Hello!

I watch those "extreme" makeover weightloss transformation shows where, during the course of a single episode, people who are 200-300 (or more) pounds overweight diet and exercise down to 1/3 to 1/4 of their starting weight. The whole process takes a year and the people weigh in with their coaches once every three months.

When they strip down to their shorts (and sports bras for women) to do their quarterly weigh-in, I can *sort of* see that they've changed. Especially around the midsection for most of the men. But the changes don't *seem* that dramatic to me UNTIL the final montage at the end of the episode, when viewers are shown the starting image followed quickly by images that are 3-4 months apart. Then each stage looks DRASTICALLY different to me from each of the preceding stages. I think the changes don't *seem* as startling to me while I'm watching them happen because I'm seeing a gradual development.

I think it's probably just the way my brain works. I'm not as sensitive to details as some of my friends, who notice things that I would never see unless they're pointed out to me. For example, people have to be REALLY pregnant for me to notice. But I have friends that are, like, "Can't you see it in her face? Look how round her face is and her breasts are larger." I'm, like, Really? And it always turns out that they're right, the woman is pregnant. It seems to me that some people have a sharp eye for structural changes like this and some people, like me, don't notice until I can see direct comparisons between two different states.