So bugged by misinformation about how we can "undo" the weight gain damage

Maybe I'm bugged because I "can't" fix the damage? Maybe I'm bugged because I cannot believe people believe the things they type/write? I don't know but man it bugs me to hear:

"Use this cream to not get stretch marks."
"Use this cream/method to make stretch marks disappear."
"Lose slowly to not get loose skin."
"Eat right to not get stretch marks or loose skin."
"Do arm strength training to get rid of bat wings (loose skin on the arms)."

Etc. DRIVES ME BATTY!!!

I just want to ask these people this one simple question, "If you think it is that simple to not get stretch marks or to get rid of stretch marks or to not get loose skin, don't you think there would be NO ONE with stretch marks and loose skin?"

It insults my intelligence to hear such spouted things. It makes me mad because it gives people false hope. It also is belittling to hear these remedies.

Of course, for many people, it will seem like these tricks did work. "Look, I used a cream and I didn't get stretch marks!" Prove to me it was the cream. Did you only use it on half your belly?

"I started doing strength training and the skin on my underarms slowly tightened up as muscle filled the skin." First, anyone, ANYONE should know that muscle is smaller than fat. See here?

So, normal strength training will actually make your arms become smaller and therefore you will actually have MORE loose skin, not less, especially on the non-shoulder region.

Two, PROVE it was strength training and not just time that finally shrank up the skin? Did you exercise one arm and not the other? No? Then how can you be sure?

ARGH!!!!

The one that reallllly gets me, "You will have less loose skin if you lose more slowly." No... you will have less loose skin because your weight loss and your ability to shrink up skin is more in sync time wise. We can lose weight much faster than our skin can bounce back (if it ever does).

Now, if seeing the loose skin will gross you out or derail your weight loss efforts, then, by all means, take it slowly. It just means you'll get thinner more slowly, but whatever works for you, but DON'T tell me it's the reason you don't have loose skin!

I guess I'm just in a mood today. Seriously!

Noticing the little changes in your body

I remember hearing as a child about how things sag and bag as you get older. And well. of course this happens, but I think most of it is from becoming inactive than it is from actually aging.

I'll take the butt for one. Neither my husband or I had nice, firm butts. They are flat and in my case, wide. Our 7 year old has a nice butt, but he also jumps and runs all the time. It's solid muscle.

I thought with age that my butt would sag and get worse, well, no, it hasn't. It's gotten firmer and nicer. So has my husband's derrière. 

Now my body has been fat for a very long time, so of course, a thinner me and fitter me is going to look better regardless. But my husband's body has always been trim, yet he looks better now than he ever has in the 20 years we have been together as a couple. He has muscle definition in his arms, legs, chest, core - everywhere basically.

My body is a wreck of stretch marks and saggy skin and muscles are again under a layer of fat as I lose my recent gains, but even I notice little changes.

Yesterday I was at the gym with the personal trainer and the other gals I'm working with. I was at the far end of the room at a machine working the triceps. I always worry about good form, so I tried to see if I could get a look at my form in the mirror on the far side of the room. What I saw shocked me. The mirror was a good 30 feet away, but I could see my triceps muscles moving/working. Me? with visible working muscles? What? And under a layer of fat? You could see it?

Today while I was getting dressed in the bathroom I could see my behind. My butt has filled out with muscle (somewhat). I could now pass the pencil test with flying colors as there is no 'fold' to hold a pencil any more. I remember doing this sometime last year and the pencil stayed... not any more. 

I look around at the older fitness instructors at the gym and older fitness enthusiasts. Their bodies look great. Maybe to them they see it's not as good as it used to be if they've always been fit, but when you compare a fit 50 year old to a standard 50 year old? the difference is HUGE. Huger at 50 than at 35 for sure.

So, I'm noticing the little improvements to my own body - a firmer butt, visible muscle movement from across the room and just an ability to do so much more than I could when I was younger. Hopefully as I get thinner and even more fit, I'll notice even more little changes and not focus on the things I don't like - the saggy skin and stretch marks and wrinkles!