Article: What no one tells you about losing lots weight

Iron_Feline

Maybe I'm naive...but I find it hard to believe that most of those pictures the person lost weight slowly and carefully with lots of exercise. How could they have bounced around doing areobics with massive hanging skin, or practically anything! Its great that the picture project that they have lost weight...but at least in my experience with exercise my stomach almost all but disappears...times I dieted without exercise HCG I was saggy. People do themselves a great disservice just going low cal instead of getting active and stronger through exercise.

I actually really did not like that site and the example its giving...we see on THIS site regularly people that have lost 100+ lbs and they don't have tons and tons of loose skin dangling. I'm sure it happens but I think its the exception.

But how many of these people post photos in success threads in which they are fully clothed? You wouldn't believe that the lady in the article has so much loose skin in her clothed photos - good clothing can hide a multitude of problems.

I think this happens a lot more then you believe - especially with 100lbs+ of weight loss. I would imagine that lots of people are ashamed/struggling/have issues of how they now look, or have issues with it - so much that the don't want to show that side of their body in their success story. People who have been told to lose slowly - ignore the advice and end up with loose skin aren't going to want to show everyone that they were wrong, they may well be afraid of people saying I told you so.

I agree that losing the weight slowly can help - but your skin can only recover so much. So many people aren't aware that this is could happen, and the fact that it is little talked about adds to the option that is is a rarity, when I suspect it happens a lot more often.

RoadsterGirlie

I feel so VERY, VERY blessed and thankful for what I have after viewing that article.

I lost 90 lbs over a period of a year. I made my goal almost two years ago, and the minor stretch marks I had when I first made it are now almost gone.

Looking at myself in the mirror, I would never know I was overweight if I didn't know any better.

I just want to hug that girl and tell her she's still amazing.

swat1948

I did not really think about how I would look after the weight loss and being 65, it's even worse. However I did not do this just for appearances, but to get healthy and I have achieved that. I am most unhappy with my face that had few wrinkles when I was fat and now looks like a road map. Wrinkle creams don't really help so this is something I am learning to live with as I will not have unnecessary surgery. Have had both knees replaced and more surgery is not in my future if I can help it. I advise anyone reading this to think about the health benefits of losing weight and not necessarily your appearance, though I suppose that is too much to ask of you young people who are dreaming of bikinis.

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

Wow.

I am going to go against the popular sentiment here and say that what I look like after the fact DOES matter to me. I've been ashamed of how I look for all of my adult life. I've cringed in the mirror when I saw myself naked. I've gone for years without letting even my husband truly see me naked. There is no way that after working hard on this for years that I'm going to go through that for the rest of my life. I will opt for surgery. There is no question in my mind about that. If after 2 years of maintaining, giving my skin a chance to catch up, I still have big folds, I'm going to pay to have someone else fix it. While most of my skin is bouncing back okay, I don't know how it'll look. I know that I will never be 100% happy with how I look, but there is a happy medium. Right now I'm doing what I can to try to minimize this issue (lifting, going slow, minimizing LBM losses), but some of it is out of my control.

Years ago, my sister in law had breast enhancement surgery. She caught a lot of flack for it. After breastfeeding her nipples inverted. It was impacting her marriage, due to her inhibitions caused by shame about her breasts. She has never regretted that surgery. Her lack of confidence wasn't just manifested in her reaction to her breasts, it was CAUSED by her breast's appearance..

While saying something like "I will never have the body of a 25 year old" is a great sentiment (you know I love you Beach), there are levels here. The pain in her after pictures is real. It's a part of it. To tell someone to just not focus on the aesthetics isn't realistic when you are dealing with that type of disfigurement.

My weight gain was caused in large part by a medical condition that was overlooked for a decade and a half. Yes, some of it was behavioral. But that doesn't make me more deserving of being happy with my appearance than someone who has faced whatever emotional demons they had. However, the key is to have faced those demons. Not just lost weight quickly.

This is another reason that going slow is really a good thing for most. It gives you a chance to work through your issues.

And yes, most of my goals are fitness related. But that I care what I look like after the fact is perfectly fine, too.

Hugs to you, Angie, you awesome badass you. :smooched:

Iron_Feline

Thank you to those commenting and sharing their stories and opinions on this piece. I think this is something that should be discussed more here and in the media.

So much in the media is about losing weight fast - with very little discussion about what side effects "fast" can have. Every day you see magazines saying lose a stone (14lbs) in a month, fast weight loss tips, shift the holiday bulge fast. Fast weight loss is seen as the norm, and if you don't lose fast you are doing it wrong. Celebs lose weight in record time, few are honest about the toil it must take on their body - and with airbrushing we never really see the true picture.

Iron_Feline

I did not really think about how I would look after the weight loss and being 65, it's even worse. However I did not do this just for appearances, but to get healthy and I have achieved that. I am most unhappy with my face that had few wrinkles when I was fat and now looks like a road map. Wrinkle creams don't really help so this is something I am learning to live with as I will not have unnecessary surgery. Have had both knees replaced and more surgery is not in my future if I can help it. I advise anyone reading this to think about the health benefits of losing weight and not necessarily your appearance, though I suppose that is too much to ask of you young people who are dreaming of bikinis.

I really do believe the health benefits of losing even some weight outweigh the issues of how you look afterwards.

BUT I think it is important that people realise that they may not end up with a perfect bikini body at the end - and be prepared for that. As someone said, losing weight isn't a cure for everything and reaching your goal may not make you happier when the image in the mirror doesn't match the image in your head.

Yes, shifting the weight for health is important - but not so much that you should lose sight of the possible outcome, if you lose weight at record speed - as some, not all, do - unless you are genetically blessed your skin will struggle to catch up. For some people even if they lose very slowly their skin will not shrink back. It's an issue that people should know could happen, and sadly lots don't.

AllonsYtotheTardis

This is sad. Pretty much a continuation of Gina Kolata's thoughts on the subject.

O hai etoiles

Hearts_2015

bump

Siansonea

I've had stretch marks on my thighs since I was a teenager, and I've never been significantly overweight. Some of that is just genetics, and it sucks, but I don't really care. If anyone is going to judge me because my thighs aren't perfectly smooth, I'm okay with that. Helps me separate the people I want in my life from the people I don't want in my life. :bigsmile:

I like this article because it helps people "manage their expectations" with regards to significant weight loss, but I hope people don't find it too discouraging. Yeah, the excess skin can be an issue, but you can do something about it if it really bothers you, and even if you don't, that's okay, your health is the important thing. :flowerforyou:

rb16fitness

I feel for the woman in the article - at only 29 she probably expected her skin to ping back. I wonder if her results are typical or whether she is simply unfortunate. She may have lost the weight too quickly or not exercised enough?

Otterluv

Interesting, but does this apply to everyone? Is there ways of preventing this? I'm sure if you lose weight at a slower rate and exercise regularly you can prevent this much sagging skin....probably can't prevent it completely, but less of it, anyway. Good article though.

I have some areas that are looking like her pics (stupid saggy belly :grumble: ), but overall I don't have as much sagging skin as she does. Well, not yet anyway.

From what I understand, these things can help: strength training, losing slowly, having good genetics, time. So, controlling for what you can is the best that you can do.

randomtai

She may have lost the weight too quickly or not exercised enough?

This is what I am thinking happened.

Pamela_in_Progress

Great article, thanks for posting!

kellyskitties

I found this enlightening, but in a different way.

I have a coworker that I barely know. She's a nice person but has a HUGE low hanging abdomen. In my own head (I'm not that rude) I thought "she should do something about her weight, I hope she does someday... etc." None of my thoughts were mean intentioned and nothing was said out loud (I'm not a mean person by nature). She wears a lot of loose clothing but the abdomen is still visible as she moves.

Then she told us she had gastric surgery to lose over 150 pounds. WHAT! That's not fat hanging down on her abdomen, that's her stomach skin. I felt like a toad (again, only in my head thank goodness). She proudly told us how she is off ALL her medications and that her health was shot at her starting weight. Now I feel proud of her. Skin or no skin, she did what was best for her.

On a side note, I am SOOO glad I kept my judgement to myself about her. I was very very wrong.

Otterluv

I feel like people must be sooooo naive to think that every human body is going to magically bounce back into a perfect fit figure after weighing 200, 300, 400 lb. I guess maybe I'm just really aware of how bodies truly look nude? I dunno. My body looks a little bit like hers does in places, after losing 95 lb, and I fully expected that. It's not shocking or even upsetting to me.

I don't think it is naive - I think people get bombarded with media images of people who lose a lot of weight that don't show this side - or use spandex and air brushing to hide it. They think that this is the norm. That if you lose a lot of weight (generally fast) you'll be fine and look great.

Even the biggest loser - from what I've seen - doesn't address this issue. So for a lot of people it is a big suprise.

I'm going to take this a step further. I think people don't really know what a naked human body REALLY looks like, regardless of if there was weight loss of if they were always thin. We're bombarded with images of physical perfection and many times physical fantasy.

Besides for ourselves and our significant others, the only time we see a bunch of bare skin it's actors, models, or pornography. Not only do the people chosen for those professions have superior physical genetics, when we see them we get the best angles, the best lighting, the best lenses, Photoshopped magazine spreads, and many times body doubles for the nude scenes in a regular movie.

People that lose a lot of weight aren't alone in having body image issues. I'm in Los Angeles, and the hottest women you'll see here are still like "Ugh, I soooo hate my thighs/butt/toes/cheekbones/toes" I think a big part of the problem is that people are chasing images of physical perfection that do not exist in reality

Yep, I totally get that no one will be totally happy with how they look. It's just not possible. But, I think that you can't really compare that to someone who has the level of disfigurement that she does. It's just not a fair comparison.

I think that's fair.

As for the the earlier mention of my comment, Otter, we read the article from 2 different perspectives, and I think if I were her I'd also opt for the surgery. I wasn't saying that looks don't matter. It's all about balance. My point was that a physical transformation won't fix emotional issues if the physical problem was a symptom of those emotional issues and not the root cause.

Yeah, I get that, and I totally agree. Ideally, one should be in some sort of therapy/support to help work through their issues as they lose so that they won't slip when they get down to a healthy weight. But, like being able to pay for surgery after that kind of loss, a lot of people just can't afford it.

Like everything, it's a really complex issue.

funkyspunky872

Top things I've learned after losing 150 pounds:

1. You still feel like you are obese. Often when you look in the mirror, you don't see any difference.

2. You're more susceptible to eating disorders, which I learned at the Atlanta Center for Eating Disorders when I went there for treatment myself. In fact, the main doctor there told me that it's extremely rare for anyone to lose a considerable amount of weight without coming away with some sort of disordered eating.

3. You might have loose skin no matter how much you exercise. Hopefully, it'll get better, but in the meantime, it's probably going to make you feel like *kitten* about yourself.

4. People treat you different. In my experience at high school, as soon as my weight loss became apparent, bullying stopped completely. I guess they won?

5. People will not be afraid to talk about how fat you were before. It makes you wonder if you were ever really person in the first place... and not just some fat sack of goo.

3dogsrunning

In because this is a great discussion.

Serah87

She may have lost the weight too quickly or not exercised enough?

This is what I am thinking happened.

I agree also. I started out losing weight fast, so I have the issues with my upper arm, though slowly it's going away with losing more slowly and weight lifting and hoping in time it will no longer be a problem.

777Gemma888

I think that's fair.

As for the the earlier mention of my comment, Otter, we read the article from 2 different perspectives, and I think if I were her I'd also opt for the surgery. I wasn't saying that looks don't matter. It's all about balance. My point was that a physical transformation won't fix emotional issues if the physical problem was a symptom of those emotional issues and not the root cause.

Agree. Then again, some people have the same unrealistic 'end view' of their final outcomes even with surgery, much like weight loss. A quick fix? Most certainly not.

Humperstinker

I have tried many diets lost huge amounts of weight only to find it piles on, my psych' relationship with food and comfort eating through stress has been a constant battle all my life, now I have type 2 Diabetes, I have been told to consider a gastric band because years of attempting to control it is a vicious circle for me.the only thing that does work is tracking for me, I know if I lost weight I may never sort the deep rooted pushy problems that haunt me to doing a u turn -but I don't have a choice the diabetes dictates obedience!
I have a body with saggy bits, wobbly bits that came from having babies, puppy fat. But what I am fortunate to have is a husband who has loved me for 22 years regardless of my personal weight issues and 3 lovely kids that I want to grow old with and see them marry and follow their dreams. That is more important than fitting into skimpy jeans and beautiful dresses.
I hope whatever our difficulties with weight loss are we won't be put off seeking to be healthier, happier and longer lives by this article I wish everyone the very best in their pursuit of this.