Sunday, August 2, 2015

This is what it REALLY looks like when you lose 135 pounds

I've lost soooooo much weight, and a lot of people tell me they'd like to lose too, but are worried about the excess skin. Truth is, the skin stayed. It's still with me. It's likely going to stay with me for the rest of my days or until I save enough money to pay a nice surgeon to remove it for me. Not likely, as that's insanely costly, and no one's making any donations. ;)

This is what it REALLY looks like when you lose 135 pounds

Anyway, here's my thoughts on my excess skin. I can stuff it into my clothes. I can hide it fairly well. I have pictures (you've all seen them) where my workout pants are high waist-ed so you don't see the skin flap. My muscles are growing, and I'm toning up nicely. But look closely, and you're going to see my skin wrinkles and what not.

I get to live with this.

Let that sentence sink in. I-GET-TO-LIVE!

Had I not lost those 135 lbs, I might not have gotten to live. So LIVE with this, IS SOOOO OKAY!

Would I like to see the skin go away? Totally! I'm over 40. I get that skin elasticity is a phenomenon for younger folks. I understand that at my age, eating the dark greens and dark oranges will help but not with any significance. I understand that to really make this skin go bye bye I'm looking at a skin removal surgery. And maybe that might still happen. Unexpected things happen all the time.

But until that day comes (not holding my breath), I will be proud of my new body. Skin flapping in the wind and all. I worked DAMN hard to get this saggy baggy skin suit. So I'm going to embrace it, in all it's wrinkled glory.


High Waisted Workout Pants... Skin tucks in nicely
Long Workout Tops, hides skin nicely!

Gravity is not my friend... but it WON'T STOP ME from getting the workout in!
On August 2, 2015, I decided it was time to take some more unedited pics of what I look like, skin and all. I made a slideshow which you can see below. I've taken loose skin pics before, mostly to show my doctors and get advice on next steps. But never with my face. So today I got brave, and took them with my face shown.

I will NEVER be bikini perfect again and honestly? I'm okay with that. I think all those weight loss programs out there give us the impression that that is something obtainable, so we make it an unrealistic goal. I lost weight. I kept the skin! I'm not going to be walking around in a bikini.

Again, it's important for me to remember to love the body I'm in, it's the only one I get. And also to remember, had I not lost this weight, I probably would not be alive right now. Or if I was, probably not much longer. So I'm LUCKY. I get to live a long and healthy life, skin and all.

Maybe it IS a badge of honor of sorts. I worked really hard to look like this. Whether you like it or you don't, you have to admit, I did work very hard, and I did lose a lot of weight and I did manage to extend my life so I can now enjoy my family, my kids, maybe their kids one day, and I have every intention of being that "Granny" that's still kicking butt and raising hell at age 95!

***Warning***, some of the images are really difficult to look at (at least for me they are).

🚫🚫🚫ETA: FYI... If you can't tell from my post, I have ZERO interest in wraps, lotions, potions... But thanks all the same! 🚫🚫🚫


You can see the slideshow here: Loose Skin August 2015



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4 comments:

  1. You are awesome. You look beautiful, skin and all!

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  2. Thank you. You have done an AWESOME job. It is a lot of hard work. I'm 54, and will always have that flap hanging on me, outside of surgery. Thank you for sharing. I look to others, that have similar issues and am very grateful I can find encouragement in their journey. Thank you. Jean

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    Replies
    1. You're most welcome Jean. Thank you for the comment. :) -Barbara

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