Your Body Image in Pics vs Videos

Hey everyone. This may be a strange question and just something I have been thinking about and wondering if anyone else has thought like this. I have always thought of myself as a small guy, not tall, not athletic. I have always thought I was overweight. Recently I saw a video of myself and I saw how I look, if that makes sense. I could see in this video of how large my shoulders are and how big I really am. When I say big I don’t mean fat I just mean wide like a linebacker. I was just wondering if anyone else has experienced something like this?

I would have to see the video of you to see if I have the same experience

5 Likes

He might mean a self realisation. Just guess…

All the time. I’d a “lump”. I’m heavy (115kg/250lb) and 6ft tall. Until about this time last year I just thought I was fat. Until I had a few people in a row drop comments about my size and build. Then I started to see my self a touch differently.
I still spend 90% of my time thinking I’m fat (I am fat TBH) - but ever now and again I catch an angle where I notice my shoulders / back / arms ETC. Or someone mentions my build in a positive light. And I feel good. Not like I’m any sort of cover model. But I might be fat. But I’m not flabby.

Yes this is what I was referring too. I had a guy at work say to me one day, “your like what 200Ibs?” I have felt that I should be more like 165 but I don’t think that’s right anymore. I’m 5’10” and currently around 185 lbs. my only complaint currently is I could lose some weight around my Stomach.

I believe that this happens partly due to social media being so fake. Its all full of people who look a certain way, even tho in reality even those people look nowhere close to what they post. So we have this distorted way of looking at things, because we take the instagram as the norm, and we compare actual life to it. Lean means photoshop abs. Muscles mean - pro bodybuilder on stage. Women have same problem cuz almost all fitness models nowdays use implants or synthol in their asses so a nice ass is this fake implant thing. And its the same about life as such - we only see clean houses, fancy cars, food thats put on a plate like in the restoraunt and then we compare ourselves and feel like shit because i am 6’2 and 250lbs but nowhere near as big as the 5’5 170lbs instagram dude. My appartment is a mess that hasnt seen any repairs in 15 years, and i eat food that looks like someones vomit from a plate that hasnt been washed for a month since i only eat the same meal from the same plate, and no girl i have ever seen looks nearly close to all those insta-babes.
It is very easy to get a distorted way of looking at things, When i was in my 20s i was very sad because everyone seemed richer than i am, no matter what i did.
Only in my late late 20s i realised that everyone is richer only because they post every little thing on the internet. I also found a way to make cool looking pictures, and guess what - i found out that i can make a selfie that competes with most famous instagram guys. I just dont post mine, but it is doable. I also can make a dinner that looks good, i just dont care to spend the time to arrange food on a plate and make a picture of it.
Also, everyone is so big on the internet, but i havent seen a person bigger than me, outside a specialized powerlifting gym, in months.

Its very easy to see yourself as small, weak, poor, ugly or whatever because we are bombarded with all the fake-ness.
We see a butt selfie in a bathroom from insta-whore, but we dont see the diarrhea she had 2mins ago on the same toilet that is in the background now, lol.
So i just changed the way i think… Nowdays, i only believe what i see. If i see something good on the internet, i call it fake unless i see it in real life. I have seen so many bodybuilders who look huge in pictures but in reality are 5’7 and 50lbs smaller than me - thats disapointing.
When you compare yourself to actual real people, and their actual lives, the way we see things start to look a bit better in all the ways of life.

3 Likes

Post a picture.

Self referencing can sometimes be irrational.

Sometimes.

1 Like

I’m short with quite wide shoulders naturally before weight training. So I look bigger than I am.
But yeah I’m surprised how big I look in my videos. Granted I’m very overweight but still.
I understand what some of the above posters say.It’s true if you are short and broad you can look a lot heavier than you are in photos or videos.

There is so much right in this post.
Social media is such a crappy thing. If I had 1 request of everyone it would be share the odd “today was hard” tag line. Let people peak know everyone struggles.

Back to body image stuff;
Did you know there is a guy on YouTube that shows you how to apply makeup to make your chest look bigger in photos. Or makes your arms look leaner. So if i don’t see it with my own two eyes I don’t give it any credit.

As an FYI - I’m not massive but out side of the gym no one I know is as well built as me.
In the gym I go to, no one I know thinks they are particularly big.

1 Like