What can I do to get rid of my loose skin and stretch marks?

cynthiabickham

I know it’s probably a stupid question but with the weight I’ve been losing the skin on my stomach hangs quite a bit, and my stretch marks just look like jagged stripes. Not to mention the scars from my gall bladder removal surgery are now puffed up a lot (not sure why but they’re super soft and kinda squishy). I’ve never been confident in my appearance ever and now I kinda feel more self conscious knowing that if anyone sees my belly now they’d be grossed out. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Lietchi

If you're still losing, I'd focus on not losing weight too quickly and just taking good care of your skin.

Depending on how close to goal you are, your appearance can still change a lot too.
Once the fat is more or less depleted, your skin can start to shrink back, and it can still shrink for a long period after you've lost weight, a year or more. How much it will shrink will depend on your age and your genetics.

Surgery is the last option if the skin doesn't shrink back enough and/or to remove stretch marks, but I wouldn't suggest doing that until at least one year after reaching goal.

I lost from 200+lbs to currently 130-135lbs and I'm 40 (37 when I started losing weight). My skin is extremely prone to stretch marks, so I have them on a large percentage of my skin: boobs, hips, butt, thighs, calves, upper arms, lower stomach. I have loose skin, but I honestly feel sooooo much better about myself now than before. I feel great dressed and so few people see me naked anyway. I haven't been at goal for that long either and I'm currently trying to build some muscle, so I'm hoping for some improvement still.

Don't let this issue keep you from losing weight, the advantages of weight loss really do outweigh the downsides 🙂