Stretch Marks and Loose Skin

silken555
silken555 Posts: 478 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone! I hope you're enjoying the weekend so far...it's a lovely day here filled with cotton candy clouds and blue skies...:)

I have lost a lot of weight and inches so far (yay!) and I've noticed that though the slow loss is working well with the rest of the skin on my body, on my thighs I'm having stretch mark and loose skin issues.

The issues stem mostly from when I gained the initial weight seeing as I gained 40lbs very, very quickly and I had extremely angry red marks on my inner thighs from crotch to knee. I'm SO thankful that was the ONLY place this happened!. Well, right now I've lost about 8" or so on my thighs alone and though the marks aren't red but white, they are creating very loose, pebbly skin there.

I want to confirm that things like squats with weights may help tone that area up (and whatever other exercises may help if you have suggestions!), but I'd also like to know if the lotions that are supposedly designed to help with scarring and stretch marks actually do work/help.

Thanks!

Replies

  • angmarie28
    angmarie28 Posts: 2,885 Member
    id sure like to know this too, I have stretch marks everywhere, but thats from 3 kids
  • EmilyMcD84
    EmilyMcD84 Posts: 46 Member
    I am not sure if mederma works for stretch marks but it did help with some scars on my stomach.

    I had 2 red, raised scars from 2 different surgeries on my stomach. The mederma helped the redness go away and they are no longer raised. It took about a year of daily use, but saw results pretty quickly.
  • rhinesb
    rhinesb Posts: 204 Member
    hum...I would be curious in the answers you get.
  • skylark94
    skylark94 Posts: 2,036 Member
    Stretch marks don't go away but they will fade significantly with time. I don't put a lot of stock into the creams and lotions because they are so expensive and don't seem to do whole lot to improve the situation.

    Weight training absolutely can help with appearance because it can help reduce underlying fat and increase muscle (if you're fueling properly for gains), but what your skin really will need is time. Also, don't lose weight too quickly. Slower steady reduction will give your skin time to recover and firm up.
  • RunningForeverMama
    RunningForeverMama Posts: 261 Member
    Unfortunately stretch mark remedies are said to work best while they are still red. Bummer to fine this out after they've turned white, I know. :cry:

    Loose skin should tighten over time, especially if was just the 40 pounds but can take a couple of years. The two things I do are coffee scrubs and oils. I just use my used coffee grounds to exfoliate in the shower and once or twice a week I do a wrap with them.

    I googled best oils for skin tightening and best oils for stretch marks and I massage the homemade oil mixture into my problem areas once or twice a day. Does it work? Who knows? I'm not willing to just do one side as an experiment. :laugh: My skin is soft though. :happy:

    Considering I've been as much as 60 pounds overweight and have six children, I don't think it looks that bad so far. Everyone's different and only time will tell. I just do everything I can and hopefully when I'm done, plus a year for the skin to catch up, it will be alright. I'm not expecting any miracles though.

    Good luck!

    ETA - Yes, like the previous poster said, strength training. I was thinking topical solutions. I think lifting/building muscle is the #1 thing to help the skin tighten up. Water too!
  • kellijauch
    kellijauch Posts: 379 Member
    I don't know about lotions for stretch marks, but I do know that skin firming lotion works. You have to use it everyday, but it really helped tighten up my loose, jiggly skin.
  • silken555
    silken555 Posts: 478 Member
    @Kelli...thanks for the suggestion...are you using a specific brand?

    @Happyhomemama...the 40 gain was when I was 22...from there I went on to slowly gain another 60 or so over a 14 year period. That initial 40 though is what really caused the stretch marks because of its suddenness. The rest of the weight was so gradual I don't think it really did any more damage. Now that I am losing the weight it's just much more noticeable. I'm so happy the rest of me isn't really showing this issue because I am losing the right way...nice and slow with exercise to tighten everything up. As an aside, holy hannah 6 kids...go you!

    I think I will attempt to add some lower body strength training and try the skin firming lotion and see if it helps though I know it may take some time...:)

    Thanks everyone. If anyone else has suggestions for specific strength training exercises please add on! I'm always eager to learn new things!

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