Stretch marks. If you’re fat, or you were fat, you’ve got ‘em. If you are/were really fat, you’ve got a lot of them. You probably have them if you ever had a baby, and maybe if you are one of those crazy weight lifter types.
And you’re not getting rid of them. If they’re red, they’ll get lighter and more silvery with time. You can pay a lot of money for dermabrasion and lotions, and they’ll make your stretchmarks more silvery, from what I can tell in the photos. But they’ll get that way anyway.
A LOT of people have stretch marks. More than you think. Even people you think of as thin. Why don’t you see them? Chances are, you don’t look at others as critically as you do at yourself. Some people cover them up, but from what I notice (and honestly, I’m not a real people watcher) people who really aren’t playing up their best features are letting them hang out.
So it makes me a little sad when I read posts from people just starting on their weight loss journey who are worried about what their skin will look like when they lose weight.
It makes me sad I was (and am!) one of those women.
There are a lot of things about myself I have control over, but stretch marks simply aren’t one of them. Or I did have control over them, back in the day when I gained weight, but no longer.
They are scars on my skin from my higher weight, and given the alternative of having large, weeping sores, I guess stretch marks are as good a way as any to cope with problem of having a set amount of skin covering more person than it was designed for. As I lose weight, I’m amazed to see them places I never knew had them.
The stretch marks will be there regardless of whether or not I lose weight. Heck, being the mother of twins, I’d probably have lots of stretchmarks even if I was never heavy.
And as I age (oi! am I aging!), I’m sure there are many more delightful changes in store, and I won’t like those much either.
But I’m working on not thinking about them. And I’m working on making the body underneath fit. Those are the things I can control. With any luck, the skin will decide to work with the program.
