Skinny issues

 No, I'm not quite there yet. I'm definitely not referring to myself as "skinny"....but I was thinking this morning about skin in general, because I've very recently started to take a lot more care of mine.

I read that dry brushing helps with loose skin, and as you can see in the pic here, I already have plenty of that, even though I'm only about half way through this weight loss thing.

I also stepped up my routine for exfoliation and moisturising. I scrub with a mixture of coffee grounds and brown sugar. It used to be once a month, but now it's once a week. I moisturise my skin after every time I wash (so my hands get it a few times a day, full body in the morning after I shower, and again if I go to the gym and shower again.
I've been holding off on telling you guys the moisturiser that I use because I haven't been using it for long enough to tell if it's really doing what it says on the bottle, but it's Nivea firming body lotion. I love the way it feels. It does take a little while to sink into the skin, which can be a pain in the morning if you're rushing out the door, but it's not greasy, and it leaves me feeling smooth and hydrated.

This second picture is a skin issue I've had for as long as I can remember, and it's been linked to the dry skin associated with hypothyroidism, though if I recall correctly, my mother has the same thing and her thyroid is fine. It's called ketosis pilaris, and it's fairly common. The treatment for it is the same as what I've just started doing for my loose skin, so I'll check back in with you guys on this in a couple of months and let you know if there's any improvement.

I'll be honest. I'm terrified of what my body is going to look like when this thing is all done. My thighs look like they're melting right now, and my belly is deflating like a balloon. I know that it's all gotta be better than still being so, so obese, but I can't help but feel like there will be a punishment for all the damage I've done to my body as well as the rewards from losing the weight. At the end of the day, I have nobody to blame but myself. I allowed this to happen to my skin, and now I'll have to deal with the consequences. It's a good reminder though, that when we do horrible stuff to ourselves, there are long term effects that will stay with us forever.

Last of all, my advice to anyone I care about....would be:

As soon as you feel your clothes getting too tight when you're still a healthy weight, do something about it. Don't buy bigger clothes, work harder to keep what you have. It took a decade and a half, and an awful journey back to health that I still have at least another year of before I can start to maintain weight for me to realize that it's just not worth it. Food isn't worth it. Addiction isn't worth it. I'll be fighting the addiction for the rest of my life and I wish I had fought it in the beginning.