I just went to change out of my gym clothes into clothes for class.

I noticed for the first time, small red stretch marks right across my stomach.

I have never had stretch marks on my stomach before. My hips, yes, my thighs, yes. But never my stomach.

I feel disgusting.

I've lost 10 lbs since Christmas! How can this possibly be happening NOW?

Oh noes! I hope for your sake that it's something else... Could it have been clothing lines? Were your workout clothes cutting into your stomach? (*hopes*)

The only thing I can think of is that maybe your muscles are growing (either getting larger with strength or retaining water/swelling due to exertion)... And competing with the rest of your for that space. Because you obviously aren't gaining fat around your stomach, you've been losing.

I hope they go away. I hope they decide to turn tail and run. This whole WL is a pretty crazy ride, and who can know what to expect from day to day?

I'd get some coconut butter or something like that and start moisturizing the crap out of that area, to try to help your skin maintain flexibility and hope that they don't grow. If they're still tiny they probably won't amount to much.

!!!

Sometimes only when your skin deflates do the stretch marks appear.

I feel your pain though. Most of my stretch marks on my thighs (for which there are many!) only really came about the first time I went from 170 to about 142. It was dismaying but I knew I would rather be 142 with stretch marks then 170 with relatively none.

I used to loathe them but I realized that eating the way we have and not taking as good care of our body as we should have has unpleasant consequences sometimes! and we really just need to get over them because they don't make us any less beautiful or make our weight loss journey any less succesful.

One other thing -- you said you got them across your stomach? Are they vertical or horizontal? I've seen many-a-stretchmarked stomach (my own, various pregnant people's, various people walking around in locker rooms) and I've never seen horizontal stomach stretch marks. So if you see something going across, hopefully they aren't stretch marks. Perhaps you scratched yourself somehow?

One can hope, right?

Ohkay, wait, so I could've already had these stretchmarks, but my stomach is getting smaller, resulting in them SHOWING?

Judy:
Yeah, I WISH they were something else. They're a bit erratic, but they're more vertical.. and not major, just around my bellybutton. Ugh.

Sorry to hear about that. But I think you may just want to come to terms with them. I know stick skinny people who have them!! It's not just fat people who have them- it's from just growing in general. Right now you are really young so they seem like a big deal, but as you get older you'll realize that they are actually very common and most PEOPLE- not just women have them. And I hate to tell you this- but as you get older and have kids it'll probably get worse. Some people have great genetics and aren't cursed with them- others are. I wouldn't stress about them too much more. Just keep focusing on the important things!

I think my issue is moreso that I've lost ten pounds and NOW I'm getting NEW stretch marks???

I mean, I hate stretchmarks, they suck, but I really have come to terms with them. I just don't know why I'm getting new ones during weight loss...

Sometimes stretch marks only appear when you lose weight - they were all filled up before and only when you lost weight did they loosen enough to be visible.

They aren't NEW by any means, even if this is the first time you're seeing them. Or they may not be stretch marks at all.

Yeah losing weight can cause your stretch marks to show more

I've always had stretchmarks, mind you, I haven't noticed them once I've lost the weight.. but if it makes you feel better, i have some on my legs that are almost BLUE!!!

Sadly, as a result of past experience, I think they are indeed stretch marks. They have the tell-tale evilness that is that little pink squiggly line.

But it's comforting a bit to hear all this. I had a momentary ignorant panic that despite my weight loss and working out madly and such that my stomach wasn't cooperating and shrinking, but somehow EXPANDING resulting in lovely new stretch marks. These aren't too intense, I'm pretty sure once they fade they'll be okay.

Praise the 50 ab crunches I did this morning that this is a bitter-sweet good sign that things are getting smaller...

Thanks to EVERYONE who tried to ease my panic, you ladies are aces.

I have to agree about the deflating makes stretch marks appear cuz after the first 20lbs I found stretch marks I didn't know I had! If they're still red you can try rubbing scar cream on them and that may help lessen the visibility. I got all mine when I was like 10 and didn't know what they were. My mom told me people were going to think I had a baby and I had no idea why. lol. They suck but think of them as battle scars.

I swear, whoever comes up with a cure for stretch marks one of these days is going to be making some major money!!

They are definitley not new....which is a good thing. I didn't have stretch marks until AFTER I had my babies and my stomach shrank back to normal. I just couldn't see them because they were being stretched. After I had my babies I could see little faint red lines on small areas of my stomach.

Just keep lathering your stomach with either pure olive or aloe oil you can get at a health food store. I soaked myself in both oils when I was pregnant and don't have one stretch mark on my stomach. My thighs are a completely different story and they're there to keep the cellulite company.