One of the things I love most about 365 is the confidence I have gained since I started my project more than a year ago. This is such an incredible community of people! Everyone here is so supportive and open and I just love it here. I have become so much braver than I ever thought possible through the support and kindness of everyone here. Back on December 28th I posted this as I started my journey to weight loss and a healthier me.
Just over 15 pounds lighter (so far), I am starting to see the changes – both inside and out – and I am finding that I am starting to feel more comfortable in my own skin. I am spending more time in front of the camera and not hating every single picture. Something this morning inspired me to post a new selfie but stripped down. No makeup. Hair still wet from the shower. No sunglasses. No one to share the frame. No scenic backdrop to distract the viewer. Just me. And the feedback I have received has been so wonderful. Especially prior to starting to lose weight, all I ever saw in every picture (and the mirror!) were flaws and things to hate but I know that that is not how the world sees me. No one goes running the other direction when I walk by so I know that the worst of the brutality is in my own head. We are our own worst critics. How refreshing it was to post something so “raw” and to have such kind positive feedback. It made me think that may be we should all try “stripping” to see how it feels. I bet the response is far better than you expect and you will feel better for it.
So here is the challenge: Strip!*
Take off the makeup, step away from all of your favorite editing tools, stop hiding behind the camera and post you – just the way you are!
(*keeping in mind that I am well aware that this is a family friendly site and I do not want to see actual full nudes!!!)
I know it is going to take guts to post those photos but that is why it is a challenge. Tag your shots with ‘challenge-stripped’ and post them here!
Well I never wear make-up so here is me just sat on my bed. Its not SOOC but not much was titivated, just a little adjustment to the focus and colour : )
I love this concept... I am afraid... I will have to take time with this... It is so hard to allow myself to be comfortable in front of everyone... I also have started a struggle with weight loss and I completely understand the feeling of looking through pictures and deleting everyone that has you in it....
@indiannie_jones@superflygal747 I am with you guys. lol Maybe...I will think about it...It is definitely a great challenge for sure. I will have to get very brave.
Autumn....you are a gutsy lady. I like what you're doing. Because, as I've known you, it is more about what is inside anyway. You're beautiful as you are. This is great example of your comfort knowing that.
As for me, there is no way in hell I am doing a selfie without my foundation and blush!
I posted one of me on my birthday, no make-up, in scruffy clothes. But the whim took me to take a selfie as my birthday is all about me :) SOOC (all my piccies are).
I tend to not wear make up, but my hair is rarely stripped, unless it is with bleach of course. This is slightly edited, but this is a photo of me after my first attempt at running after a long recovery from an injury. I think the face shows all my inner emotion after the jog.
@kole I know your struggle and concern all too well. This year has been a year of transformation for me. The one thing I would immediately recommend is to stop deleting your pictures. You can tuck them away in some dark recess of your computer but don't delete them. I have found that time and distance has made me appreciate the photos I have not deleted and I have consistently found that I look better in the vast majority of them than I initially gave credit for. We are our own worst critics and I have learned that I was never as fat as I thought I was. Even on my wedding day I thought I was fat and I was in a size 12. I can't tell you how much I want to be able to look like that again. Losing the weight is helping to give me a chance to take advantage of all of the opportunities I missed when I was younger and thought I was fatter. If you are on Facebook, feel free to look me up and keep in touch. I have a small, private group on Facebook for friends working on losing weight and we are very supportive! =)
@pwallis Awesome! I am attending! I don't wear makeup everyday but I refuse to become the person that can't walk out the door unless I am fully made up. I like to wear a little if I want to feel a little extra lift. =)
@brumbe How did it feel? I am just starting to work out on a consistent basis for the first time in my life and I am sure my face closely mirrors yours. My body is still getting the hang of it but I admit it felt good to leave the gym with sweat stains on my shirt! My reward for hitting 15 pounds is my first session with a personal trainer. I would like to get a tattoo at 50 pounds and I think my final goal is going to be to drop 100 pounds which is still within a healthy range for age, height, etc.
@autumnseden I still have a bit of never damage and my stride was shot to hell in taking almost 18 months off, but I keep trying and can now run evenly. I am impressed by your ability to show yourself raw and who you are today and know where you want to go in the future. I like to look for a trainer who gets me off the machines and more in to free weights (that way you always can exercise anywhere you are and not just at a gym) and things that are fun and different. I wish you the best. Just remember that the person inside should stay the same as you change the outside image.
@brumbe Thank you! That is the exciting part of all of the changes I am going through right now. I am working to get the outside to match how I feel inside! I have spent the last year fixing some of the damage inside and am now ready for the outside to match. =D
@autumnseden What a wonderful idea for a challenge. I recently took my first selfe and even though I have on lip gloss, this photograph is the first one I have even been happy with seeing my face up close without foundation (I did not like freckles until I saw this photograph), blush, eyeliner, and eyeshadow. On my birthday, I will turn 51. For the first time in my life, I love my "stripped" face.
Great idea for a challenge, I would never have thought to take a photo of myself like this and posted it for all to see. I too have struggled with my weight all my life, I am very happy to say that I am 20kgs (about 44 pounds) lighter than I was before I had kids. I put it down to breastfeeding both my daughters and having them keep me busy. I also eat better than I used to - I guess thats from trying to instill good food habits to my daughters. Here is my photo for today - just how I looked while at home with my kids.
@autumnseden I gave in today..
The only edit was a contrast boost with a black and white gradient.
(Note the dark circles. Baby has been keeping me up at night again. :( booger)
@autumnseden Aww, thanks. :) I admire what you're doing. I'm skinny and always have been, but that doesn't mean I'm in shape or take good care of my body. I hate how lazy I can be...
@valhamil Thank you for your kind words. Yep. Next month I'll be 51. I am blessed with genes from the women in my mother's family going back 5 generations. :-)
@demetriceanntia And thank you! I was thining the same thing. I am looking at each of us and thinking we are one beautiful group of woman. How lucky we are to be able to see it now...for some of us (or at least myself!)...and to be able to appreciate it for possibly the first time!
@autumnseden - Oh wow, I love this idea but I am going to have to work up the nerve to do it. Last week, I posted a photo of myself. The whole idea behind the photo was about time flying by, aging. and wanting it to slow down. Part of me wanted to post my photo without editing away the wrinkles and age spots...it was, after all, about again. But I just couldn't do it. I am gonna have to work on this. Awesone idea. I hope I can do it!
For better or worse this is me - SOOC. I hate pics of me - but am trying to get braver about it...usually I do some serious editing - remove the psoriasis and such(or at least what I can) But here you go - no editing whatsoever.
@noellejane Good for you for getting brave. I have always found that I hated pictures of me initially but have grown to appreciate having them later on. Especially since I spend so much time behind the lens, I am rarely in pictures and the absence can be upsetting later. For example, I think I am in a total of 2 photos from our trip to Thailand in 2001. I kick myself everytime I go through the albums and realize it! I know my mom and mother in law are always looking for pictures of me so I am doing better about it. I also find that pictures that I feel like I look horrible in are really not so bad with time and distance to buffer my opinion. Really, it just comes down to the fact that we are our own worst critics. Everyone that knows us loves us just the way we are.
@hdoyle If I had your complexion, I would never wear makeup! Your skin is gorgeous. I know I can be overly critical of myself but I have the beginning of very deep forehead furrows due to years and years of no sunglasses, huge pores on my cheeks and acne scars.
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As for me, there is no way in hell I am doing a selfie without my foundation and blush!
http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=197002216986250
@superflygal747 Whenever you can! I just found the experience to be kind of freeing and the responses refreshing!
The only edit was a contrast boost with a black and white gradient.
(Note the dark circles. Baby has been keeping me up at night again. :( booger)
ok, so I sharpened my eyeballs... haha, but that's it! i really loved this challenge...
@sweett If I didn't know better, "sharpened my eyeballs" would sound really really painful! LOL! Very pretty shot!
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@autumnseden, @araminta, @minxymissk, @brumbe, @sarahscott1223, @bia_rmm, @mdavey, @3littleks, @swett, and @superflygal1747 You are all beautiful, stripped!
@demetriceanntia And thank you! I was thining the same thing. I am looking at each of us and thinking we are one beautiful group of woman. How lucky we are to be able to see it now...for some of us (or at least myself!)...and to be able to appreciate it for possibly the first time!
here Iam about to hop out of the shower one morning
This is me, no make up and no editing other than cropping the image a little.