Most people don’t consider or even know about the down sides to losing weight. Two big problems people tackle when losing more than just a few pounds are stretch marks and loose excess skin.

As I hover just above the 40 pounds lost mark, I am on a daily battle with stretch marks.  Most of mine are on my hips, upper/inner  thighs and chest. I have a couple on my stomach, which I find to be odd since I carried the bulk of my weight below my chest and above my hips. I’ve been trying out various combination’s of products to help with these pesky stretch marks. Its somewhat annoying that 90% of all stretch mark related creams are marketed towards prenatal and postnatal women. It can be embarrassing to purchase such items if you are not pregnant or even worse a man! I’ve learned to love my Belly Balm from Whole Foods with pride. I haven’t found one sure fire solution yet, but have tried varying combination’s of vitamin e oil, belly balm, cocoa butter, shea butter, and other non-specific stretch mark blends. I suspect its one of those things that will work out over time. I’ve had stretch marks before and they’ve always faded. If all else fails, they can be removed via laser surgery.

Weight loss can also cause issues with skin elasticity. While my abdomen has been spared from stretch marks, I suspect this is because I still have a lot of loose skin. Even as the muscle tone develops beneath the skin, you can still be plagued by loose bits of skin that hover over it.  The loose skin on my abdomen isn’t noticeable until I bend forward, the sides cave in and there is a loose glob of flesh below my belly button.  I guess it will take a lot of pilates and abs & core workouts to get it more manageable. There are also a wide array of skin firming skin care products available, which may not be 100% solution, but may help aid in the process.

I recently read an article on Second Helping about different types of surgery for loose skin post-drastic weight loss. I think plastic surgery always should be a last resort. I still wouldn’t consider any surgical procedures until a year or two out, that is if I could afford them, since my weight is still fluctuating.  I still hope to end up in the 145-155 range. I weighed in yesterday at 161, so I don’t have that far to go yet.  I want to be in the middle range of the average weight for my height and build. Its hard to believe that I am only 6 pounds away from my original “here’s to hoping” goal and 16 away from my “pie in the sky” goal.