.  My thighs are not fat.
Since working on my abdominal muscles, my pot belly doesn't hang out.  I think
I look good, however, standing in front of a full length mirror in the 'uniform
of the day' I see the bulge, the slack folds around my stomach that I cannot
see from the top down (without a mirror).  How many of us shave, brush hair,
apply makeup, generally attend to personal grooming in a full length mirror,
it's always in a mirror at eye level.

	Your point is well taken about the limited view of ourselves, 
unfortunately I believe it's less appropriate to people in this conference than
to those out there who are overweight and refuse to believe it.

			Thanks for the insight,


							Al

    Gailann, if you're not a writer, then there's good talent being
    wasted!  That was beautifully written, and it struck home with me
    also.  It took going down to the ZK wellness center, walled with
    mirrors, to get me on a diet.  Now I bounce between looking in the
    mirror and seeing that bit of a tummy and frowning, and looking
    in the mirror and grinning from ear to ear because there's this
    slim woman looking back.  Currently I'm concentrating intensely on 
    getting my abdominal muscles into shape.  If I do, I will be
    able to make my goal of being ready for the Ms NH bodybuilding
    competition in Concord this summer.  THAT should burn the fat image
    out of my psyche!
    
    --Louise

    Hi Gailann,
    
    I know just what you mean, that it is easy to judge your looks just
    from the face in the mirror.
    
    I tend to get fed up with the fact that when I put on weight (at
    present I am about 10lbs overweight, and 5'1") it goes to my face
    FIRST, so a little extra weight has an uattractive effect.  However
    I suppose that at the same time I notice the effects of putting
    on weight fairly quickly, so I have never (touchwood) gone more
    than 14lbs overweight.
    
    (Doesn't stop me being envious of my sister, though, who can gain
    a few pounds without it showing in her face at all!)
    
    Ali