Thursday, January 20, 2011

A Moment of Panic

I have been reading around blogdom about fitness.  I have been reading about health.  I have been reading about  weight loss.  I was inspired by so many I have come across, and then I was seized with fear.  What am I afraid of?


I will have to count food for the rest of my life.  For the rest of my life!  The journey will not end when I've reached my goal weight.  I don't want to count food for the rest of my life, and I am struggling to accept this.


My very biggest fear of all is loose skin.  (Can you say, "Sandbag boobies?"  If they hang to my belly button now, imagine what they will look like once deflated!  Yikes!  Or that once flat belly that slides down and hangs in front of your lady parts after you've had a baby?  Eww!)  I remember one lady's telling that if she had known about the loose skin, she would not have lost the weight.  Vain much?  Well, yes.  (Forgive me, God!)  In my bloggy reading I have come across accounts of recovery after the body lift to remove said excess skin.  It is not pretty.  It is long.  And it is painful.


I will not let these thoughts rob me of my health.  I will press on!  But I have to admit there is fear there.


Pushin' through the pain!
~Pauline~


I am grateful for all of your comments!  Dr. J of CalorieLab posted one I thought everyone would benefit from, so I hope he doesn't mind me reposting it here for all to see.  Thank you, Dr. J!

"One of the mistakes people often make is to be problem oriented. The key is to be goal oriented. With problems, you just move from one to the next, and they never end. With goals, many of the problems we worry about never happen!

You press on, the problems that you will face can all be taken care of. The good news is you are not the first to walk this path."



12 comments:

  1. Okay. I understand! The realization of what you've described caught me completely off guard, and I also panicked. I did. And it slowed my weight loss significantly. In fact, I gained.

    Here's the good news--the reason what you described caught me off guard was that I've lost weight before--lots of weight before--and NEVER had lose skin. NEVER. So when the skin began to look crinkly and droopy, I didn't expect it.

    Why is that good news for you? Well, because I didn't have loose skin before because I was YOUNGER when I lsost 75 pounds before. I was YOUR AGE when I lost all of that weigh.

    The girls didn't deflate, the thigh skin didn't wrinkle and sag, the belly tightened up. I was your age.

    Take note of the age of the bloggers that are bemoaning the effects of weight loss. I bet they're older than you.

    Eat sensibly. Drink your milk and eat your healthy fats. Work out some. I'm betting the negaive results on your body will be small and quite insignificant comparred to the benefits. Really.

    Deb

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  2. I think if you take the weight off sensibly and in small increments, your body will adapt. You will be fine! Don't let this fear grip you and stand in your way. (There will be plenty of other fears to take its place once you get beyond this one.) The Lord loves you and wants to see you succeed!

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  3. Don't get discouraged- I agree and think if you do it right, your body will not go crazy and you will look fine :)

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  4. I can't agree more with the other commenters above me. As you lose the weight, your body will adapt to that loss, and you'll look just fine. Also, strength training works wonders for toning and avoiding that loose skin problem. I can't tell you how many people I've talked to who said they wished they had exercised while losing weight instead of just relying on their diet to get the weight off. They both work together to make a totally awesomeness body. ;)

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  5. I'm a little leery of some loose skin (okay, a LOT of loose skin), but I'm approaching it as a badge of honor for all I've gone through to get healthy.

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  6. I totally understand... but you are so right to keep pressing on!! You are doing the right thing for your health and body, and you WILL see great rewards and feel great :)

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  7. loose skin does suck- but being obese was MUCH worse for me! I'll take my loose skin hands down!

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  8. I've thought about this too. And for the first time in my life --- I have boobs! And they will probably be the first to go! I'm thinking I'm going to be doing lots of strength training!

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  9. True or not I do not know but i've read some saying that if you lose slowly, 1 pound a week average then the skin responds better. It does tighten up over time to a decent degree when lost slowly. If ture, coool, but we all want to lose faster than a pound a week if we can.

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  10. One of the mistakes people often make is to be problem oriented. The key is to be goal oriented. With problems, you just move from one to the next, and they never end. With goals, many of the problems we worry about never happen!

    You press on, the problems that you will face can all be taken care of. The good news is you are not the first to walk this path.

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  11. I know that I would worry about the loose skin as well if I were in your shoes. I would say lose it slowly, if you lose too quickly it may not be able to shrink down as it should, but if you lose slowly you have a better chance of that happening. I would also suggest using a product like Burt's Bees Belly Butter to help out too. But yes, health is more important. Just take it one pound at a time & one day at a time.

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  12. I also wanted to recommend to supplement with vitamin C & zinc & make sure you consume enough protein. Those all help the skin to be strong & resilient & will improve elasticity, etc.

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Thank you for commenting! Your support means the world to me. :)