so just the other day i posted the thread "glimpse at my future body". all those feelings still stand. but i am also freakin out majorly about how icky i look right now. how icky i perceive myself to look now? maybe thats a better way to put it?

i am thrilled with my weightloss. i knew from get go i would need a tummy tuck and some boobie work. i KNEW that. but omg, my stomach is so nasty right now. it is bothering me so bad. i cant stand to be naked. if i catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror after a shower it makes me sick. i stand there for a good 10 minutes pushing and pulling on stuff just hating it. when my husband and i are intimate, i have to keep on a tank top to cover my stomach. makes him mad, but i guess he is kinda getting to accept it because he isnt as pushy about it.

my friends and family that know of my crazy body issues tell me over and over that i am much to critical of myself. that i look amazing and they are proud of me. its like, i know in my head i look better then i did before. but i dont KNOW that. does that make sense to anyone? i am not striving or even want to look like a toothpick or a model or some celebrity, i just dont wanna look like this, ya know?

ugh, its so hard. its nice to come here and vent about it though. spring and tax return cant come fast enough. i am putting that money towards my tummy tuck!

Mine are so "jiggly" that they have fold over wrinkles even when at rest at my sides. I have an appt with a PS at the end of September to evaluate them for resizing!!!! I know I will have long scars, but the jiggle will be gone!!! Cruel joke our body's play on us after we work so hard to get the wt off and get healthy.

Mimi

as crazy as it sounds, i have actually considered putting this last 10 pounds back on...so that my arms would look better. but my husband pointed on that it more then likely would not go back to my arms. and then i would just be mad about having to lose the 10 pounds again. smart man, huh? and i was never REALLY serious about it, but the thought crossed my mind more then once as i jiggled in the mirror. arghhh....

Want_so, wouldn't that be the pits, gain the weight back (I know you are not serious about that) and then have it go to your butt instead....or some other worse place. You are young and I suspect if you give it time and keep on toning, that extra skin will eventually disappear. If it doesn't, it just takes money to fix it or longer sleeves.

At my age, I doubt anything will shrink back especially since it's all been stretched out for so long. I'm going to do what I can and when I reach goal or retire, which ever comes first, I'll spend my savings and have that extra skin cut off. I have a very ugly lower belly...aka...the apron.

Good luck!!

This is a very timely thread for me. I have serious 'effed-up' body issues, as well.

For me, the only thing that is really helping is therapy. (as in "psycho") But, along with the weight issues are a host of other things, to it will be a loooong process.

i am glad to report my head is in a little better place. at least where my arms are concerned. i dont feel AS bad, but not good yet either. i make an extra effort each day to really try and work them as much as i can, in all different ways. from the way i pick things up, to an extra set of curls here and there (even w/out the weights). some days i am sore, some days not. but i am just happy that i am not, as of right now anyways, as freaked out about my arms.

plus, i have this super catty bitchy thing i do in my head....i look at EVERY woman's arms i see and compare myself to them. better or worse. at least i do it in my head! i would never be like that in person to anyone. but if it is helping me through it, so be it...

At 50 I know my skin issues won't totally go away either. My tummy has made some improvements, but other parts that I didn't expect keep nagging me. I now have frown lines in my face and have even developed dimples in my cheeks that I never had when I was thin. My hubby thinks they're cute. I don't. My face sags and I literally developed crows feet overnight. It all happened so fast I didn't have a chance to wrap my head around it. I aged a good ten years in 4 weeks time. It was like being in a time warp. Once I hit the "critical mass" stage of weight loss, it was a rapid change. My hair is only 1/4 of what it used to be. I've lost massive amounts of lovely hair. And like many of the rest of you, my arms are horrifying. I work out several times a week and have very hard muscles underneath, but when I hold my arms out they sway in the wind. Amazingly, my butt looks so much better. My tummy is getting there. My legs have shape instead of looking like stumps, but the arms and the face just blow me away.........

dont feel bad,my arms also look like crap! along with my stomach,and butt!!! even my chest shrunk! not thrilled but i knew there would be a trade somewhere LOL

i have noticed little things about my face too. i wonder if its from the weight loss or from being really tired and sick here lately?? either way, i LOVE LOVE LOVE that i no longer have chins. just a chin. one! it still amazes me. i will tilt my head down, trying to make another chin, and about jump with joy that i cant do it now! lol, the little things that make your day.

i am still going back and forth with the body image stuff. i will have a couple good days then despise my body for a few. back and forth back and forth.

i really really think that i will be better after a tummy tuck and lipo. my biggest insecurity is my stomach/flank/side area. the places the plastic surgeon is gonna work on. its just that whole money thing standing in the way. stupid money! more like stupid lack of money. lol, but such is life.

aubrie- i havent had any problems with my hair. thank god. i was really very worried about that. my hair is my baby, lol. the only thing i was used to getting compliments on! have you tried anything for it?

want-so-bad,

I went through one bout of hair loss at 5 months out. It was disturbing, but it grew back for the most part.... A little thinner. But I had a halo of new growth. This time, it's not coming back AT ALL. Just continues to fall out. At two years out I thought I was WELL past this. My docs all seem really unconcerned. Of course..... It's not THEIR hair!! I know what you mean about the double chin. It's neat to not have one. I try and pinch my non existant one all the time. But I have noticed that where my double chin once was, I have very puckered skin. Just part of it I guess.

I'm experiencing hair loss as well. My hair is already short but tomorrow I'm having it cut even shorter because it is so thin. I can run my hand threw it and come out with chucks between my fingers. It's disgusting. I'm still waiting for the chin thing. I would love not to have to worry about that one any more!

:crying: My issue is the baggy looking neck. I got a glimse of it one time at the hairdresser's office in the bright light.

What can you do about it besides investing in PS. Being 50+ I have decided that a little extra weight actually plumps up the face and neck, so I'm not going to overly fret over it. I probably would have looked this way if I had been a very thin person anyway.

The thing is, we are not perfect and I think our expectations may have been a little out of whack, but it's all good.

Any body isssues, just cover them up. That's how I think about it. I wear sleeves that are not overly short and wear my slimming undergarments when I go out.

I'm not going to kill myself at my age trying to overly work out so I can look good in a bathing suit the possible 3 or 4 times I may opt out in front of a crowd at the beach.

I walk every day. A little cardio would not kill me, I do admit that and is something I am going to look into.

Life is too short to worry about such things.

Just go out there and enjoy it!

:thumbup:

To me, people are attractive because of the sum total of their parts, and its usually one small quirk or mannerism that makes them appeal to me.

I totally agree with you on this. What truly makes people most attractive is what they display from the inside out and the quirks and/or mannerisms that make them unique. :thumbup:

I, too have had the same fears about loose skin, etc. I am sure I will someday need plastic surgery to remedy it because I just don't think I will like it at all. But, I keep telling myself that I am losing this weight so that I will be healthy...I am different I suppose because I have always been the type that looked in the mirror and saw myself thinner than I was. Since, I have had this band...I now see something totally different...I know I am going to have issues with being thinner...lol...both good and bad! I have already started checking into plastic surgery and I am just getting started on this weight loss journey.