Too terrified to focus

voxdraconis

Im 30 years old and currently have between 70-100 lbs to lose. My weight yoyos a lot due to depression. Im afraid of very little but as the title suggests im absolutely terrified of loose skin. No matter how many inspiring people who can reassure me it doesnt help. What can i do to be less afraid? I get its probably innevitable after all. Thanks.

rheddmobile

If you have obsessive thoughts and anxiety, seeing a doctor may be more use than talking to people here.

Having said that - I'm 100 lbs down. I do have some loose skin on my lower belly, but it's easily hidden by bikini panties and doesn't bother me. And I'm 49 years old. You are much younger and have less to lose.

What's the worst that can possibly happen? The absolute worst thing is that you will look much better than you do now. A healthy weight person with some loose skin looks better than an obese person. And chances are pretty good you will have minimal loose skin which will correct itself in time. If the absolute worst comes to the worst and you look like a Shar Pei, there's surgery available, which is often paid for by insurance when the skin problem is severe.

MinuitMinuet

Gain muscle

Gump279

Hey there. I was in the same boat as you 130 pounds ago until I realized that I already had loose skin. It's just full of fat. So I figured if I already got it I might as well be healthier at the same time and dropping the weight became a lot less scary.

Maybe not so inspirational a point of view lol but it worked for me.

seska422

Everyone can see that extra 70-100 pounds that's on you now all of the time.

I've lost ~175 pounds from my all-time high weight. I look like a Shar-Pei when my clothes are off but 99% of the people I meet and interact with every day never see me with my clothes off so they have no idea that I have loose skin.

If you end up with some loose skin, the only people who will know will be people you trust and strangers at the beach who don't matter.

88olds

Weight loss may not be for you then.

Good news may be that most people who come on here wanting to lose weight don't manage to do it. Likely your loose skin will never materialize.

Like the other posters who have lost a lot, 110lbs here, I have loose skin. I'm terrified of surgery.

Barbonica

Focus on something positive that doesn't terrify you. Focus on taking a hiking vacation, or sky diving, or playing tennis. Whatever you think would be awesomely fun to do, but you can't do easily now because of your weight. Every time you look in the mirror, picture yourself doing your awesome activity...not how you look doing it. Good luck!

Seffell

30 years is young enough. If you lose it slowly there might not be any loose skin. Start losing at 1lbs per week and reevaluate your decision after 20lbs. There won't be any excess skin at that point yet. So there's nothing to lose.

lorrpb

What's really terrifying us living the rest of life in an obese state. Think about it...

Sunnybrooke99

Go slow and have a plan in effect to fix it if it’s that bad. I have obsessive type anxiety too. I know it’s not what logical ppl would do, but I’d look up ways to fix, or help prevent loose skin, and try to set money aside incase I felt like I needed cosmetic surgery, or massage, or whatever. I’d make sure to keep eating healthy fats, and work those into my calories, and moisturize carefully with lots of grape seed oil. Again, I know most ppl would say things like this don’t matter, and that nothing will help, but I would cling to anything that could help a little. It’s a crutch, but if you need to lose the weight, it’s a trade off. That’s what I do during Noro virus season.

Evamutt

one of my sons lost about 120 lbs about 11 yrs ago & had a lot of loose skin but it tightened up quite a bit as time past & it looks ok

buffalogal42

The problems that obesity can bring should be more terrifying than loose skin. I am down 113 lbs and have some in my belly but I look f-ing fantastic in clothes now and my fitness is amazing. Things may tighten and I continue lifting ... but loose skin is nothing compared to How I looked and felt before. Don’t be afraid!

voxdraconis

Thank you all, you do make some valid points here. Such as everyone can see im fat, very few people would see the damage. Also clothes shopping wouldnt be such a pain.