muscle dysmorphia?

[jeremys]

ok i posted pics a while ago of me after 3 months' time off for injury. i got my diet straight and started training my whole body again and i look a lot better already. not a complete transformation from what you guys have seen, but you know what i mean. anyways, for some reason i think i look skinny as hell!! WTF???!?!? i mean, i still weigh about 250. i know i still got some fat and stuff, but i swear i look so SKINNY that if i cut, i wouldnt have anything.

is this a problem? anybody else deal with this?

 

[Citruscide]

I don't like to cut down too much for that very reason.. I feel I'll be too small... I'd rather have the extra few BF % just to maintain some size... I need that size to do the lifts I want to do anyway.

Although, I'm going to have to cut down sooner or later... more likely sooner.

C-ditty

 

[endpoint]

I cant tell you how to deal with it...i suffer from it all the time.

i just though i would let you know that you arent alone or weird.

 

[Thaibox]

I'm pretty sure that if you're on this board, you've got some level of muscle dismorphia. People(normal people) think I'm a monster, but when I look in the mirror, I see a prisoner of war.

 

[needsize]

I'm pretty sure that if you're on this board, you've got some level of muscle dismorphia. People(normal people) think I'm a monster, but when I look in the mirror, I see a prisoner of war.

i seem to be agreeing with you a lot lately, I find that sort of disturbing....

But I suffer from it bad, at 5'9" 230lsb at 10% bodyfat I'm by no means small, but when I look in a mirror I see small. I avoid certain types of clothes as they make me feel scrawny. Hell, if I lose 1/8 of an inch off my arms, I feel like I look like an aids patient.

It can be unheathy, but at the same time, its probably also part of what separates us from the "normals" that dont understand what we do to ourselves at the gym, why else would we keep going back?

 

[gonelifting]

Dysmorphia, Is that what they call it? I`ve been calling it (to myself) reverse anorexia lol. I HATE being skinny That`s what drives me in the gym. 6ft 2.5" 235

 

[Citruscide]

Damn, we all suffer from this then.

C-ditty

 

[Drunken_Weasel]

I didn't have this problem before. I always saw myself as fat, but at the same time, large in terms of muscle. Now that I have lost weight, I feel that im still fat, but also at the same time small. Its very agrivating, because i know my strength has increased, and probobly muscle size. I will probobly never be happy, but I can say I will be happier once I get rid of all this FAT!

 

[circusgirl]

If that's you in the avatar you are not skinny.

Here's a tip - get someone to take body-for-life style photos of you and use photoshop or somesuch to chop the head out. Then you won't be looking at a piccie of YOU, just a muscled frame, should help you see how large and muscular you really are.

This tends to work for ladies who think they are fat. Different dysmorphia I know. Give it a try.

Then every time you feel small, check the piccies and you will see you are not.

Also, go to an amusement park when the weather's hot and check out all those gruesome father-of-5-no-time-to-work-out bods on display. You will feel better .

 

[jesus 2]

I'm pretty sure that if you're on this board, you've got some level of muscle dismorphia.

i've said this before and i think you are absolutely right. i have muscle dispmorphia. i am not afraid to say it. i am afraid of the cutting phase i am most likely to begin though....

j to da 2

 

[SAGAT]

to jeremys and all the other dysmorphic bros: i'm going through that same shit now, it's really demotivating but it helps if people you know (or don't know) say: hey you look big, or; hey you're looking good or whatever. people say that to me on the beach sometimes, makes me feel better. anyways don't worry too much about it, it'll pass.

 

[DrBones]

Ahhh good ol' muscular dismorphia... I can't stand it....
The only time I ever feel like I have any, yes ANY muscle on my frame is right when I leave the gym and I have a HUGE pump..
But lately, I've been cutting and doing 30 min cardio after my workouts, and by the time I go home.. I feel small and saggy...
I'm definitely not even close to the biggest guy on here... but I'm sure as hell not the smallest... at 5'10 192 I feel like a 12 year old girl.... I always thought to myself that when I hit 190 I'd be huge... now that I'm there I feel nothing has changed since 170 lbs....

 

[Thaibox]

to jeremys and all the other dysmorphic bros: i'm going through that same shit now, it's really demotivating but it helps if people you know (or don't know) say: hey you look big, or; hey you're looking good or whatever. people say that to me on the beach sometimes, makes me feel better. anyways don't worry too much about it, it'll pass.

For some reason, this doesn't make me feel better. A lot of people tell me how big I look, or ask me what I do to get this big. I think it actually makes me feel worse.

My problem(and I'm sure for many of us) is that I live in another world than the average donut munching, bowflexer. We associate with bodybuilders and powerlifters. We see guys on this board that are bigger and stronger than we are.

I know that you should ideally only compare yourself with yourself. But, I compare myself to the elite of this sport, so when the twig on the street squeeks "golly gee, you're big," it just doesn't mean that much. However, if I was walking down the street and accidentaly bumped into Ronnie Coleman, knocking him down and he looks up and says "whoa, you're fucking huge!" That would probably make me feel good.

I also think bodybuilders are inherently overacheivers, making them more prone to never being satisfied no matter what. The ongoing path toward perfection will never end.

 

[SAGAT]

wow. you really hit the nail on the head with that post thaibox

 

[gymtime]

Kind of interesting what forms body dysmorphia can take. I've been in the gym for years and I can't even imagine what it's like to feel skinny...or even small. My whole focus over the years has been trying to lose fat. The muscle size while great to have, has been a distant second on the priority list.

Where Citruscide won't sweat a couple bf percentage points to hold some size, I'll dwell on that extra fat pretty much exclusively.

 

[Thaibox]

And I always thought that was Hank Hill in your avatar

 

[Lord_Suston]

I think the worst is when you are training and you know the guy next to you is about 130lbs soaking wet and yet deep down inside you think you look the same . The the mental game continues because you ask why is he lifting less than you, then this really fucks with you when you chill with some good lifters and you think they are huge and you'll never get there, when in all truth you are the same size or bigger... Compliments sucks, it almost patronizing in a disturbed sort of way....

 

[jeremys]

If that's you in the avatar you are not skinny.

thanks

its nice to know i'm not the only one that goes through this

 

[Ingram]

I also think bodybuilders are inherently overacheivers, making them more prone to never being satisfied no matter what. The ongoing path toward perfection will never end.

Word!

 

[theoak01]

Im just pissed at how i carry my muscle,im roughly 13% bf and im only 5'6 and 185,and i wont be happy until everything looks right,i imagine i will have to be about 200 or so before i look close to what i want

 

[louden_swain]

I will always have this. . .

 

[gimp]

When I started training I leaned down first. I went down to around 175lbs, I'm 6'2". Yeah, I looked defined, but I was so skinny people were actually telling me I looked gross! Too skinny they said. Now 2 years later I'm 230lbs, at maybe 15% BF. I am scared shitless to cut, I don't wanna do it. It's never hard for me to lose weight ,but when I do I feel too small and scrawny. Another thing that recently developed is that when I walk into a room and there is some guy there who is more built than I am I get pissed off and have to walk out.

 

[Exodus]

Im just pissed at how i carry my muscle,im roughly 13% bf and im only 5'6 and 185,and i wont be happy until everything looks right,i imagine i will have to be about 200 or so before i look close to what i want

no you won't. once your that big you will want to be 220lbs. Thats what the post is all about, thats the name of the game.

X

 

[ptc123]

Hi everyone!

Emmy award winning company Pie Town Productions is currently working on a documentary about individuals with Muscle Dysmorphia. Through this program, we are hoping to bring more awareness and understanding to this often misunderstood and misdiagnosed disorder.

We’re looking to interview Muscle Dysmorphia sufferers willing to share their story with us for this taping. Understandably, this can be a challenging request. Yet, we did learn, after taping a brief segment on
BDD, that participants found the experience to be therapeutic.

Compensation is available to those who participate in our project.

Anna
[email protected]

 

[SPEKTOR-AAA]

Kinda funny I have to agree with you guys....when I started the gym I weighed 170 pounds 5 years ago. I now weight 195 pounds naturally and have always thought 200 was gonna be my magic number. Now that I am around 200 I still feel small, its so bizarre. I dont let it bother me but it definately runs through my head occasionally. For examply when I look down at my arm at the part closest to my elbow it looks little to me, haha but to others they think im stupid for thinking that lol. I dunno, either way ill still be in the gym pushing weight.

 

[[CinnamonBuns]]

an 8 year bump...really?