Is it possible to feel yourself getting fatter

Losing Weight What is healthy weight loss and why should you bother? Keeping the Weight Off Losing weight is the first step. Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options Skip directly to A-Z link. Healthy Weight, Nutrition, and Physical Activity. Section Navigation. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Syndicate. Losing Weight: Getting Started.

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To receive email updates about this topic, enter your email address. Email Address. What's this? Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity. Related Topics. You may think that people are just being nice. But with such a big difference between what you see in the mirror and what others see, something else could be going on. During adolescence, female bodies go through lots of normal changes, including storing a little more fat. As with any change, this may take some adjustment.

But people come in a variety of shapes and sizes. That can chip away at your overall body image. Having a distorted body image can affect our relationships, too.

Perhaps your friends are growing tired of hearing you talk about your body — especially if they think you have nothing to worry about. It can be hard for people even really good friends to constantly hear others put themselves down or look for reassurance about their appearance.

What can you do to adjust to your changing body? Instead of focusing so much on appearance, focus on eating healthy foods and getting plenty of exercise.

Appreciate your body for what it can do, notice the things you like, and pay attention to developing your inner beauty, too. Taking these steps will help set the stage for a lifetime of appreciating, rather than feeling insecure about, your body. And that will help you look and feel more self-confident! If you try these things but still have trouble shifting your focus away from your body and weight, talk to your health care provider or with a therapist who specializes in body image and eating disorders.

You want to get a healthy perspective on your body image to prevent an eating disorder or other problem. Sometimes they can be so sudden and powerful that it's hard to sort out exactly what you're feeling. The best way is to pause and pay attention for a moment when you first notice yourself feeling upset. Try to name what emotion you're feeling without judging yourself.

Say to yourself, "I feel angry [or sad, or frustrated]". If you're upset but aren't quite sure why, it can help to talk to someone you trust, like a close friend, family member, or a therapist. Talking things over can also help people figure out how to deal with your feelings. If it's hard to talk about your feelings or you think people won't understand, keep a journal, draw or paint, or do something else that helps you sort through difficult emotions.

The more you take time to explore your feelings, the more skilled you become at coping with emotions as they come up. That can make it easier to find solutions to problems. An overweight person may worry about what others think.

When people judge you unfairly, it can make you feel like it's your fault. Well-meaning parents, siblings, or friends can sometimes make things worse by making "suggestions" about food or exercise.

These good intentions may come across as criticism. Some teens who are overweight are teased or bullied. Teasing and bullying can make you feel sad or embarrassed. Fear of being judged or rejected might make you shy away from people. You may stop doing things you enjoy. But the best thing to do is to take your mind — and other people's — off your weight and back onto you as a person. Remember that everyone feels shy when stepping into a new situation, even people who seem really confident.

You may want to ask a friend to join you when trying new activities. But what about when friends and family aren't giving you the support you need? If you feel pressured or misunderstood by friends or family, tell them how you feel. For example, tell them it doesn't help when they call you out when you slip up. Let people know what you appreciate such as praise when you do well and what you don't like such as comments about weight or lecturing about food or exercise.

Some people who are overweight have very good self-esteem. They're able to focus on their accomplishments and take pride in themselves. But some people who struggle with their weight also struggle with low self-esteem — especially when other people can be so unkind.

When we have negative thoughts and feelings about our bodies , these feelings may overflow into other areas of life.