Other than the stretch marks...and the things we can't change like our smiles and facial expressions...

Can my skin become tight on my muscles after toning...?
Can I really be fit like those who never gained excess weight?
Will people look at me and never figure I used to be 250?
While naked, could I fool someone that I never was fat?

If I can be "normal"...I will work as hard as possible and tone and do everything.

But can it really be done?

That's what I fear.

Hi!

I have wondered many of the same things myself!

For me, in particular, I wonder if I will ever have upper arms that look decent enough for me to be able to wear a sleeveless outfit out in public EVEN IF I do reach my goal weight.

I also am really concerned about the vericose veins that I have that are REALLY showing up now that I am losing the fat deposits that were hiding them so nicely (!) for many, many years. I'm not just talking about spider veins! I have LOTS of those, too.

I wonder if I can EVER do enough exercise to tone up my belly that has been stretched out with two pregnancies and THIRTY YEARS of fat deposits.

I often wonder how my body would look now if I had stayed at the 160 pounds or less that I weighed 30-40 years ago.



Cheryl

Hello ladies,

I would suggest looking at the Success Stories section. Incredible stories! Like they say - A picture says a thousand words. No doubt in my mind that we can all be "normal". Good luck!

SO if you can't be "normal", then what? You are just going to throw in the towel? All you can do is your best and the most important thing is your good health!

I think age has a lot to do with it, the younger you are the better chance you have of getting the 'perfect' figure, that and how you looked after yourself while you were overweight. But my way of thinking about it is I couldnt expect a perfect figure naked after reaching 233lbs - but it's going to look a darn sight better at 153lbs whatever.

cheryl, re varicous veins, you can buy special camaflauge makeup if they are really bothering you. No need to think you can't wear a skirt with bear legs or anything these days.

People are amazed to discover that I've lost over 100 pounds. They can't believe I was ever that heavy. So do they look at me and know I was once fat? Nope. And nekkid? Sure, if I bend down in the buff and the loose skin dangles a bit in the tummy. If I'm standing tall and keeping my abs tight though, you can't tell anything more than you can with my clothes on. Since I like wearing hipsters and short tops, I guess if loose skin was going to stand out, it would already.

almostheaven- Your success makes me smile. I am happy for you.

Perhaps not throw in the towel, Jasmine, but it would certainly be discouraging if we assumed that life was *always* going to be like this - that the specter of our heaviness would hang over our lives forever.

For myself, I just have to trust to hope, and the fact that A: I never let myself get more than 60 lbs overweight, and B: I'm still in my early 20s and so my skin has all the elasticity it's ever going to have right now.

A: Good
B: VERY good and you're lucky

;-)

I think you will be just fine.....

Honestly, i think if we work hard enough, where there is a will, there is a way. And hey, there's always plastic surgery ha ha. *sigh*.

Hi All!

Thanks for the encouragement! This site is awesome, and the people here are ANGELS!!! Thanks!

rowanrowan:
My biggest issue with my varicose veins is the BULGY ones that I have. There's one in my left leg that bulges out about 1/2 inch around my ankle to over 3/4 inch by the time it reaches behind my leg by my calf. By the time it reaches the thigh level it protrudes almost AN INCH! I have to be careful even when I shave my legs that I don't slice into it! Both my mom and my grandma had surgery to get rid of all of their veins that were like it, and when I checked last week, my mom said she had HER surgery at 55. I'm 55 now. I don't really want any more surgery -particularly ELECTIVE surgery. Two c-sections and a myomectomy (removal of a big fibroid) in seven years was PLENTY enough surgery for THIS gal!

My right leg isn't as bad with the bulgy vein thing, but both legs have so many spider veins that it looks like someone took after me with a baseball bat! None hurt, so at least I don't have THAT problem.

I would like to wear shorts or even think of wearing a swimsuit, but the veins are REALLY, REALLY ugly. Sad that now that I am getting tighter thighs, my veins are making them look bad in a NEW WAY!

I guess I look at all the ladies who can go without stockings and look great and think that no matter how much I lose, I will STILL have very ugly-looking legs!

Sigh!!!

Cheryl

I've been mistaken for a naturally slim person too ... and at a buffet!
At 46 with three children, my belly will never be show worthy. Nekkid? Beats the heck outta what I did look like!

I will never look like someone who has always been thin-3 babies, and three climbs up the fat ladder with each of them prevents that...but I look much better at goal with a little extra skin and stretch marks, than I do at my high weights, PLUS I feel better-so it is 100% worth it.

I am on my slow journey back down the ladder for the LAST time. It will be worth it when I get there, and it is worth it now. Every pound is an improvement. Everything I do-exercise, eating right-makes me look and feel better.

No-we can never be "normal". We are not naturally thin, never-have-to worry about it people. We will have to wrok at it every day of our lives...but that is the cards we were dealt. We just have to deal with it.

SusanB, you are so cool!

Well, I'm not so young, and even if I lose weight, I'm not gonna look like a slim 20 year old. Or even 30 year old. It's a hard thing to come up against--that this is our body and we don't get to "start over." Some things just won't go away. I do wish that I had been able to keep my weight down better over the years, because then my "human suit" wouldn't be so stretched out, but this is where I am now, and this is what I have to deal with.

So, the question becomes, now what? I am confident that I'll be a whole lot better if I lose weight--more comfortable, more able to buy clothes, better able to do things I want to do, and more healthy. Those seem worthwhile things to me. Reachings "normal"--well, I don't know exactly what that is, but it's not in magazines or on TV.

Jay

A normal 46 yo is overweight, has elevated cholesterol and high blood pressure. I don't want to be normal.