What nobody tells you about losing weight

so how exactly does one assume one is getting taller in their adulthood? I mean, they gotta know they are making an incorrect assumption? I am a shortie, so I never had that problem. But I mean, I have a sister in law that is 6' tall and she is losing weight - I have never thought "Huh, I wonder if she is growing!" I mean, we are in our 40's

I think it's an optical illusion from a distance. When you're tall but wide and suddenly become tall but narrow, it elongates the body. Kinda like vertical stripes, except, well, we basically become a human vertical stripe.

So, I still weigh 210 pounds, but I’m wearing the same dress size that I wore when I was 12 years old. So, needless to say, even though I have weighed less as an adult, I have never been this small as an adult (more muscle), and I have always been built like an Amazon. When I started being able to *see* my collarbones and my metatarsals and my shin bones, I freaked out! I called the office of the plastic surgeon who is doing my abdominal skin removal surgery and spoke with the nurse and explained to her what was happening and that I was concerned that I was losing too much weight. She said to continue to keep losing until I got down to my “consult weight” (1 more pound and two days from now), and to talk to the surgeon and get her opinion when I see her. And as my weight went down, and as those bones, and others, became more prominent, I got even more freaked out. So, I finally did what a good Gen Xer is supposed to do, and looked it up on the internet. My search was “are you supposed to be able to see your collarbones?” And I found an absolutely Wonderful site (which I have since forgotten the address for, sorry), run by a lady who had gone through the same things that I was going through right then, only all the way to her goal weight. And she told me, in no uncertain terms, that everything was OK! That it’s completely normal to be able to see your bones. And for it to freak you out if the last time that happened, you were too young to remember it. So, now I feel normal, and I’m OK with the fact that I still have some weight to lose (my PCP wants me to weigh 175 pounds post surgery…remember, Amazon), and the fact that I *should* be able to see my bones when I’m a normal weight. But, it does bother me that the nurse didn’t tell me that it is perfectly normal to be able to see those bones and I was most probably just fine. Maybe she couldn’t, legally, without actually, physically seeing me. I’m just glad that I found that website before my brain broke!

swimmom_1 wrote: »

@buddharivet
It's great isn't it?
My shoulders are harder because of less fat and I can see my collarbones too! Can't wait till I can see my first couple ribs AGAIN too!

@swimmom_1

I don’t think I’ll be able to see my ribs until after I have the surgery (officially late January-ish now) to get rid of my immense roll of excess skin (my surgeon estimates that it weighs about 20 pounds), but I can feel them Very well under that skin.
I’ve taken to hugging my left arm around my right shoulder and hooking my fingers under the bottom bone. And just sitting there. Usually in a half lotus. Why? Because I Can! That and it kinda weirds out my “has always been obese” husband when I do it. He’s lost 20 pounds since April though, so his competitive instinct has finally kicked in. I’m SO proud of him! And so glad I’m not one of the people whose marriage was destroyed by their weight loss.

That when I decide to take a meal or a day and just relax about food and calories and macros, I really don't stray very far. Because I really don't want to and the urge isn't there. It's as though my subconscious has made the association as to how good I feel and wants to stay there.

TurquiseTurtle7 wrote: »

That losing weight doesn't magically turn back the clock. The last time I saw myself thin, I was twenty-five. All the years since, I assumed that if I lost weight I would find my familiar twenty-five-year-old face waiting. Instead, when I finally lost the weight, I was startled to find an almost forty-year-old face in the mirror. Not the young face I used to have, not the rounder face I more recently had, just a new, different face to get used to.

I was worried about this too. Last time I had a thin face was when I was 25 and I am almost at that weight now again at 36. But luckily, my face looks the same to me except the white hair haha. Most of it can be attributed to the solid skincare routine I"ve got going for the last few months, thanks to the good folks at reddit.

I've lost 28 lbs and feel amazing..but I HATE that I still look at myself in the mirror and see myself before losing the 28 lbs. Its frustrating and I get mad at myself for it.