Today’s question comes from Tami Q. :
I want to lose weight and firm up my stomach. I don’t want to have any belly sag, which I know there will be excess skin, but I want the bare minimum. So, how much toning should I get in compared to walking and aerobic to help shrink the loose skin? What other things would help the skin not sag so much?
This is a question, I’m sure many of you have thought about, right? What can we do to keep from having sagging skin? The best advice that I can give you that I’ve heard from several different trainers is to lose weight slowly, make sure to get your weight training in as well as your cardio, and take care of your skin. (Any trainers out there, please feel free to jump in here!) You could also go the cosmetic surgery route if you choose.
But I honestly think that this question brings up a bigger issue, and I hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to address that issue here.
I wrote about this once before a while back, and I think now is the perfect time to discuss it again. The fact of the matter is, we all have scars in some way, shape, or form. I have so many stretch marks in so many places from gaining weight and losing weight and gaining weight again and losing weight again. I have a little pouch on the lower part of my stomach which is also from gaining weight and losing weight so many times. There are parts of my arms that are never going to look like Jillian Michaels’ arms no matter how hard I try. And if you want to continue on the subject of scars, being blessed with no grace at all has left me with many scars. (Including one across my forehead that is a result of me running smack into a tree limb when I was a kid. Go ahead and laugh. It’s fine.)
Scars are part of what makes us who we are. They are a part of our story that says, look where I have been. Look at what I’ve done.
This is the way I look at it: If fear of loose skin is what is holding you back from taking control of your life and becoming healthy, then please stop. Seriously. If the skin bothers you that much, then you can have it removed. What I think you really have to do is stop and ask yourself why are you letting something like excess skin keep you from beginning your journey of living a healthier you? Look, I know that weight loss can be a scary thing. There were moments when I was at my heaviest that I literally thought, why even bother? But then I thought, why NOT? I had moments that I was so afraid that I woudl fail, that I wanted to quit, then I thought, why throw how far I’ve already come away?
I chose a long time ago that I’m going to wear my scars proudly. Those closest to me love me for me, not for my scars or my little pouch on my lower stomach. And if I can embrace that way of thinking, if I can lose weight, if I can learn to be proud of myself for all that I’ve accomplished, then you can too. I know you can.
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