{"id":48222,"date":"2015-10-13T08:21:14","date_gmt":"2015-10-13T15:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/?p=48222"},"modified":"2015-10-05T11:01:50","modified_gmt":"2015-10-05T18:01:50","slug":"too-fat-for-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/?p=48222","title":{"rendered":"Too Fat for Photos"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently I posted a link to an article on my Facebook page<\/a>:\u00a0SO YOU\u2019RE FEELING TOO FAT TO BE PHOTOGRAPHED . . .<\/a>\u00a0I wanted to share it here for you guys to read, too. I really loved this article and could relate to\u00a0so much<\/em>! I’m sure many of you can, too.<\/p>\n

“In our warped minds pictures become frozen mirrors that we can stare at as we pick apart our features over and over again.\u00a0I know girl. I know.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This was me for a really long time. Probably most of my life. I ducked for cover whenever someone brought out a camera at a party or event. If I was forced into participating in the picture I was the one that hid in the very back behind the group of people so that I could hide my body. I was just a floating head in the background.<\/p>\n

\"oldme\"<\/a><\/p>\n

My other move was to not have body shots taken. A lot of pictures were from the chest up. Not that that really hid the fact that I was fat, but somehow it was better for me.<\/p>\n

\"sab\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Another trick: wear baggy clothes or big jackets\/sweaters and to hold purses and bags and stuff in front of my body. Not foolin’ anyone!<\/p>\n

\"chicago3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As I was losing 100 pounds I started to get better about allowing photos to be taken of me. It was slow. It’s not like I lost 20, 30 or 40 pounds and immediately was like “yeah! I’m ok with pictures now!” I was still reluctant. But I’m glad I did get some photos because I get to look back now and see the transformation I made. I didn’t notice the weight loss as I was smack-dab in the middle of it. I couldn’t tell I was losing weight (other than having to buy new clothes in smaller sizes) until it was a drastic change. Looking at yourself in the mirror every day, you don’t see the changes.<\/p>\n

\"bridesmaid\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The above photo was taken the day I weighed in at 50 pounds lighter–the day of my brother’s wedding. I was SO glad I reached that first goal before his wedding and that I was able to enjoy the day and not feel self-conscious about my body and not enjoy being in the photographs. It wasn’t about me and how I felt about my fat. It was a day for my brother and his wife to celebrate and I’m glad I’m in those photos. No matter what size I am.<\/p>\n

“…always waiting for this elusive moment where I would be thin enough (pretty enough) to have such a permanent record of me. Because, you know, HEAVEN FORBID there be any proof that I look the way I actually look.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That above quote from the article was TOTALLY me. Not only was I waiting to be thin enough for photos to be ok, I was waiting to be thin enough TO BE HAPPY. “I’ll be happy when I lose 50 pounds.” Why can’t I be happy now??<\/p>\n

\"LisaEireneBeforeAndAfter\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I’m also happy I have some photos of my heavy days (even if it’s not many) because sometimes I forget that was ever me. I see old pictures and I don’t recognize that person, I can’t relate and it doesn’t feel like I’m looking at myself. But I’m glad I have them because I can look back and think “that was that amazing trip to Chicago I took with my best friend!” I’m not thinking “that was the trip I took when I was 250 pounds.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think many of us have been there. But have you ever stopped to think, isn’t this a moment that I would like to remember someday? Even if it’s not my ideal body weight, wouldn’t I rather look back years to come and remember this moment? Christmas with family? Especially if family memories have passed away. Am I going to look at the photo and think “God I look fat in this photo!” or am I going to look at the photo and think “I really miss Grandpa. I’m so glad we got to spend that last Christmas together”??<\/p>\n

Your children want pictures with their mom.<\/span><\/p>\n

Your husband wants pictures with his beautiful wife.<\/span><\/p>\n

Your mom and dad want pictures of the happy, successful, amazing woman they raised (ok, and more pictures of the grandkids while you\u2019re at it)<\/span><\/p>\n

So you\u2019re feeling too fat to be photographed? . . . Ok. But you\u2019re the only one who notices. The rest of us are too caught up in loving you.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now that I’m pregnant and obviously going to be gaining weight, I’m trying not to focus on that. I’m growing a human. It’s not like I’m bingeing on pizza and ice cream like I did when I was 250 pounds. That was a different beast altogether. I’m trying to focus on my body as a healthy vessel for the baby, not criticize the weight gain or pick apart pictures of me that may not be the most flattering. It’s important to me to have PHOTOS of this magical time in my life. I want to look back years from now and think happy thoughts, not negative thoughts about weight gain. I’m trying to change my perspective.<\/p>\n

What about you? Are you hiding from the camera or embracing life as it is in the moment?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently I posted a link to an article on my Facebook page:\u00a0SO YOU\u2019RE FEELING TOO FAT TO BE PHOTOGRAPHED . . .\u00a0I wanted to share it here for you guys to read, too. I really loved this article and could relate to\u00a0so much! I’m sure many of you can, too. “In our warped minds pictures […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[418,44,84,96,154,2559,318,319,1197,1243,2778,1258,214,2514,297,298,3372],"tags":[8958,8591,8623,611,8662,5562,3335,901,4519,8758],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48222"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48222"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48232,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48222\/revisions\/48232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}