When you look on the mirror, look hard at yourself until you see something you like about yourself - not weight related and doesn’t have to be body related, it can be aspects of your personality - just anything positive like your eyes, your skin, the shape of your nose, whatever, doesn’t matter what as this is just for you. Hold on to that positive and keep acknowledging it. Next day, go through it again but find another positive to add to the one you have from the previous day, and carry on like this, day after day. Keep acknowledging the things you like about yourself and your body, keep reminding yourself of all the good things. It’s a process in which you need to learn to like and appreciate yourself for who you are, including any perceived flaws as they are what make you the individual you are. In time, with persistence and regular practice, you’ll be able to see the positives much more brightly than anything you see as a negative now, and those perceived negatives will lose their power over you (you may even learn to appreciate them in their own individual way!) 
I still feel fat
I know their will be a lot of good answers for this but one thing I will say is that I’ve been in the same place. I lost 70-75 lbs. of weight and still felt as self-conscious and just plain “fat” as I had to begin with. I was at a normal weight but my body just didn’t fit what I thought it would look like when I dropped that much weight.
On another hand, I’ve actually gained about 25-30 lbs. back because of a lot of stress and too much laxness on my diet (yo-yo dieting + stress+ carb overload = weight gain for me). Now when I look back I’m sad that i was so ungrateful for all the progress I had made and didn’t truly understand how much hard work and time I had put into that weight loss. I could only see everything I hadn’t accomplished yet. That, in part, was how I got back to this higher weight because I didn’t fully appreciate how wonderful it was to have lost 75 lbs. and how much better my body looked. I can truly say that when we have a “never enough” mindset we could weigh 100 lbs. soaking wet and still feel “fat” just because we still see the heavier person we were 100 lbs. ago. The hardest but best part about weight loss is the mental change of learning to appreciate hard work and how rewarding it is. PLEASE don’t underestimate how much you’ve accomplished to lose those 50 lbs. you are doing something AMAZING for yourself and if you learn to see it through grateful eyes you will feel so much happier. 
I wish I could go back in time and tell myself “You look amazing! Not because your are at your goal but because you are trying!!” And if you find that you want to strength train to tone some of those annoying areas, that will help your confidence even more!! 
I went WAY past my goal of 120 lbs all the way to 89 lbs (Im 5’2) and I still felt fat! I completely agree with Liz, the brain does take longer to catch up. I think it took me well over a year to stop feeling that way, but the thoughts do creep back every so often when I’m having a bad day. Just give it time.
Impressive weight loss.
How we think of ourselves is quite a topic. The blizzard of media images and messages we are bombarded with may distort things. We humans are a variegated crew, and to some extent I think we aspire toward ‘ideals’ which are rarely realistic.
Good comments from others about how our mind takes a while to reflect our possibly-fairly-rapidly-changed physical state.
I never really felt “obese.” That was something that happened to other people. I was a skinny kid, then a muscular kid, and even in my late 50s I’m the same person I always was. (Right? 
)
Yet somewhere in there another 160 lbs had entered the picture, and even though I could still do everything, it was, “Damn, Doug, you’re getting to be a big fat bugger.” Officially, with a Body Mass Index of over 40, being more than 100 lbs over my ideal weight and having high blood pressure and diabetes, I more than qualified as “morbidly obese.” It’s still dizzying to think of that. How could that be? “Morbidly obese” - that’s a hell of a term. Sounds like you’re fat and gonna die.
I’ve lost 16%, with another 34% to go. Progress, for sure. Yet that’s only meant going from size 46 pants (which were, in all fairness, really tight) to size 44. I do feel a little better overall, and I know that good health benefits are accruing. That thickness - especially from the spine straight through to the front of the stomach (lots of the worst kind of fat in there) - that’s a slow-reducing area.
I don’t even know how I’ll feel when I get to a lot lower weight. Probably relieved that some real health concens have been taken care of. Mainly, I don’t think I’ll feel much different at all.
WOW, so many great replies helping put things in perspective. I thought there may be some on here who had experienced this. So much good information and feedback I’ve read ever post a couple of times. Thanks so much for sharing and advice. Definitely helped me out.
I think I’m going to tape the picture of me with my grandson that finally woke my fat butt up to do keto to that damn mirror.
Thanks again for all the posts and any that follow.
I still see my 300+lb self every time I look in the mirror. I currently weigh 165 at 6’4". I reached my final weight 2 years ago. I say “Final” because my GOAL weight was 199 (the upper weight of a “normal” BMI). But I kept eating keto and wound up here at 165.
You get used to the dysmorphia, just like you get used to all those people telling you you’re too skinny, look like a cancer patient, yadda yadda. Eventually you just dismiss it outright or tune it out, and I’ve learned to ignore the extra 140lb I see in the mirror. I still “see” it, but it doesn’t steer my behavior the way it used to. I’ve loosened up a bit over time, and i’m less scared of gaining it back now than I was a year ago.
Refuting CICO platitudes
Yeah, turns out I’m extremely compatible with this lifestyle - and I’m very grateful for it.
Still feel like a fattie, tho! And that keeps me humble.
Heh, I just had this convo with my SO the other day. I look skinny but feel fat, sometimes. Sometimes I feel pretty damn sexy. Depends on my mood and what I’m wearing I suppose.
I experience the same thing. Dysmorphia is real! I’ve only lost 28 pounds and am down 1 pant size. I wear a small or medium top now and am between size 12 and 14 pants. Depending on the style some of my 14’s should no longer be worn, my 12’s feel painted on, but my 12 year old tells me they look great. Tried on a size 10 dress, it easily zipped up and was too big on top. However, when I look in the mirror getting out of the shower I still see the EXACT SAME FAT BELLY WITH the EXACT SAME FAT, BUMPY, TOO WIDE HIPS as I had before the 28 pound loss. This makes no sense. I have an estimated 40 pounds of excess body fat. My goal is to lose 25-30 pounds. But I look at my body and think “oh there is 20 pounds on that leg, 20 on this leg, 10 pounds on my waist, another 5 on each arm”… as you can see the math does not add up. I looked at pictures from 7 years ago, I think I am currently 50 pounds lighter and I actually thought, “I don’t really look any different” I’m not sure my clothing size then but I think it was at least an 18w. I am now able to wear a size 10 dress and the top is too big, I could not find clothes to fit me in most regular clothing stores back then. I would look at my jeans and think “wow those are huge.” Now I look at my size 12 and think “wow those are small, no way they fit me.” Today I wore a pair of low waist jeans that have been hanging in my closet for a year. I bought them without trying them on and could not wear them when I got them home. Forgot to return them. Today they fit great and they were very loose at the waist. That would be the same waist that I look in the mirror and see the same exact fat stomach. The brain is weird. I have never experienced this when losing weight in the past. But this time I was fat for 13 years. I went from size 8 to gaining 90 pounds in 4 months while pregnant. I lost about 45 pounds afterward but the final 40 pounds wouldn’t budge and after 13 years I managed to lose 30 pounds of muscle so today I am 10 pounds lighter than my size 8 weight but no way could I get a size 8 pant on yet. I’m hoping that when i get in those size 8 or 10 jeans I’ll finally give my body the respect it deserves and actually hope I’ll put on a swimsuit and not cover my legs with a pair of shorts. That’s my goal wear my swimsuit to the beach with no shorts over it because I think my legs are too fat!
Just to piggyback on what others said…
I’m just a hair shy of 6’2" and I weigh about 220. When clothed I look quite lean, but I know that I still have flab around my waist. Even though no one can see it, I know its there and it drives me insane in my brain everytime someone at work complimemts me because I know “the truth.”
My wife signed me up for stich fix and I got a bunch of XL shirts that fit me great. But I mailed them back anyway because I’ve been wearing XXLT for a while now and I can’t accept the fact that they really don’t fit anymore (and look terrible on me).
It’s tough going through this process!
This reminds me… I really need to update my profile picture, lol. It was from 20 or 30 pounds ago, lol.
I mostly still feel fat. The funny thing is my only real goal is to not feel this way, no matter my weight. There are lots of people who carry extra weight and somehow it doesn’t bother them… I could’ve been that guy but I’m not!
Now I’m actually thin and working on how goofy it is to still feel fat. Its more work than it sounds like. I look in the mirror way too much haha
Yep, thats my goal, too. People ask “whats your goal weight?”
I dunno, jake gyllenhaal maybe?
Fascinating discussion! Thank you all.
I think the only thing I KNOW is that my body image doesn’t match my actual size/shape.
Never has. Probably never will.
My mental image, from age 8 onwards, til now, aged 51 has been inaccurate. The pictures tell the true story, but I only ‘see’ the pics clearly after several years have passed.
Although… it actually doesn’t bother me.
I am over weight. High BMI. Obese.
A simple fact.
I also take care of my health, appearance, grooming, food choices, etc. I enjoy my wardrobe.
More facts.
I have no silly expectation of winding back time to my ‘best ever’, so I just kind of make the best of what I have, cos believe me, it used to be 60 pounds worse and several dress sizes bigger. 
Really grateful to you all for the thread. Makes me realise what changes have occurred. 
Right?? This winter I meekly said “Excuse me” to get by some ladies who were chatting, they both looked at me like “What” and I realized nobody had to move for me to go past, heh
Take lots of photos of yourself, look at them often. My coach told me this. She also said if I can’t identify with my normal weight body, then I’m much more likely to regain in weight maintenance due to internal identification.
It worked for me. 40 years of obesity, I was always the fat chick. Well, I’m not anymore, but it took a few years for my brain to catch up to my body and to not project that thinking outward, to teach others how I expected to be treated. When I told myself I was lean, strong, capable of not regaining the weight (I was a classic yo-yo dieter) - then others started treating me differently.
It starts with you, it will take time and strength and maybe some tears, too. But it will lead to your goals, not regaining. Hire a cognitive behavioral therapist to help you, if it’s too much to tackle yourself.
Best wishes and you are not alone!
My friend is having the same “confusion” over her new self after bariatric surgery. She has lost 130 lbs rapidly. It’s a LOT to adjust to!! It is both exciting --all these options but also overwhelming. It takes a while to integrate the outside part of you with the inside part
Read Self Compassion by K Neff. Check it out on Amazon to see if it might help!
Congrats on all your hard work and success!
I think I know how you feel. I started keto 9/20/17 and have lost 63 lbs in 7 months. I have about 45 more pounds to go, so I’m over halfway. I can totally see my progress, not only in the scale, but the way my clothes fit. I just purchased some work clothes at the thrift store so my pants wouldn’t slide down my hips while walking. But still, when I look in the mirror, I still see fat.
After analyzing this a bit, I have decided that, despite my weight loss, my shape is still the same. I certainly have a smaller mass, but I still have a lower belly roll, an upper belly roll and a thick layer of back fat. So, when I look in the mirror, I can still see those areas of fat.
I remind myself that the fat went on in a thin layer all over my body and that is just how it will be coming off. I am not going to wake up one day with a flat tummy and just chubby arms and legs. It doesn’t work that way. I try to remind myself of what my body actually looked like prior to starting keto. I can lie in bed and fold my hands over my tummy and remember that my fingertips didn’t even used to touch. When I get out of the shower, I can wrap a regular sized towel around my body and it overlaps a bit for modesty, even. No need for those giant bath sheets anymore. I can wear wrist watches and bangle bracelets again. I have a ton of room between the steering wheel and my tummy now.
If I think about it, I can pretty much remind myself multiple times a day how much thinner I am now than before and that goes a long way for making me feel better about myself after I have been a little disappointed by looking in the mirror. Every so often I look back at a photo my friend sent me from our cruise last year and almost laugh at how much of a difference I see now.