Hello!

This is prettty much for anyone who has lost a large amount of weight, I have been getting stretch marks around my waist line and I keep checking my weight and I am losing....

Are the scales wrong or does this occur with weight loss??? help!!!

I keep my diet under 1700, under 2,000 on cheat days!

You don't really get stretch marks from losing weight. You get them when you gain weight-such as during puberty (when breasts and hips, etc. get fuller quickly), during pregnancy, and during times when you gain weight rapidly. Gaining 3-4 pounds a year doesn't usually do it, but if you got heavy quickly over the course of a short time (20 pounds in a year, or 50+ pounds over a couple years) they can occur.

The thing is, when your skin is stretched out, sometimes they do not show up as much because they are pulled tight. When you lose weight, or have your baby in the case of pregnancy, the stretched out skin and the marks are not "stretched out" so much any longer, and the ridgy "texture" of them show up a lot more now.

The stretch marks were already there...but you are noticing them a lot more now that the texture of them is mroe pronounced as you lose weight. There isn't a whole lot you can do about them-Mederma and scar creams are way too expensive to be used on a large area-so basically keeping your body massaged with a good lotion/cream to keep the skin supple every day will help make your skin look nicer in general.

wow, ok, i was getting worried because they were red like new ones, but it is a possibility, I noticed in some areas where I lost they were ridgey, how horrible ughh...

a small price to pay though for my health being better now...

thanks

WOW what a weight loss 118lbs.. you go girl...... Sorry bout the stretch marks,, as I have some myself.. I wonder if there is any thing out there to buy to hide them....?

not sure but no bikini's for me when i am finished...lol, thanks, I feel a whole lot better now that I lost it!!!

Sorry to contradict but for people prone to stretch marks (like myself) any change to your body can cause new stretch marks (see this article: http://www.healthynewage.com/stretchmarks.htm). Keep up the cream regimen - who knows how much it helps - but it sure doesn't hurt!

With the 80 lb. loss that I have had, my stretch marks have turned to very fine white/silvery lines and are not near as noticeable as when I was heavier. I guess it could be different for different people. Great job on the weight loss.

It doesn't get rid of them, but it does help a lot with the ridgy texture, which is what is the most noticeable after they go from pink/red to more near your regular skin tone. For most, after a while they are near your regular skin tone, just a little "shinier"...and then you have the texture of them there.
The massaging motion, and the moisture in the cream "plumps" that area, making the texture appear much better. In my experience, any good skin cream works well for this-it doesn't have to be something $10 more expensive because it says "for stretch marks" on it.

MsCrockett-As far as buying something to cover them up-I guess it depends on what you mean by that. There are always clothing changes you can use-my stretch marks are concentrated on my lower tummy (a couple inches below my naval) and I have a patch on either hip...and some on my upper thighs as well-all from my weight gain during my pregnancies. I don't ever wear short-shorts...I will wear capris, or summer dresses, or regular length shorts or skirts. I can wear a 2 piece bathing suit-as long as it isn't one of the ridiculously low "low rise" kind...and I always wear one of the little skirted wraps/sarongs with them, and they camoflauge the stretch marks in the particular areas that I have them in.

For those with more stretch marks, a tankini or cute 1 piece suit with a sheer wrap or sarong should cover any marks up without looking "old lady".

In my dance costumes, I still show belly, I just wear things that are cut exactly right so that they hide those particular "patches" of marks. It is pretty easy if you are creative.

Things like makeup or body cover don't work-as they are meant to cover birthmarks, tattoos, and things for the skin COLOR, not the texture.

I get stretch marks from losing too - that skin that was filled out is not anymore, and it doesnt always just shrink back... I hate it :O(. I get new ones every time I have lost any weight in my life... my hips are riddled with them. :O(

I look like a road map, I don't see a bikini in my future either. However, I do feel way much better & they have those "boy short" like bottoms for swim suits now! Way better than those darn skirts.

So have we come to the consensus that no matter how much weight we loose, we will always have them? If you were to go through a dramatic weight loss, and become extremely physically fit, do you guys think MOST would go away? Any excersises, to eliminate the ugly things?

I know that stretch marks can not be reduced via cream, lotion or exercise. They will fade to a light silver that really isn't that noticeable.

It's possible that there is a laser/medical treatment for them that I don't know about. I have stretch marks - got most of them during puberty, completely unavoidable on breasts/hips. I accept them.

ugh. thats dissapointing. so no matter how well you "firm up" youll keep them? Gosh you can never win.....

They are kinda like scars - where the skin has stretched and torn (I guess that's how I would describe it). If you cut your thigh and needed stiches, could you exercise away the scar?

Exactly. Stretch marks have nothing to do with being fit, or unfit at all. They are scars where your skin was stretched beyond what it could handle, and the top layers of the skin tissue are torn.

Just as Glory said-if you had a scar from a medical issue-such as appendicitis, a C-section, or so forth-it is simply "there" and you cannot exercise them away.

I got most of my stretch marks with my first baby. I used the stretch mark creams every day while I was pregnant to try to avoid them-but I had a 10 pound baby. If I would have had a 6 pound baby I would have probably been okay-but no cream was going to help my skin stretch THAT much without some damage.

Also, the laser treatments work best only when they are NEW. As in, when they are pink/red colored-like immediately after a pregancy, or after the weight gain that caused them. If they are already more skin tone...then the laser treatments don't do all that much.