As I’ve described it earlier, my biggest struggle after losing 28kg/62lbs was what I’ve experienced after: when I looked into the mirror, the image of the body I saw staring back at me felt foreign. It felt like I was looking at an unknown person imitating my moves on the other side of the mirror. I felt like I’ve also lost all sensation of my physical body as if it wasn’t there. This phenomenon is referred to as phantom fat and it is basically the loss of your body awareness.
What is body awareness?
Body awareness can be defined as a perception of your body of how you feel it internally. In simple words it means that your mind memorises where your body parts are so you don’t need to look to find different parts of your body.
Some of the benefits of increased body awareness include:
- the skill of self regulation: accepting the limitations of your body and adapting your movements and behavior
- getting more out of the exercises that you do: you can feel when your form is off and you can make adjustments.
When you lose body awareness
What happened when I’ve lost 28kg/62lbs as my body transformed from 86kb/190lbs to 58kg/128lbs is that the boundaries of my body shrinked. Imagine living your life for years in an inflatable sumo costume and then suddenly you take the suit off. Your mind plays crazy games with you: avoid a chair to sit in because it has arms when in fact they don’t even touch you anymore; you ask people to move their chair so that you could fit in the row between them and they look weirdy at you because you already fit; you think that you can’t sit on the bench where the seat and the table are attached and then you fit; in the elevator you move closer to the corner to make place for one more person and you look silly because he already entered and there’s plenty of room. The list is endless and it just drives you crazy that your mind is playing tricks on you because it can’t sense the limits of your body.
Looking in the mirror tackles another kind of creepy feelings: you don’t recognize yourself. You see the reflected image, you know it must be you but it doesn’t feel like you. Or you walk past a shop and in the window you notice someone handsome and fit on the inside and you realize that what you’re seeing is your own reflection. These are the small things that drive you crazy when you lose body awareness.
So the next thing you must do is gain your body awareness back. I already shared some of my tips that can easily help you develop your body awareness after weight loss. See these 3 easy exercises to develop body awareness here>>>
My secret to developing body awareness: yoga
Yoga is a discipline where specific bodily postures are practiced for health and relaxation. Yoga reintroduces you to your body and your body parts while strengthening your inner knowing and body awareness. I found that in yoga the body, the breath and the mind become a union. This union helps you develop self awareness and body awareness as well.
Just by doing a simple morning routine of 20 minutes of yoga will help you a great deal to become once again in tune with your mind and body.
I suggest you start with a simple morning sequence such as Sun Salutation. You can find a detailed instruction on how to do the Sun Salutation over at Yoga Journal.
If you get further into yoga, then you can try the advanced balance poses and back-bends. Those are really good for developing body awareness!
Or if you are a beginner, then sign up to a yoga class near you to experience the benefits of yoga and to help you develop your body awareness once again after losing weight!
Need more help seeing your new fit body image in the mirror? Get more tips by clicking here >>>
How: Start from standing straight and shift your weight to your left leg. The entire sole of the foot should remain in contact with the floor. Bend your right knee and bring your right foot on the left inner thigh.The hips should be open with the right knee pointing toward the right. Bring your hands in front of you in a praying position. If you feel comfortable, raise your hands clasped together above your head. Hold this position for 20 to 60 seconds, and then bring down your right leg and repeat on the other side.
How: Lay on the ground with your chest facing down. Keeping your palms and legs on the floor, lift your chest.
How: Lay on the ground with your chest facing down. lie Grasp both of your feet with your hands to lift your legs and chest to form a bow. Remain in this position for some time, and try to swing back and forth or to the side.
Phantom fat is a condition that occurs after weight loss when you are unable to see your new fit body. Dealing with 
Sit down with a friend or someone from your family whom you trust. The game starts with you talking about you talking about your struggles of becoming fit but being unable to relate to your new fit body. Your friend needs to listen carefully to what you are saying, and they need to repeat what you said by expressing it with other words (aka paraphrasing your message). They should keep away from being judgmental or expressing their own opinion. They should concentrate on paraphrasing what you just said.
The fear of becoming fat was never so strong as it is now that I’ve lost significant weight and became fit. Let’s find out why is the fear of becoming fat again ruining your fit life.
What you need to know is that everyone who lost weight gets to a point where they experience fear of getting fat again. In small doses this can be a good thing: the fear of getting fat can motivate you, give you fuel for your workout. What you need to address is when the fear of getting fat again starts to ruin your everyday life.
Don’t just ignore your fear of becoming fat again: acknowledge it. The cliche you hear that the first step towards healing is that you identify that you have a problem is true. So what you need to do is to stop denying that you have a fear of becoming fat. It might help you to write it down what it really is that you are afraid of.
Learn about the source of your fear of becoming fat again: why does it have such a hold on you? Try to see your fear of becoming fat again as an opportunity that will help you to identify a problem in your life. Identifying it is the first step towards solving it. Maybe you are afraid of becoming fat again because this is your first time of being fit and you are in a new situation in life. You need to know this situation better. If you are afraid of becoming fat because you don’t want to be fat again, take this fear and think of it as help.
The truth everyone who lost weight is afraid to openly admit is: sex becomes better after weight loss. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t say that for you to enjoy sex you can’t be overweight or obese and must be fit. Everyone is entitled to enjoy sex, and you may be obese and still have a sexual drive of a rabbit, always ready to go. The secret I’m going to share with you here is how significant weight loss will affect the way you are having sex.
The body image disorder when you can’t see or can’t relate to the fit, smaller body that you have and you still feel that you are fat in your head is called phantom fat. Fat still exists in your mind. Find out if you have 
When people who knew the fat me see the new, fit me, the second thing they ask (after “Christina, is that really you?”) is how I’ve lost weight. Here is my step by step guide for weight loss on how to get from fat to fit girl!
I knew that by only doing Pilates 2-3 times per week I would lose some weight but I wouldn’t achieve a significant weight loss. I wanted to speed things up, but I still wanted to have fun. So I started with coming up with exercise activities that I could do in my leisure time or with friends that were fun and that would provide me a workout. I wanted to exercise without even realizing it!
You absolutely MUST attend your workout/meeting! You made an appointment and you can’t bail out! If unexpected things come up (e.g. a friend asks you if you want to grab a cup of coffee after work) you need to say no to that: doing your workout has high priority on your list! You wouldn’t miss a meeting with your boss to have a cup of coffee with your friend now would you? That’s exactly the attitude you need to have towards your workout.
Always plan for the commute as well in your schedule! This might seem obvious, but it can save you a lot of unnecessary stress. Planning only 1 hour for a workout was a mistake I’ve kept repeating when I started working out regularly. This left me with being stressed out and always in a hurry to be at the next place. Relaxing at the end of a yoga class was impossible with me occupying my mind with the thought of running to meet with a friend or taking care of some other things. So don’t be like me: plan ahead so you can have a mind that can calmly concentrate on the present: the workout you are doing.
Throughout the 30 day water challenge you drink 1 galon/3.7 liters of water each day for 30 days. 
You can start the 30 day water challenge whenever you feel like. You just pick a date and start drinking 1 gallon / 3.7 liters of water per day and continue it for 30 days.
Trading an unhealthy lifestyle for a healthy one. Finding time for exercise. Starting exercising regularly. Making eating healthy and leading an active life a top priority. Seeing result. Small scale victory. Introducing a new type of exercise. Adjusting your meals and meal proportions. Giving up chocolate. Losing fat on your hips. Needing smaller clothes. Redefining your whole wardrobe to fit your smaller body. Going to the gym for the first time. Buying the first quality gym clothes. Wearing it to workout instead of those ratty old sweat pants. People complementing you on how you’ve lost weight. You being able to see your new fit body in the mirror. It’s a long journey, it doesn’t happen in a week, it takes time, dedication. And then starting to obsess over getting fat again.
Looking back I see that one of the reasons I became obese was because of how I handled stress. Every time I faced stress, I ate. Sometimes I ate anything I could put my hands on: chocolate, biscuits, leftovers from the fridge. You name anything, if I was stressed, I ate it.
Stepping on the scale occasionally is fine because it can help you keep yourself on track. You’ll notice a major weight gain while it is happening and you’ll be able to interfere.
At the office again, having a coffee break (or in my case: green tea break) with my female co-workers. One of them says: