Is it just ME...or do I still feel fat?

Hong Kong Yanpep International
The reframe from restless to working is a useful one. The activity outlet approach tends to shorten that feeling rather than letting it accumulate - and the body releasing energy is exactly the right way to think about it.
 
The mental gap between the weight on the scale and how you actually experience your body in a mirror is real and often lags the physical change. The best weight not being the lowest weight is something most people eventually figure out. A goal weight from a BMI chart versus a weight where you actually felt good and functional are often different numbers.
 
Body image lag is real - most people at a healthy weight still see their heavier self in the mirror for months, and the anatomy is normal regardless of the number on the scale.
 
The body dysmorphia lag is real - brain image of the body updates much slower than the actual body changes. Impedance data showing fat loss with muscle gain is the kind of objective signal that matters more than the mirror during that adjustment period. The perception often catches up a few months after the physical change.
 
Body perception lags physical reality by months after significant weight loss - the 134 in the mirror reads as larger because the mental reference was set at a higher weight. The 2-lb pre-period fluctuation is noise. The body at 134 is already different.
 
The gaslighting framing around weight and willpower is real and has a medical literature behind it now. The 'nothing medically wrong, just lazy and like food' narrative was never accurate for most people with metabolic issues. The emotional shift of having that validated by results is what a lot of people describe as the biggest change.
 
Relate to this hard. Down 250 pounds myself but staring in the mirror, it just doesn't register. I FEEL smaller, but my brain refuses to believe it.

That's wild honestly, in a good way. Congrats on your progress, you look fantastic.
 
Appreciate that, but at 5'5 my actual target weight should be 145, and honestly that already feels like a lot. Still got a stomach I want to tighten up though, haha.
 
That's genuinely a real phenomenon. Someone can hit their exact target and still feel overweight regardless of what the numbers actually show.
 
YES!! Never quite knew how to put this into words so I never posted about it, but I'm 5'4 and started at 242. Down 62, now at 180, went from a 24W to a 16. Definitely feel... off in my own skin though. My fat used to feel firm and now it's so loose and jiggly. Like my muscle underneath feels solid but the skin hasn't caught up to the shrinkage, so the whole thing feels bizarre. Honestly I feel bigger now than when I weighed 60 pounds more. You're not alone, this middle stretch messes with your head.
 
Thank you!!! Feeling so much better too. Funny thing is I was genuinely fine being 'bigger,' being tall meant the weight distributed reasonably well. But gaining is still gaining, and I felt awful pretty much constantly. My doctor ran a full body composition scan, the kind that tracks not just overall fat percentage but exactly where excess fat sits in the body. Turns out most of mine was on my arms, waist, and around my organs. Insulin levels were sky-high! No wonder I felt terrible.
So glad I kept pushing for a second opinion, because even my previous doctor, also a woman, brushed off my symptoms constantly, just told me I ought to cut back on food (sigh), said gaining weight at forty was normal (double sigh), and insisted everything looked fine (it really wasn't).
 
Honestly didn't think I looked any different, actually felt weaker at first until a couple friends said something like 'hey, you're looking leaner and more toned,' and I just trusted their read on it. Seeing yourself daily makes small shifts basically invisible. Might help to pull up some older pictures for comparison?

But if there's one thing this whole up-and-down weight journey taught me, it's that obsessing over measurements and appearance isn't sustainable. Chasing how good movement and eating well actually make you feel tends to hold up way better long term!
 
Used to think I was 'fat' back when I weighed 113lbs :/ Definitely don't see what other people see. What I'm trying to zero in on is my midsection since that's where the real change actually shows, though my brain just refuses to update that particular picture. And the number on the scale plus how my clothes fit both feel great. I know looking in the mirror I'm not being fair to myself about my so-called 'problem' spots.
 
Sitting at 43 percent body fat at 183 pounds, 5'9. Rough to accept.

I see plenty of people carrying way more weight than me with a lower body fat percentage!
 
Body dysmorphia is strange. My theory is that for years we saw ourselves flat, in 2D, which kept the obesity out of view, and now we're seeing the 3D version and the brain can't process it. I've lost 170 lbs and yet my breath still catches as I slide into a booth, half expecting it to be tight. Clothes helped me: I hung on to a pair of my largest jeans and take them out to compare with what I wear now. An XL beside a 3XL top shows it's a totally different scale. It never fully goes away, but therapy and friends help, and so does going easy on yourself. There's no finish line either, the goal is a healthier body rather than a number. Since last October I haven't lost a pound, yet I've shed nearly two dress sizes.
 
My goal weight stayed unclear until I got there. I'm 5'7 and have ranged from 135lbs to 172lbs. These days I'm near 140 with 12% body fat and I like what the mirror shows. Going back down to 135 crossed my mind, yet that turned out far too lean.
 
Not until recently: over the last week I've felt fat, then I gained 2lbs, which only reinforced my skewed perception. Maybe our eyes have caught up with the new body while our sense of self still lives in the bigger one.
 
Lost 180 pounds and hit my goal, feel like a mostly new version of myself, but underneath still the same person, getting through each day. Strange to think about, weird the whole way through too. Like you, smallest since my twenties, solidly into a healthier range now, which feels massive to me but is basically invisible to a stranger walking by. Started looking proportional somewhere in the 200s, and friends raved about it, fair since they'd also known me heavier. Strangers seeing me cold back then would've still clocked me as overweight though. Even now, lighter than ever, I catch myself thinking society sees me as normal, but I still feel kind of soft for normal. Got visible fat still, nothing athletic about me. Just average, I guess. Feeling my own bones under my skin is strange.
 
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