‘nother person…then I had the tummy tuck done and oops at an embarrassingly old age I turned up just a lil bit preggers ( twice ) and I’ve lost even more now running after two rugrats and for vanity sakes I will probably have to have the tummy tuck again since the babes kinda stretched it back out…worth it tho. MissMandyMom

OSU hospital in Columbus,OH the burn unit.

They need the extra skin for burn victims.

Cyndi

KRISTIN… please just remember just starting on my blog and my lifestyle/weightloss change… :)

It does look like I have Lyme, but my Lyme specialists have said that this is not a symptom of Lyme or one of its coinfections. And I haven’t found other Lyme sufferers who have this.

My problem with loose skin is not just that it’s ugly. Hard surfaces hurt my rear and spine because there is no fat for cushion. The loose skin bunches up under my tailbone and pushes in, and that REALLY hurts.

The nerves are no longer protected by fat so I developed a nerve pinch under my left leg that for more than a year now, my leg and foot feel like they are asleep. I had the same problem in my left arm, then one day, I fell asleep for an hour, leaning on that side. I woke up with compression neuropathy. I lost the use of my left arm and hand for two months. I am just starting to get it back.

I have not heard of others who have lost 100+ lbs. having trouble with nerves – but my neurologist says that it is common because the nerves don’t protect themselves well, and if the fat isn’t there, they are vulnerable.

Despite all of this, I am thrilled about the weight loss. It is easier for my arthritis-riddled knees, my bunions, my back, my joints that have been attacked by the disesae. I never thought of myself as fat because I am tall and was very active, and considered 180 my ideal weight. But there is a huge difference. I love the feeling of being lighter. Shopping is unreal..I’ve been size 17-24 most of my adult life, and now I am a size 4. Just a couple of years ago, I was having trouble finding clothes my size that I liked. Now I am having the same trouble.

Luckily, my husband loves me any way I am. The worst of the hanging skin is on my rear and thighs, but my husband treats my body as if everything is still there, and beautiful.

I’ve lost weight slowly and am very much hoping to avoid the loose skin, although I am 47.

This weekend I came home to find I have finally dropped back down to 24W, mostly thanks to intensive exercise, but that I have stayed the same weight throughout the recent size drops. I never am really sure if I am doing the right thing, but I really need the exercise as a release and am becoming a fitness nut. I don’t want to lose weight through a restrictive, starvation diet minus exercise. Walking is not enough for me either.

This weekend I had to face the fact that not only can morbidly obese women face a lot of hatred and negativity when they brave going out and about, but that our own family members can make us feel like we are getting the death of a thousand cuts.

Yesterday I called a close female family member on the way back from a trip and was sickened to hear her refer to a female teen relative as “a fat pig” and worse. She raged about this fat pig thinking she could go live with another relative for the summer, lose 16 pounds, dye her hair, get all beautiful, and drive back in a fancy new car. I told the relative once again how wrong I thought it was to refer to anyone like that, but it is a constant pattern. I finally faced the fact that this female relative is actually directing all that hatred toward me, point black hatred. She says all these things to me knowing that I am even heavier than this relative she supposedly is referring to, and I realize how threatened she must feel at all the potential changes going on. I have had to really face just how tough and hostile it could be to grow up female in that environment and how that has affected how I feel about being female, beautiful, successful, and so on.

I also am bracing to apply for jobs and find work when I know there are still a lot of people out there who don’t want to hire obese people who apply for the jobs. One thing that has kept me working out so hard on the ellyptical machine is knowing that I have to build up endurance so that I can walk or stand for three hours or more, just in case. I figure if I can stand level 9 for three hours, I’ll make it in the workplace that much better or be able to hike 10-11 miles on a trail.

My recent peak experience, literally, was to make it to the top of an Appalachian trail. This “fat pig” did 2 Turbo Jam ab exercises, jogged and walked for an hour in the high mountains, than hiked more than 6 miles up and down a mountain range. Standing there looking at the mountain tops I had longed to see closer as I jogged, I could only imagine all the wondrous possibilities that await each and everyone of us. I had an entirely different view of the universe. I hiked down through hail, rain, mud, and didn’t care, because, I knew I had entered a whole new era in my life.

This blog site has been such a help to me. Thank you!