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Lindsey M. Adams Skin Tight

It’s time for Part III of Lindsey M. Adams’s weight loss story (Part I and II here). With any substantial weight loss, you know there is going to be loose skin. For Adams, it was a lot of loose skin, so much that it became something of a dark secret she tried to hide. While she would smile in people’s faces and tell them about all the incredible progress she’d made (again, she’s lost 140 pounds), she battled with personal shame. A shame due to the fact that not only was the skin a sight she didn’t want to see, but also because she was still filled with a lot of hurt and pain from many years of being obese. I could go back and forth and try to lead you into all of her thought-provoking statements about the skin you see above, but I don’t want to take away from the powerful message. So here’s what Lindsey M. Adams had to say about the hit her newfound confidence took when she had to look at her loose skin in the mirror every day. She explains the differences between the way she looked at her body at that time and the way she looks at that loose skin now. In her own words:

When I looked at it then, I was naive. I kept thinking that it was fat. Fat rolls like I’d always had. I kept thinking, “It’s going to go away.” Then one I realized it didn’t go away, I really just didn’t talk about it. For me, I’m an inspirational speaker and I’m a naturally positive person and I just couldn’t really figure out a positive way to spin it at the time. I really couldn’t because there was nothing I could do about it and I really hated it. So I didn’t really feel like going into detail about it. Like I said before, at that time I had about 350 videos on YouTube when I finished my weight loss journey. And I have one skin video. Other than the ones I just recently posted talking about the show, I have one video. It doesn’t show the skin.

So it wasn’t until Skin Tight that I could really mention the skin because it’s another form of shame. I was speaking, I won a state business competition in Chicago, people were excited for me. I had been obese my whole life so I didn’t realize how popular weight loss was. I didn’t know people were obsessed with weight loss. So it was a personal shame. Even my mentor didn’t really understand. She would say, “Who is seeing you naked? Nobody but you.” So when you asked me what I wanted to be free from in my health journey, it’s a lot of shame and emotional trauma. Because with my breasts down to my belly button and my arms sagging and I can’t even wear a short swimsuit, it was hard. I had been a plus-sized fashion blogger for years. But all these great crop-top swimsuits couldn’t be a reality for me. Even the plus-size bloggers who were just big, their skin was tight, so they could wear stuff I couldn’t. So here I am in between getting rid of the morbidly obese girl, but looking like a distorted girl.

I felt so much personal shame so I didn’t feel secure when I was speaking. But my voice has gotten a lot stronger and I can’t wait for more videos and speaking engagements. Because before I would just regurgitate information I had learned during my speeches. But now, because I went through such a hard experience, now I really have a voice. Before I was telling people something, now I’m sharing with you my life. And that’s the difference between loose skin me and now in that I’m totally being real with you. I was real before because that was truthful information but I was just telling a story and information. Because of my personal shame I didn’t feel what people expected me to feel. And I didn’t feel like all the compliments that people gave me–I couldn’t even receive them because I was hurt. I think I was actually kind of mad, really, now that I think about it. Everybody was so happy for me but nobody really knew what I looked like and understood how I felt. Just like when I was obese.

People would say, “Lindsey, you’re so stylish, so great, so positive.” That’s how they treated me when I was obese. No one thought my weight affected me because I was so put together. Same thing for when I lost the weight. Everybody thought I was good and that I had made it. People were doing stories about me, but nobody really understood what I was going through because of the skin.

You can check out what Adams looks like after having all the skin removed on the premiere of her Skin Tight episode tonight at 10/9C on TLC (Don’t worry about what your TV guide says about My 600-lb Life at 10, it’s really Skin Tight). And tomorrow, we’ll follow up with Adams about life after the show, how it changed the way she sees herself for the better, and what’s next on her health and fitness journey. Again, check out her social media channels, including Facebook, TwitterYouTube, Instagram, and her website to stay tuned into her story.

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