Have you ever realized to what extent you have body dysmorphia?

[Fa Seeshus]

It’s almost like the opposite of body dysmorphia - adjacent to Dunning Kruger.

But I know exactly what you mean. I see these little 130lb jits doing front lat spreads in the mirror all the time - so comical…

Dunning Kruger effect is knowing just enough to think your smart, but not knowing enough to realize that in the grand scheme you know nothing. The main offenders in the gym are peeps that blindly follow one internet coach and then shit on everyone who doesn't do what the coach says. Or the dudes that do 1 NPC physique show with a cut and paste coach and now think they knew everything.

 

[slesh]

Not sure if your kidding or not ?

Not kidding

 

[bbxtreme]

Not kidding

Post up a mirror shot. We need to see this fat piece of shit you speak of.

 

[Aikman56]

Oh, I’m completely mind-fu*ked!
I always think I look small and fat. But every once in a while, I’ll catch myself in the mirror next to someone at the gym that I think has a pretty good physique and I’m invariably either bigger or in bearer shape, or both.
Unfortunately, however, those reassuring thoughts rapidly dissipate, and im back to my old Eeyore internal monologue from earlier!

 

[275bills]

Not kidding

So do you feel its more delusional or just not satisfied with your look?

 

[PRorER]

Nobody wants to hear the guy that looks bigger and leaner than they are, talk about how fat and small he is. Don‘t be self deprecating in the face of compliments.

I’ve never thought about it like that, thanks. I do have people I’m able to talk about it with but I’ve reached a point where it’s hard to gauge progress. I tell my training partners “you gotta tell me how I look cuz I can’t see my physique” and honestly that’s helped a lot

 

[275bills]

I’ve never thought about it like that, thanks. I do have people I’m able to talk about it with but I’ve reached a point where it’s hard to gauge progress. I tell my training partners “you gotta tell me how I look cuz I can’t see my physique” and honestly that’s helped a lot

Take proper progress pictures
Weigh yourself
Take measurements
Hire a coach

 

[PRorER]

This is sport is an endless pursuit to be better. But there’s a difference between knowing that vs playing the victim and thinking or telling everyone you’re something that you know you aren’t. Not saying you’re doing this. But some do because they need the attention.

At this point I can visible see like “okay I’m super lean” or “I’m holding a lot of water/glycogen and I’m big as fuck” but where I struggle is actually gauging progress. I’ve noticed the less I actually look at my physique the easier it is overtime to notice differences

 

[Muay Thai]

Every time I look in the mirror all I see is a fat piece of shit

whoever made you feel that way growing up point em out and I will wack them one by one, that's your old story bro! you are a LEGEND slesh! walk with that knowledge my boy, you can talk and walk circles around these fools, childsplay!!!

 

[EricJ123]

I always remember back in the day at the grocery getting comments from old dudes being like “when I was your age I looked just like you” and remember saying in my head “bitch, no one looked like this in 1960”hahaha.

Dude this is the worst. I’ll just be waiting in line somewhere and the person next to me tries to make small talk about how they don’t have time to workout blah blah blah….

A lot of people also associate muscle with fighting. No im not a fighter and no I don’t want to arm wrestle you.

 

[PRorER]

Take proper progress pictures
Weigh yourself
Take measurements
Hire a coach

I agree 100%, when I started really getting into bodybuilding in my head it was “how do I get as big as possible as fast as possible” and now I’m realizing it’s a marathon not a sprint, more isn’t always better, and time controls everything

 

[bbxtreme]

At this point I can visible see like “okay I’m super lean” or “I’m holding a lot of water/glycogen and I’m big as fuck” but where I struggle is actually gauging progress. I’ve noticed the less I actually look at my physique the easier it is overtime to notice differences

For me it’s always the clothes. If you need confirmation look there.

It’s annoying as hell. I went to an event last night and had zero dress pants that fit. So athletic tailored jeans it was.

If you ever second guess how big or small you are look to your clothes. They never lie.

 

[Samson250]

lol yeah, mine is bad.

i work remotely and when i meet people in person that have only ever seen me on Zoom, they all tell me I’m huge/jacked and ask for workout tips.

Meanwhile I think I’m tiny and fat

I got that a lot after the lockdowns and I started showing up for meetings in person.

Not exactly “jacked” or “ripped” but 6’4” 335lbs on my frame shocked people. My Psychiatrist especially was pretty shook up. He said “Now please don’t take this in a negative way but you are extremely intimidating in person.”

He puts me on a scale every appointment then looks at me like “Where is all this weight from the scale because you don’t look anything close to that amount of weight!”

 

[Samson250]

Not kidding

I look at your gym selfies and they make me feel like IM a fat piece of shit!

 

[275bills]

I look at your gym selfies and they make me feel like IM a fat piece of shit!

Only compare you to yourself brother

 

[275bills]

For me it’s always the clothes. If you need confirmation look there.

It’s annoying as hell. I went to an event last night and had zero dress pants that fit. So athletic tailored jeans it was.

If you ever second guess how big or small you are look to your clothes. They never lie.

Hhhmm I feel that's to simple/basic of an answer coming from you

 

[275bills]

I agree 100%, when I started really getting into bodybuilding in my head it was “how do I get as big as possible as fast as possible” and now I’m realizing it’s a marathon not a sprint, more isn’t always better, and time controls everything

Does Time make you eat your meals while sticking to your diet and killing it in the gym?

Dedication over time

 

[marssel]

I think it’s safe to say we all currently or at some point had varying degrees of body dysmorphia, but the other day at my job I had an eye-opening moment

A girl who I had previously worked with years ago came in to my job and told me that I looked huge. Me being the idiot that I am was like “yaaa I’ve put on some weight I know” and she quickly corrected me and joked “if by weight you mean muscle”. I was then talking to one of my coworkers about it and asked if he thought I looked bigger since when I started(I’ve been working my current job about a year and a half) and he said if I don’t think I’ve put on muscle then I’m blind.

I know I’m bigger then the average person but when we constantly compare ourselves to professional bodybuilders, fitness gurus, and with the rise of social media it can be hard to differentiate personal growth vs. what we perceive as the perfect physique. Even if you think body dysmorphia isn’t real, I’d be willing to bet there have been days you’ve looked in the mirror and even though you look insane you personally aren’t nearly satisfied with what you see and think you look awful.

At any point during your life have you had a moment that made you sit back and really evaluate what you see vs. what other people see? And if you think you have body dysmorphia, is there anything that you do to help combat it? Personally I always train with a hoodie/long sleeve on and try to look at my physique as little as possible so I don’t become over obsessive with the way I look

By society’s standards we all do I think. I know I do but I don’t consider it bad, most regular folks have it but think they look better than they really do, I’ll take the bodybuilder dysmorphis over the fat pride any day.

 

[slesh]

whoever made you feel that way growing up point em out and I will wack them one by one, that's your old story bro! you are a LEGEND slesh! walk with that knowledge my boy, you can talk and walk circles around these fools, childsplay!!!

Haha you the man!

 

[slesh]

So do you feel its more delusional or just not satisfied with your look?

I look at your gym selfies and they make me feel like IM a fat piece of shit!

So I believe its two factors:

First - I obviously have some form of PTSD from being a chubby fuck for several years. So any break in diet or not going to the gym for a few days just absolutely fucks with my head and makes me feel like I’m 17 again.

Second - to Samson’s point - it’s all perspective. I imagine a lot of you feel this way as well. It’s hard to simply look in the mirror and say to yourself “you look good” because you’re not in a vaccum. We spend our days looking at IFBB pros and sitting on social media so naturally we are always comparing. So it’s really like “you look good compared to…” or “you look like shit compared to…”. You can make this argument with most facets in life. My parents raised me to be happy with what you have and not compare yourself to others but it ain’t easy!