I am a 56 year old woman. after being side-tracked for seven years, I want myself back. I was always active - jogged 4 miles 5x per week on average, took dance classes, went swimminng, periodic gym memberships - whatever struck my fancy, but the jogging is what I loved most, and did consistantly for at least 12 years. During those years, I never really watched what I ate. I got side-tracked by emotional trauma and am still being treated for PTSD, anxiety and clinical depression. All of this has resulted in a 35 pound weight gain. I was NEVER thin. always very curvy and muscular. at 5'1", I graduated high school at about 135 lbs. too much according to the charts, but there was nothing jiggling that wasn't supposed to! I gained 42 lbs while pregnant (both times) but lost it pretty darn quick. After having my kids, I held steady between 142 and 147 and felt great. I breezed through my pregnancies with a VERY minumum amount of stretch marks, all below my c-section scar. I have been educating myself on calorie content and nutrition, have started (slowly) jogging or walking, and feel so very ready to start this journey!! ** I do have a question, though. I have developed a "pannus" (right above my c-sec scars) as I have gained weight. Is it likely to shrink during/after a 40 lb weight loss? it's not huge, but i think it's exagerrated due to my c-sections. I am really worried about this, even though it's premature. ****also, how do i get that cool graph at the bottom of my posts? i like to measure progress. thanks

Hi CQ!

Welcome! I'm a fellow newbie as well. I just viewed in another post that the weight loss tickers that some folks have on the bottom of their posts can be obtained after 20 days and 20 posts on the site. How they are obtained I still have no idea, BUT we have time to figure it out!

As far as the pannus goes, it really depends; mainly on your skin integrity/elasticity and the fat distribution of your body. I'm an OR nurse and see a LOT of c-section/abdominal scars. You could take 2 (or even 10) women of the same height and weight, with similar scars and they will present differently, before and after weight loss.

Once you reach your goal weight and are not satisfied with how it looks or are self conscious about it, they do amazing things with scar revisions/mini tummy tucks.

Best!

Welcome to 3FC!

Welcome! Glad you found us. If you visit often and participate, you will receive the information, encouragement and motivation to succeed at your goal!

Welcome and good luck on your journey!!