Mirror, Mirror: Why You Can’t See Your Own Weight Loss

When you can't see your own weight loss, it can be baffling.
On the one hand, after major weight loss, you definitely look very different. People comment, scales don't lie, clothes don't lie, as you fit into smaller sizes.So...wtf is going on with the mirror? Does that lie? Only...everyone's talking about a transformation that you are simply not seeing.

Your mirror isn't lying.
Your brain is.

We think what we see in the mirror is 'reality'. But even putting body dysmorphia aside, how we perceive our reflection is altered by our mood, by things we focus on (usually what we've decided our flaws are), and often, by our past reflection.
We simply don't see ourselves as other people see us. And we definitely don't necessarily keep up with changes we make to our bodies.

We also often place high expectations on ourselves, when it comes to weight loss. It's not just meant to be losing weight - we expect a total transformation. At its simplest, we expect to go from feeling unhappy about our bodies to feeling happy. (This is, after all, what diet culture promises). Loose or sagging skin may not fit the ideal we were aiming for, creating a 'joy gap' which gets emphasised by assumptions from others that you must be pleased.
You can end up 'faking but not quite making it' in the happiness stakes.

Face shapes can also change and whether that's positive or not, seeing a different person to the one you're familiar with in the mirror every single time you look can feel more like a jump scare than a good thing.

If you catch yourself going to pick out your old clothes size in shops, then your brain hasn't quite caught on to the reality of the new you.
And if you're ignoring your weight and looking at other things you now don't like about yourself now, then your brain has learned, very effectively, to focus on things you perceive to be flaws, and not let any joy get in the way.

How a body confidence portrait session can help

When I'm chatting to clients who can't see their own weight loss in the mirror, I tell them "all we need to do is disrupt your thought processes, and rewire your brain. Simple".
OK, it doesn't sound simple! But here's how it works:
When you look in the mirror, your brain knows exactly what it's expecting to see. It can very effectively 'infill' a version of you that's familiar. In short, your brain can trick you. The same thing happens with photos. Photo gets taken, you look at it, your brain knows what it expects to see, and what you 'see' matches that expectation.

I mean it when I say we disrupt that process.
Because in a body confidence portrait session
- you're getting posed in ways your brain isn't familiar with
- you're not seeing the photos immediately

We're not tricking your brain, we're not creating some 'far from the truth' transformation. We're simply stopping your brain from continuing to trick you by catching it by surprise. Without knowing what to expect, it can't 'infill' something else, so you’ll see what is, not a ghost of what was.

When the mirror doesn't reflecting weight loss right away, it most likely will - given time your brain will gradually come to learn that a change has occurred*. We're just pressing fast forward on the process.

Much love,
Anna
xx
(*PS - one way you can help is by not looking back at old photos of yourself. If you want your brain to take in new information, stop reinforcing old information).