Problems from weight loss?
 

I was wondering if anyone had ever experienced any issues or problems resulting in their weight loss, or losing weight? (I guess by this I mean physical issues like stretch marks, or excess skin, or mental issues like having trouble accepting their new body. Basically, anything that comes to mind.)

If so, what issues/problems have come up? How did you deal with them? Were you successful?

I have lost 100 pounds in the last year. If you were to see me without my shirt you could tell that I have lost quite a bit of weight. My skin does not hug my body the way it is supposed to. In the last 2 month I haven't lost near as quickly as I did to start and I am starting to notice it tighten up a little. It still has a long way to go, I have read that it can take up to 5 years. You are young, your skin should recover a lot faster than that.

The way I look at is, I was ugly naked before, I am still ugly naked now, but at least now I look good in my clothes.

There are so many beifits to loosing weight, don't start your journey by looking for the negatives which you might be tempted to turn into excuses.

Thanks for the reply!

I wasn't really looking for excuses... I guess things to watch out for and cope for ahead of time. Like... should I start using bio oil on my skin to minimize future stretch marks? Should I maybe consider talking to people about how they coped at weight maintenance and losing large amounts of weight in a relatively short period of time? (In their relationships, etc.). I guess I just want to see potential obstacles now so I can work ahead of the game :-).

Well, as far as I know, stretch marks come from the gaining process, not the losing process, so if you're losing hopefully you won't develop too many - if you want to use some lotion on them, it certainly won't hurt anything. I'm fairly young (28) and I've had very minimal problems with loose skin after losing over 50 lbs. - there's a small amount on my stomach, but that's about it.

I'd say the oddest side-effect for me has been this -after losing a good amount of weight (maybe 35 lbs. or so) - every day that I wasn't perfectly on plan, I started to think I'd see the old 200+ lb. me in the mirror when I woke up in the morning. I don't think it was necessarily that I had a warped body image, but I guess I WAS over-emphasizing mistakes and giving into the fear that I'd let myself get to a size I hated again.

Of course, the old me is never in the mirror, even if I down a whole pizza the night before ;) But that fear is still there every time I have a cheat day, and I imagine it's going to take a long time before I completely accept all of the hard work I'm doing to change my health and size. Most of the time, if I'm having that fear, I make myself go put on my old size 20 jeans and see how they're falling off of me now. Then I *know* I'm not that big! :D

With my relationship, I'm lucky to have a family and BF that have been nothing but supportive, so I've had to deal with very little "sabotage" - however, talking to people who've gone through it in a lot of different circumstances might lend perspective to your own life :)