As someone struggling with body acceptance anyway, now that I have loose skin, it's even worse. To see the negative comments towards her skin is impossible not to internalize and "hear" them coming at me. And it's bathing suit season. Yay. Yuck. I wear my bikini (with a higher waisted bottom) and hate the skin I see. I've lost almost 70lbs and maintained it for almost 3 years. My skin is not going to tighten up.
It's hard to accept that because of what I did to my body, I'll never get to be like those other girls that seem to effortlessly be thin. I work WAY harder for my body now than they do. But still nope.
When I was first starting out, I had this fantasy that my body would just go back to what it was. If I had seen her, I would have been proud of what she accomplished and immediately made excuses as to why I won't end up that way. I don't think the reality of it would have really hit me.
I admire her courage to post the picture. It seems like there are so few of us that have successfully lost weight and now have excess skin. I don't know anyone else IRL. Seeing someone with her stomach standing proudly helps. The world is full of mean people ready to hurt with words when we are overweight as well as afterwards. I think her story, shown in a positive light is a first step in getting people everywhere to be more exposed to what this is so that the rest of us who have extra skin can feel more free as well.
Is that Shape's primary market - no. I think they ran the story for
PR. It is a better fit for other outlets - like the Today Show that she came on - and hope that when those other outlets do stories of large weight loss that they include realistic images also.