Does This Uterus Make My Stomach Look Fat?

GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »

sgriska wrote: »

I have to admit that even this thread, as awesome and necessary as it is, has me double-thinking my own reality: "Obviously my scale cannot be accurate, because the other ladies in the same ballpark as my height/weight have flatter tummies than I do, or if loose skin it's the crepe-papery thin kind..."

Which is to say, this is hard stuff to deal with even when you're consciously aware of the problem and actively, at this very moment, trying to counter it.

I wish I knew what the answer was to post-massive-weight-loss-body-image-issues, but I sure haven't found the magic pill yet that's going to stop me from thinking this way.

You have had a much larger loss than a lot of us. That's a huge game changer in this whole discussion.

I struggle with this also, because my loose skin (after a 90-95 pound loss) isn't all the crepe-papery kind either, but I've noticed something over the years of seeing these threads, and that's that after a certain age, it's really hard for women to get to that crepe-papery stage everywhere without getting to a very low body fat percentage. For some women, that might be an achievable goal, but from most of the research I've read regarding losing large amounts of weight, I don't think it's a sustainable goal for women who've, well, lost very large amounts of weight.

So knowing all this, I try to make my peace with this. I'm 56, I'm not going to have that perfect body, I can work to make mine better, but I also don't want to make this all a struggle by trying to shoot for an unrealistic goal.

Just throwing some rambling thoughts out there for you to chew on!

I love this mentality. I am almost 38, and feel basically the same way. I have no idea what my loose skin will look like, but since I have another 110 lbs to lose, it would be almost impossible not to have it. I will decide then whether or not I want surgery to remove it, but the most important thing is to get the weight off and be healthy. It's just skin.

nutmegoreo wrote: »

sgriska wrote: »

pinuplove wrote: »

@sgriska Do you kind me asking how much weight you've lost? I'm guessing it's much more than the average lady in this thread, thus the variation in your results vs their s. I could tell it was significant from the pic you posted. Great job!

Thanks so much. 146 lbs.

You look amazing, and you obviously have a lot of strength to stick through it.

Have you seen this thread? It's a different look at the stomach after an approximately 200lb weight loss.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10453193/honest-loose-skin-thoughts-pics

Thank you for this link! I remember reading that thread back at the very beginning of my weight loss journey, but going back to it now... wow. Yeah, her body is very, very similar to mine at this point, and she has a great attitude. I really fluctuate, widely, on how I feel about it: There's a part of me that "just wants to be normal" and hates the flab/skin and still feels "fat" because of it in spite of all the solid numbers telling me I am NOT fat; the part of me that is just happy I'm healthy and really couldn't care less what anybody thinks about my looks; and the part of me that secretly loves playing with my loose skin and twisting it around like pizza dough because it's just kinda fun! LOL! And at any given time one of them has control of my brain and my mouth and my typing fingers. Haha!

Bump for all those ladies who need to see what realistic expectations look like and what a difference posture can make.



Still cannot wait until I'm able to contribute to this thread, not too long now before I'm in normal BMI

cdn.net/5021879/uploads/editor/xt/co24cb90d2wb.jpeg


Lighting and time of day definitely effects how I look. However in all of these pictures I had just eaten (all taken the same day). In some angles I look fluffier than in others. I’m so thankful I found this thread bc I would be beating myself up not understanding why I can’t just have a perfectly flat stomach. The one thing I notice is that the left side of my lower stomach where my uterus is gets slightly inflamed as you can tell in one of the pictures. Almost feels hard. This has me somewhat worried.. is this something I should be concerned about?

mom23mangos wrote: »

I just want to say your loss is inspiring @sgriska. And I don't know if you noticed, but you've got some great abs peeking out, even with the excess skin. And I love the lines on your belly. They are like an arrow pointing up to your awesomeness.

Thank you SO much! This made my day!

mom23mangos wrote: »

@admaarie , it might be worth a check up with your OB/GYN to rule out fibroids or cysts.

rheddmobile wrote: »

@admaarie Could be any of a number of things, but if it comes and goes at the same time every month, something like a cyst seems likely. An ob/gyn can tell you what's going on in there - if it is cysts it's most likely not a big deal and medication can help. Or it could be a thing with your intestines - again not likely anything to be scared about but something worth checking.

Thank you both! I’m gonna make an appointment soon!

Excuse me as I just

Age: 33
Weight: 167.7
Height: 6'0"
BMI: 22.7
BF%: 23.1%
Pregnancies: 0
No health issues.

The top two pictures on the right were taken the night before and then the bottom right and large left were the following morning prior to going to have a bodpod completed. Both of the views from the side are relaxed, my stomach ends up sticking out at least that much everyday. The large front view is good posture and tightened.

Apologies for the quality of these photos - I blame incompetence on the part of the photographer.

Proper saggy belly, under conditions of relaxation and of tension.

And since this saggy belly is all that renains of the taut and bulging belly of a 27 and a half stone woman, I proclaim it the SAGGY BELLY OF VICTORY.

admaarie wrote: »

mom23mangos wrote: »

@admaarie , it might be worth a check up with your OB/GYN to rule out fibroids or cysts.

rheddmobile wrote: »

@admaarie Could be any of a number of things, but if it comes and goes at the same time every month, something like a cyst seems likely. An ob/gyn can tell you what's going on in there - if it is cysts it's most likely not a big deal and medication can help. Or it could be a thing with your intestines - again not likely anything to be scared about but something worth checking.

Thank you both! I’m gonna make an appointment soon!

Ya, my fibroids swell up twice a month, more when I ovulate but also during my period. I'm 52 and expect menopause to take care of them when that finally happens, plus I have been with the VA since 2005, but if I knew when I had Blue Cross and Blue Shield what the last 5 years was going to be like I probably would have had surgery to get rid of them.

Also, there is non-invasive Focused UltraSound (FUS) now. The VA doesn't cover it and mine are now too big to get into a study, but if your issue is indeed fibroids and you are surgery-phobic like me and have good health insurance or a spare $20K lying around, that is something to consider.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_focused_ultrasound

I had a VA GYN recommend Uterine Artery Embolization (UAE) but the potential adverse effects on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uterine_artery_embolization scared me off, and then my next GYN said she had a lot of patients present with those same adverse effects post-surgery, and their doctors had not warned them about the possibilities. Plus the original GYN who recommended it to me was not familiar with those adverse effects either. Partially why I'm surgery-phobic. >.<