Realty check - body image

[Dianyla]

no, not TMI at all. Do what is healthy for you and what makes you feel good. When all's said and done, then get someone to fix the excess skin.

Seconding this. A good friend of mine used to be obese in the 220-230 lbs range. She has completely changed her lifestyle and is an extremely fit person, teaching yoga, and being active. She's like a size 0-2 now. However, after losing all that weight she had a lot of loose skin. It was like pizza dough, she could pull and stretch it out 6" away from her body, and she actually had to tuck it into her pants. She had a pannus reduction surgery earlier this year and is thrilled with the results.

Just make sure you go with a good surgeon, it is a fairly major procedure.

[Kano]

Yup, there CAN be health issues related to the excess skin flapping around, it's not just an aesthetic thing, so this is a "fix" rather than a vanity issue. I think, if I find myself with flaps, getting it repaired will also be a nice incentive to maintain the loss, though I can imagine I'll want to be sure I've stabilized before doing anything that major!

But body image -- it's quite a thing, isn't it? We were at an "art in the park" show a week or so ago, and there was an artist exhibiting "fat girl art" as my girls named it. Cute stuff, kind of inspirational in that these zaftig females were doing all sorts of fun things, not just sitting around being fat as it's so easy to do (hey, I KNOW this to be true!) One picture had our chunky lady looking into the mirror at herself and seeing a lovely thin, curvy reflection.

I look at it and say to myself, how TRUE! -- I've always been surprised to see myself in a mirror or especially photos, and have a more outside look at myself: That's ME????? Yikes! (Lately, I'm seeing myself in the mirror and saying, That's me? Cool! -- I'm not sure I want that deflated by a photo at this point!)

On the other hand, my oldest daughter, who's battled with her body image over the years too -- looks at that same picture and says it's totally BACKWARDS. She says the thin version should be the one looking into the mirror...

Karen in Boise