I have 2 questions:

1. What is your skin like? I live in a naturally dry area, so naturally, my skin is dry. But I find it hard to put skin cream on my body because there is so much of me, and it can be a pretty arduous task. What I'm wondering is if weight is related to skin at all, and if so, what do you other ladies do to combat it?

2. AF. For those of you who do not know, this is "a friend" (aka: menstruation). I understand that weight can impede it, but to what extent? I understand if some of you don't feel comfortable answering this question, and that's okay

Hope you're all having a good morning so far!

~Mande

Lavender scented baby oil. It's the only thing that doesn't make my skin breakout and burn (but I have the worlds most sensitive skin. Honestly, I burn in the moonlight.) I just smear it on when I'm still wet from the shower, then towel off like normal. I've found Dove's Day Cream is good for my face though. No burning sensation and it has SPF 15!

And I'm so confused on #2? Eh?

Hi Martini! Well if you have a bath and body shop you may want to get a shower gel that is really luxurious and makes your skin soft when you shower! Like I use Bath and Body Works creamy body wash. They have a ton of different scents. The one I am using right now, actually just ran out of, is Coconut Lime verbena. I usually put their thickest lotion that matches on my arms, sometimes on my legs and belly etc if I feel like it. But it is very moisturizing anyways. I always watch for the sales!

A.F.? Not sure of the q? either but if you are referring to being late I do know being heavy sometimes can cause that.

I just put lotion on my legs, my arms (especially my elbows), my hands, and my face. The "trunk" of my body doesn't really get dry, or at least not noticably so.

As for #2, I got up to 310.5 pounds and never had weight-related TOM (Time of Month...I've noticed most use that abbreviation on this board) issues. However, I have also been on birth controll pills since a week after I turned 16 (for medical reasons). I have heard from women in the 300+ group here on 3FC who had completely stopped having their TOM, but they were at extremely high weights (well over 400 pounds, if I remember correctly). As they lost weight, they described it as if they basically went through a second bout with puberty (some acne, inconsistent TOMs at first, etc.). I haven't heard of this type of thing happening to anyone below 350 pounds, but I suppose it's a highly individual thing.

I hope I understood your question correctly and that makes sense.

Thanks guys!
By the 2nd question, I mean inconsistent, heavy, or not at all?
Just wondering as my TOM has never been consistent, and my doc kept putting me on BC, but I can't take it because of the clots, and some months I get it, some I don't, etc. My doctor just seems to think I need to take BC, even though I CANT haha. Plus I'm a smoker, so that makes it even more likely that I'll get a clot, and other than that, I get prescribed muscle relaxants (maybe they are trying to say my uterus is high strung? LOL).

It's been alot of things, but never consistent

When I was younger, and thinner my tom would be mostly regular, but would skip every 6 months or so. Now that I have more weight I rarely get one. I think also it has a lot to do with stress and hormones. The past four years since I've moved here it has kind of tapered off and I'll get one every now and then. But living here has been pretty stressful for me. I never thought I would be happy to have one every month, but now I kind of wish I did, because I worry I guess.

1. My skin gets dry pretty easily. I put lotion all over my body whenever I get out of the shower and have time, which is typically every other day. It can take a long time, since I do have a lot of skin. Not as long as it used to take, though. Anyway, it makes me feel great!

2. About TOM- I think it is a little hard to tell. At my heaviest, I was having very irregular periods. I went 60 days, then 32, then 45, it was quite strange. I cannot definitively say that it was all due to my weight, though. I got to my highest weight during a very stressful time in my life. Even before I got to my heaviest, though, my period was pretty irregular, any where from 30 to 40 days apart.

Now the good news! Since I began my journey very seriously in July, I have been treating my body SO much better. I eat a lot healthier, and I am more active than I used to be. This has improved my regularity SO much. I now can actually predict my TOM. I am 24 now, and I think this is the first time I have been really regular since I started, at 11.

Well I would say do NOT take the pill at all if you are smoking and at risk for clots! I started taking the pill a few months after my micarriage this year and I started having severe anxiety attacks! It was awful!!! I quit taking them right away and we are just doing condoms now, which we hate but I am going to get the diaphragm when we get the extra money.

1. Hmm for me, living in a very hot and humid climate, my skin has become very sensitive. I usually have to take a shower or coat myself with aloe vera cream, or else let the sun fry me up . I need to shower anyway, since sweating every 5 minutes only gives more BO (body odour ).

2. In a way, I kind of think weight has something to do with it. I had very irregular periods at my highest at 15. Now, after losing some weight, I find that they have become more and more regular. But now, I seem to be getting more and more cramps (unlike before).

Aah. I gotcha. AF = Auntie Flow? I've had lots of time for it to settle in; I got my period in 4th grade!! I thought I was hemoraging because we hadn't had Sex Ed yet!

I'm lucky mine is short, but I bleed like a stuck pig. It usually lasts 3 days. Day 1 and 2 are heavy flow days with lots of cramping and some gastrointestinal distress. Day 3 and occaisionally 4 are light spotting.

Earlier this year (at my heaviest), I missed a bunch of periods which led to way too much worrying about being pregnant, but I couldn't remember having sex, and then freaking out that I had been raped and forgotten it, and then being mad that I may have had sex and forgotten it. Yah, I spent way to much time thinking about it, rather than just going to my doc. She was worried it might be PCOS and had a bunch of tests done. They all came out normal and she had me cut out all the sugar and recommened SBD. Ever since then, they've been normal and regular. Which, as much as I despise TOM, is far better than skipping them.

And now ya'll know ALL about my flow. My mental editor must be out sick.

i am 28 and my TOM has NEVER been regular. i just figured that was me. it would come, skip a few etc. that is, until i lost about 30 pounds recently. and all of a sudden it is as regular as clock work. go figure. no doubt the weight had something to do with it.

and i second an earlier comment. use a moisturizing body wash thingy. it helps when you aren't on top of putting on lotion. i find it a pain to try and cover ALL my skin. i'd go through a bottle a day!

hope that all makes sense.

AF? How to even begin?
I have never had a completely regular period for any extent of time. For the first three years, I would get it maybe 2-4x per year. I had issues with clots, which was very unpleasant. I was put on birth control pills which helped amazingly, but somehow went off of them after a year or two. I don't really remember the reason, maybe I just ran out.

Then I barely had a period over the next year or so. Then it came back a little bit. I gained a little bit of weight over a summer when I was around 21 (I was probably somewhere between 143-148), then lost down to 132-135, and things seemed to be almost regular for a year or so. What a miracle! Clots were down, too.

Then, I started having irregular periods again, and having some bleeding in between. Went to a family practitioner, and I requested ortho-tricyclen (instead of the loestrin (microgestin) that I had used before (because of the commercials that said it was good for your skin). Started a new job working 100-125 hours/week and thought it would be a great time to start the pills. I BLED HEAVILY FOR AN ENTIRE MONTH or more, I'm sure I was severely anemic, but had no time to go to the doctor. I took myself off those pills. No period for an entire year.

Period came back about 3 or 4 years ago very heavy with bad clots. Very, very irregular. I had gained to 157, so I thought if I lost the weight things would go back to normal. Lost to about 130-135, but things were still pretty bad. Went to the doc, this time an OB-GYN (wasn't about to risk it with another family practitioner).

She restarted my loestrin, AND IT HAS CHANGED MY LIFE!!!! I wish I had gone back on this a long time ago! When I was bleeding heavily it interfered with my life...I couldn't concentrate at work, and some days I couldn't even leave the house! Now with the pills, I feel better than normal....short periods, and if I'm traveling or want to move my period up a week or back a week for whatever reason, I can do it. IT'S GREAT! GOING ON BIRTH CONTROL WAS THE BEST DECISION OF MY LIFE! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT TOOK ME SO LONG TO GO BACK ON.

For those of you suffering with period issues interfering with your life, I encourage you to see and OB-GYN, and know that if one pill causes problems, it doesn't mean that they all will. I can't take ortho-tricyclen, but loestrin worked wonders!

well I know that you can get too thin to be having a period. Basically, your body fat is not high enough to support a baby so your body doesnt want you to get pregnant.
So it might work the other way- someone who is overweight's body knows that its not health to be pregnant at that weight. Just a guess. And Im SO not saying it's the case with any of you. Just a thought.

So many things can scew with your cycle- stress, being around other women (my cycle alwasy adjusted to my roommates). I am regular but only because I'm on BC. I have PCOS, my brain is too dead to think of the words, (basically a condition where you have cysts on your ovaries- symptoms vary but usually a very irregular period is involved along with being overweight, sugar problems, and very dark coarse body hair (Ive had my face lasered for hair removal)) and the BC keeps me regular

Being overweight does cause excess estrogen in the system (the excess conversion to estrogen takes place in the fat). Having too much estrogen can cause suppression of other hormones, which leads to disruption of the cycle. However, how much this affects individuals and how much weight is required to do this varies significantly. Some people can have normal cycles at very high weights, but for others, smaller amounts of weight gain can throw things out of wack.

PCOS: Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome. I've heard of it, and my mom wants me to get checked out for it. I have a lot of the common symptoms, like hair growth (in places it shouldn't be!), skin tags, long-term disruptions in cycle and things like that. Eeep! Scary