Tag: weight-loss

Skin-Deep Stories

Thursday, September 03, 2025

In the retail setting where I work, customers often share personal details about their lives. Recently, a customer told me she had used a new weight loss drug, had rapidly lost weight, and was surprised upon seeing what she referred to as her “Ozempic face.” She explained that people using the latest weight-loss medications are often taken aback to find that their skin changes do not keep pace with their rapidly shrinking bodies. As they lose weight, they may look in the mirror and see faces that appear older—hollow and lined—despite their slimmer figures.

I have been aware that our skin does regenerate periodically, and wondered why skin changes lag so behind rapid weight loss. What I have learned is that human skin actually works on two timelines. There’s a surface layer that renews itself every month or so—quietly and reliably, like clockwork. But our skin also has deeper layers, where collagen and elastin live, that move much more slowly. When we’re young, our skin fibers stretch and spring back relatively easily; however, as we age, the fibers adapt more gradually. Our slower weight changes make our skin adaptations seem more manageable. When our weight drops fast, our skin simply can’t “catch up.”

For younger people, or those lucky enough to have naturally springy skin fibers, time and hydration may soften skin changes over a few months. However, for the rest of us—especially past fifty—the adjustment could take a year or more. And in cases of significant weight loss, skin may never fully rebound.

Yet maybe that’s not entirely bad. Perhaps we’ll adjust by learning to allow our skin to carry our stories–as written in its lines and folds. Our skin can show where we’ve been, what we’ve endured, and how life can surprise us quickly. Essentially, whether it’s about weight loss, aging, or just the turn of a season, our lesson is the same: the outer covering we live in writes its own timeline.

Dear friends, we can lose weight quickly, but our skin takes its time and tells our stories.
—Diana

Steps Onward

Waiting for Bloodwork Results

Saturday, September 14, 2024

Slightly over a month ago, my donkey Pimmy was hospitalized for days because her liver was failing. I hadn’t recognized the signs that was happening. Now, I understand that livers are lovely because they can regenerate.

Yesterday, Pimmy had a post-hospital wellness check. Her blood analysis shows that her liver is recovering and in the high-normal range. She’s not out of the woods yet.

Pimmy went into the hospital with her weight way down because she had lost her appetite. Post-hospital, she has regained both appetite and weight. I learned yesterday that her “downweight” level was perfect for her. But we had to get her to eat again, accomplished that, and now she’s too heavy.

Pimmy is being started on a diet. She may eat only 6.5 pounds of hay daily; she also needs meds (and resists being mediated). The vet explained ways to “trick her” into taking them. So last evening, Hungry Pimmy got a little gain sprinkled with a powdered med and ate that mix. She also gobbled a “Little Debbie” (something or other) with a bad-tasting pill buried inside. That pill had been double-disguised–inserted into a gelatin capsule–to hide its smell.

If she takes the meds freely, that’ll be so nice. Now that her liver issue is more under control, we have begun medicating for her Cushing’s disease. That means Pimmy needs the awful-tasting pill daily and for the rest of her life. She also must stay at an appropriate weight.

I’ll be playing by ear to feed and medicate her appropriately. I hope to manage without reducing my outside part-time working hours or quitting altogether. On some evenings, I help to close the store, which turns a last feeding for the horses (and Pimmy) into a very late effort that needs handling quickly. Now, it includes both medication and calorie control.

Dear Friends: I hold close that “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” Diana