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I had so many issues with my body when I was younger. I'd always had weight problems as a kid and a teenager. I wasn't huge, but I was definitely heavier than I should have been. I finally started exercising when I started college, which led to a more normal weight. Then, I became tired of depriving myself of the foods I wanted to eat, but was terrified of getting "fat" again. Shortly after that, I became bulimic, and that was a battle I fought for almost six years. (I'm better now). Since then, my weight has fluctuated between thin, average, overweight, and thin again, but it all has to do with my exercise level rather than an eating disorder. I'm in the overweight phase at the moment and hope to start walking regularly again as soon as the weather improves, which will probably be a few months.

 

Anyway, as far as my actual body image - I think I now see myself as I really am, but when I had the eating disorder, I saw myself as bigger than I was. I figured this out once while at the gym. I noticed somebody in the mirror and thought, "She looks great - that's how I want to look." A few seconds later, I realized I was looking at myself (the mirrors went all the way around the room, so I'd been looking at my back view, which I'm not used to seeing, of course).