If you could sit down and draw a picture of yourself right now, would that picture be an accurate portrayal of how you really look? Or, do you think it would distorted based on how you think you really look to yourself and to others? If you are brave enough, draw a picture of yourself. Then, ask someone close to you to draw a picture of you as well. Compare the two and see what similarities/differences there are. If you are not comfortable asking someone else to draw a picture, maybe you could make one for yourself. Keep it in a safe place and in a few months, draw a new one, and see if there are any changes.
Jill
Summer Challenge Goals: 1) Walk 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week 2) Plan weekly menus
I know I mentally see myself as smaller than I am in the hip area. I think of myself as a rather plump pear shape but when I see photos I realize that the bottom of the pear is more like a watermellon. Even though I have lost 40 lbs in the last 2 years, my belly still looks like it has a basketball in it and my hips look like I have an overstuffed bellypack riding on each of them.
1. do 4 laps on walking track without "resting" 2. do 1 mile (17laps) in 20 minutes (3miles per hour)
Posts: 3897 | Location: NE Atlanta (Chamblee, Doraville, Norcross, Duluth) | Registered: March 15, 2004
I know what I see myself and how I really am are different (y'all are probably tired of hearing "we're working on it in therapy). I got some skirts this weekend...and pulled the 18s and 20s off the rack to wear, then went back for the 16s, then went back for the 14s, because I am still having a hard time realizing that size tends to fit at my two favorite stores. I'm still pulling XL shirts to try on, too, instead of L.
I put on a button-up shirt this morning and pulled out a cute tank to wear under it because that shirt doesn't button. Except...it does. All the way, with room to spare. I wear it twice a month or so, and every time, I kinda look at myself in the mirror and say, "Huh. When did that happen?"
Challenge Goals: *10 minutes of unplanned exercise five times a week *Gym time twice a week *Socialize at least once every two weeks.
P.S. I just read my previous post. I think it is interesting that I used quotes around obese- I think I am still trying to distance that word from myself.
Originally posted by GoingSkiing: [ I had “obese” written in different doctors files…
I share a similar set of experiences. I saw once in a medical file that I was considered "obese" (I think I was about 40-50 pounds heavier than I am now- my heaviest.) and I was sure it was a mistake. I could not accept that I was obese. I thought I was generally an acceptable weight.
About a week later I remember feeling SOOO fat- like morbidly obese and become hopeless. I probably ate a few frozen pizzas that week.
My thinking was super distorted.
These days I rest in a consistant weight range. I generally see myself as thin. Occasionally, though, I see myslef in a mirror and am suprised to see a thin person. The longer I maintain this weight, the less often that happens.
Originally posted by jillybean: My fear in doing this is that my real outline would be larger than what I drew and that I might think I am actually smaller than I am-YIKES!
I’ve been there. Actually, I used to waffle back and forth in my thinking. Somedays, I thought, “Hey, I’m not that overweight…” which IS sort of realistic… since I only lost 40ish pounds to get where I am now. However, I had “obese” written in different doctors files… and my cholesterol and other health problems were not exactly, “Hey, that’s not bad”.
Other days, I thought, “OMG!!!! How did this happen?!?!? I’m really overweight!!! Oh no!!!! This is bad!!!”
I swung from one extreme of “Hey, there really isn’t a problem” to “OMG!!!!! This is a really big problem”. I think maybe it helped paralyze me for a year or two or three… since either I didn’t think that it was a problem that needed to be address immediately… or a problem that was so overwhelming that I didn’t know what to do.
The drawing is for your own benefit, so it doesn't matter how good it looks. I read about something similar, which is how I came up w/this homework and if you have butcher paper you could do it the other way. If you have paper the length of your body, you draw an outline of what you feel your body looks like. Then, you lay down in on that drawing and have someone trace the actual outline of your body and then compare the two. My fear in doing this is that my real outline would be larger than what I drew and that I might think I am actually smaller than I am-YIKES!
Jill
Summer Challenge Goals: 1) Walk 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week 2) Plan weekly menus
Sort of like singing a song and saying, "Do you know the name of that song?" and people looking at you in horror saying, "I've actually never heard anything like that before".
I sang part of a song in class last Thursday... and the class sort of started laughing and I said, "And THAT is why I'll NEVER teach choir" (although I did teach choir at the jr high for 9 days once... it was very painful... for us all.)
Originally posted by Sandy: I can barely even draw stick people! What to do?
LOL! I also thought of stick people.
Does this look anything like me? (or any other human being…?)
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On a more serious note… I think that my image in the mirror and what I see in photographs and video tape pretty much match. We all have “good” photos and “bad” photos… and clothes make a difference.
This wasn’t always true… I used to see something different in the mirror and it didn’t match photos or video.
