Whom is that skinny woman with my face?

Has this happened to anyone else? Please dont take it as bragging, I am really starting to wonder if I need to find a GOOD therapist. I had my daughters Graduation party this weekend and ofcourse alot of photos were taking, Most in Bathing suits  standing next to all my family & friends. Now I must insert here that even though I have lost 160 pounds I am still known as the fat friend and relative. Well I just got the pics back and I am staring at this basically skinny person ( ok, she has heavy legs) standing with all my family and friends and she is the same size as most & smaller than some. I am Literally amazed that she is Me!!! I mean my face, neck, sholders, arms, waist looks like a skinny person, no a very skinny person and then my lower body looks perfect normal sized (I am pretending I cant see the wiggle skin here . I really am flabergasted and wonder if this is a normal thing for us? I know I sometimes feel fatter than usual but I never feel small. Please respond!!!!  Dont just read, i dont care how far out you are. AND ( time for a confession like statement) - I would really appreciate a response from Tracy because I covet her body...NOT THAT WAY _GEEZ., but she is my height & red headed and started about the same weight, also beautiful inside as well as out.  I know she weighs a good bit less than me but I so wish I could borrow her clothes :-) Thanks Diana RNY  9/17/03 Dr. Roe 360/200/still aiming at 180 BUT NOW WONDERING IF ITS ONLY LEG PLASTICS I NEED

LOL Diana! You are too funny!!!!! Thank you for the kind words! I know you have a certain goal in your mind that you'd like to get to, but from what I see in your pic, I think you look amazing too! I've had many "out of body" experiences in the last 2.5yrs~some good, some not so good. There are times when I feel HUGE and want to run and hide. Then, like you described I see a pic of myself and think Wow, I'm not huge, I blend in with the crowd and don't stick out like a sore thumb anymore, I might even be "normal"   I have even had the experience of being one of the smallest women in a room~that was VERY strange for me and in some ways hard to handle. I think like most people I have certain outfits that when I put them on I feel REALLY good about myself~I feel thin and think "hey, you look pretty darn good". I just with there were more of those days, LOL! I think all of these thoughts that go on in our heads are normal. We have been  thru such a transformation and some days our heads get it and other days they don't. There will always be a 328lb woman sitting on my shoulder~I just hope she NEVER comes back to my butt and thighs!!!

Diana, It is amazing the metamorphisis we go through on body image.  No matter where we are, we don't always have a firm reality on the results. I am down 90 pounds from my highest weight.  I have 20 pounds to go to have a normal BMI.  My surgeon's idea of where I would 'end up' is about here (165, 5'4") but last appt he stated it is possible to lose more.  I have maintained for about five months.  I wear a size 14.  I am thickest through the middle.  My waist measures 38 inches so there is very little chance I am going to button a normal size lower than 14 and breathe. If I never lose another pound in my life, I am thrilled with my size.  If I lose 1-20 more pounds, I will be thrilled, too.  And I am dead serious.  I was totally focused on hiding my size for 35 years (fat as a young child) and the fact that I am in the 'normal ranges' of Americans is perfectly fine by me.  I have no plans to be a ballerina at 47. I see pictures of myself and I am shocked.  I certainly like the clothed view better than the naked view.  I am much smaller than my head thinks I am.  I still 'test' booths and chairs for fit.  I often won't go through an opening in the crowd because I don't think I will fit.  I sense much more space being used by me than what is real.  Pictures make me laugh.  More than anything, people who make comments to me about being skinny or thin or pretty can crack me up. Will we get over it?  I honestly don't know.  I had a whole lot of years of being the biggest.  Do I need a therapist?  Probably so, but many other issues than my perception.  I am enjoying the sweetness of people who share in my progress.  I do my very best to ignore the naysayers. Good luck with your journey.  It is an interesting topic. Vicky

Hi Diana: Like Tracy, I have lots of "out of body" experiences.   Sometimes I feel like I'm just floating through life now, LOL.   I'm 10.5 months and already at goal.  Amazing journey this WLS is, eh?   What blows my mind is not so much looking at my photographs, but how people now perceive me.   People who never know I've had surgery comment on how tiny I am.   I am a size four.  At 5'4" and 133, that's not exactly miniscule.   Even the waitress in the chinese restaurant the other day told my daughter "Your mother is too skinny - you need to make her eat more."    I dropped my daughter off at a friend's house last night and my daughter told me that her friend's mom commented on how she felt so fat around me because I'm so skinny.   My daughter hastened to tell he I'd had WLS, and of course she wanted to hear all the details, LOL.    I weighed 133 in high school, and was always considered to be on the buxom side.   Now, my fiance' is tellling me I'm "Nancy Regan skinny!"   What's up with that?? I also notice I feel more physically vulnerable - like I'm going to get blown away in a strong wind.   The other day a blowing door knocked me right over.  It would've never knocked me over at 268! So yeah, you're perfectly normal!

Good morning Diana, I too have had many weird experiences with seeing myself as thin. Around 1 year out I was down to 163. at 5'9" everyone commented that I was way to thin. I was trying to buy a coat and a woman at the store said to try on a petit??? What??? me a petit??? haha. What had happened was my upper body had gotten really thin and drawn looking. My face I think was the worse. At almost 2 years my face has filled in and looks better. I had put on some weight, up to 170 but I am working out again and am losing more weight, but looking healthier while I do. I still think I am the fattest in any group but I believe it has to do with my height, there just isn't any feeling small when you are tall. Now then when I see pictures of myself beside my friends and family I am just blown away. I am always looking at others and saying to my DH--- am I fatter or thinner than them? I hope to have my head around this sometime soon, but who knows. donna