Anyone else struggling with body image issues after significant weight loss?

I can definitely relate. But I don't feel guilt or shame about it. With those I am closest to, I entertain them by flapping my wings around and generally behaving like a sideshow freak. I think this YouTube clip is a must-see for anyone undergoing significant weight loss.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpKDteQ3FIQ

Me, I notice his buff body hiding in the skin suit.

My outlook may be because of my age. I'm a pretty good looking grandma, and I'm happy about that. I don't want to go backwards in time to something I wish I'd been. Besides, I enjoy my new-found mobility.

This is me celebrating reaching under 200 pounds:

Yes, I still do and its been almost 20 years. Luckily for me, I worked out RIGHT after the weight came off and never stopped...and I was young so my skin got tight a little easier than it wouldl had I been older. But in regards to coming to peace with yourself, you have got to look at where you came from! Not everyone has the willpower and drive, and the biggest hurdle will be keeping it off. Proven fact. You have to put your success on a mental resume of accomplishments, and now make another goal for yourself and never stop making them. People Will and DO think you are amazing even if they dont tell you. Believe it. Beauty is skin deep. Are you working out currently? That is going to be VERY helpful with your self esteem all the way around. Promise!

I can relate to this.I've lost around about 56 pounds,gained a stone back.My boobs have gone down south,I still have a pouch on my stomach.My thighs are still rather chunky too.

Yep. I always thought I'd feel so much better once I lost weight. I still don't know what I'm going to look like at my goal weight (50 pounds from now). While I do have a marked increase in confidence, I didn't transform into this sexpot goddess or something. I'm still the same person. I still have the same imperfections, scars, stretch marks, whatever. I just try to focus on the long term, and that every pound lost is one less pound of visceral fat squeezing my organs.

jgnatca wrote: »

I can definitely relate. But I don't feel guilt or shame about it. With those I am closest to, I entertain them by flapping my wings around and generally behaving like a sideshow freak. I think this YouTube clip is a must-see for anyone undergoing significant weight loss.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpKDteQ3FIQ

Me, I notice his buff body hiding in the skin suit.

My outlook may be because of my age. I'm a pretty good looking grandma, and I'm happy about that. I don't want to go backwards in time to something I wish I'd been. Besides, I enjoy my new-found mobility.

This is me celebrating reaching under 200 pounds:

I LOVE your attitude and this picture makes me smile every time I see it. You are so refreshingly positive!

I'm 27 and I've lost 20 pounds. I have another 20 to go until my goal weight. I don't notice too much extra skin yet, maybe a bit in the underarms but that's it. I worry about having excess skin at the end of it all, but I'm not sure if it'll be a problem for me. What do you guys think, will I notice it?

You might luck out, thiswillhappen, first because of your youth and because of how much you have to lose. My skin generally bounced back after my pregnancies, for instance, but I was much younger then.

while I can't relate on a personal level because I did not have a large amount of weight to lose I hope my little story cheers you up a bit anyway.

I saw a woman in my gym's changing room the other day who had clearly lost a lot of weight and was trying to hide her excess skin under a towel. But when I saw her I did not see a reason to be self conscious but a reason to celebrate. What I wanted to do was applaud her for all the hard work and being generally epic and tell her that she has no reason to hide! And that she should be proud of her body showing her amazing accomplishment. But I did not do that, because she was already uncomfortable with having to change in front of other people so I did not want to make it worse.

The point of my story: probably a lot of people feel like me and have standing ovation gifs running in their heads when they see you. So don't be embarrassed by the way your body looks because of what you have done to it in your past, be proud of it looks because of what you are doing for it now! That excess skin just shows the world that your are amazing!

so here is for you what I did not give to the woman I saw:

dawn0293 wrote: »

When I was obese, I thought I would look so nice without all the excess weight. I wasn't expecting my body to mimic a melting candle once the pounds really started coming off. It was a pretty big shock for me. I look fine with clothes on and compression garments in place but without them I'm a hot mess of lumpy, baggy skin. I've worked so hard to get here and yet I feel more embarrassed of my body now than I ever did when I was big. Can anyone else relate? How does one learn to come to peace with the damage they've done to their body?

I did have a really hard time once I hit 40 lost or so. It passed - it'll get better. I think the only thing that helps is time and side by side comparison photos (I have an embarrassing amount of these). I felt for a few weeks like my mind was rejecting my new body.

This content has been removed.