Preventing Stretch Marks When Starting a New Diet

Weight gain is a common cause of stretch marks, but did you know that dieting and losing weight can cause stretch marks too? In addition to weight gain, pregnancy, and bodybuilding, losing weight is one of the most common causes of stretch marks. Weight loss stretch marks can be caused by rapid changes in skin shape and by stretching caused by excess skin that’s left over after losing weight rapidly. The excess skin can weigh other areas of skin down and cause stretch marks to form.

If you’re successful in dieting and losing weight, you’re going to want to feel proud of your progress and your new look, but stretch marks scarring can damage your self-confidence and give you a new reason to feel insecure about your body. Since you’ll want to look your best after losing weight, before starting a new diet or exercise routine, you should consider these tips for preventing stretch marks while losing weight.

Lose Weight Slowly

While it’s tempting to drop pounds as quickly as you possibly can, losing weight quickly can increase your chance of getting stretch marks. Additionally, rapid weight loss is generally achieved by diet or workout plans that are unsustainable over the long term, so choosing a diet or exercise plan that promotes gradual weight loss can help you lose weight and keep it off over the long run, and it can help you avoid developing stretch marks.

Eat Foods that Encourage Collagen Production

Collagen is a protein in your body that heals skin when it’s damaged, promotes skin regeneration, and helps keep skin soft and flexible. A diet consisting of foods that promote collagen production will decrease your likelihood of developing stretch marks by keeping your skin healthy and elasticized. Some healthy, low-fat foods that encourage collagen production include fish, red and green vegetables, berries, nuts, avocados, and citrus fruits. Working these foods into your meal plan can help prevent stretch marks.

Use a Stretch Mark Prevention Product

Applying a stretch mark prevention cream or lotion daily while losing weight can reduce your likelihood of developing stretch marks by softening skin and making it more flexible.

Treating Stretch Marks

Unfortunately, sometimes no amount of prevention can stop stretch marks from forming. Some evidence shows that genetics can predispose you to stretch marks, so if your parents have them, you may be more likely to get them too. Additionally, sometimes losing weight makes stretch marks caused by weight gain to appear; the scars weren’t specifically caused by weight loss, but losing weight makes them more visible on your body.

If you end up with visible stretch marks after losing weight and want to get rid of them, consider using a stretch mark removal product. Many cost-friendly lotions and creams are available for purchase over the counter, and these products may help reduce the visibility of your stretch marks.

You’ll want to feel your best after losing weight, so don’t let stretch marks get in the way of your new self-confidence.

Prevent Stretch Marks Naturally by Eating the Right Foods



Promote Collagen Production Through Proper Nutrition


Lean Proteins: Vegetables: Fruits:
·         Salmon

·         Tuna

·         Tofu

·         Beans

·         Egg whites

·         Peanuts

·         Oysters

·         Chicken

·         Turkey

·         Lentils

·         Broccoli

·         Spinach

·         Kale greens

·         Brussel sprouts

·         Carrots

·         Garlic

·         Red peppers

·         Edamame

·         Beets

·         Green beans

·         Cherries

·         Blueberries

·         Raspberries

·         Blackberries

·         Tomatoes

·         Oranges

·         Lemons

·         Limes

·         Grapefruit

·         Avocados





Doctor’s Approval


Alternative Methods of Stretch Mark Prevention


4 Things to Seriously Consider Before Starting the Paleo Diet

Though Loren Cordain, Ph.D., published his first paper on the Paleo Diet in 1999, it wasn’t until 2011 that his caveman diet plan started to catch on. The Paleo Diet recommends eating like our ancestors—only consuming foods that would have been readily available in Paleolithic times through hunting and gathering. Individuals on the Paleo Diet are encouraged to eat meats, fruits, and vegetables and avoid grains and dairy.

The Paleo Diet has become popular in recent years because individuals on the diet tend to lose weight quickly by cutting things like milk and bread out of their diets. While quick weight loss may sound like a dream come true, there are a few things you should seriously consider before starting the Paleo Diet.

You May Not Be Eating Like a Caveman

Our ancestors didn’t follow a diet; they ate whatever was available to them. The Paleo Diet recommends a significant amount of protein consumption, but it’s likely that our prehistoric ancestors consumed more plants than animals. Fruits and vegetables were more readily available and easier to harvest—no hunting was required.

Your Weight Loss May Not Be Sustainable

The best diets to start are those that can be maintained over a lifetime. While losing weight may be your primary goal, you won’t be satisfied if you gain it all back shortly after ending your diet. Because the Paleo Diet is so limiting in what you can consume, it’s not realistic to imagine that it’s a diet you can stay on long-term. Before you embark on the Paleo Diet journey, consider how you will maintain your weight loss when you add dairy and grain back to your meals.

You May Not Be Getting the Nutrients You Need

Calcium is important for bone strength, so with the removal of dairy from your diet, you’ll need to take a calcium supplement to avoid conditions like osteoporosis. Eating high amounts of meat can increase your cholesterol and put you at risk for heart disease. Additionally, carbohydrate deficiency over a long period of time can cause ketosis—a condition where your body is forced to burn fat for energy. While some fat burning is good, ketosis can cause side effects like dehydration and nausea and can be dangerous for people with diabetes and other chronic conditions.

Losing Weight Quickly Can Cause Stretch Marks

Your reason for starting the Paleo Diet is unique—it could be for improved health, more energy, or to fit back into those pants you’ve been hanging on to—but more than likely looking good is a factor in your weight loss plan. If your goal is to look your best, you’ll want to avoid stretch marks that can develop as a result of losing weight quickly. To prevent stretch marks, you’ll need to apply a stretch mark prevention lotion or cream daily throughout your diet. Search our catalog of stretch mark prevention products to find one that’s right for you.

35 Foods That Help Prevent Stretch Marks

When people think about stretch marks, pregnancy, weight gain, bodybuilding, and puberty usually come to mind because these are all times when the body changes shape rapidly. When the shape of your body changes rapidly, stretch marks can form. However, while these changes can contribute to your likelihood of developing stretch marks, the actual cause of stretch marks is brittle skin that is prone to tearing when stretched. Hormones, aging, and sun damage can all contribute to skin becoming more brittle. These factors all reduce the amount of collagen in your skin.

Collagen is a protein produced naturally by the body that helps keep skin soft, healthy, and flexible. It works to regenerate new skin when skin is damaged and makes it less likely for skin damage to be permanent. However, as we get older our body produces collagen in lesser amounts. This is a prime cause of wrinkles, but it can also make you more likely to develop stretch marks when your body changes shape. Sun exposure without sunblock and hormone fluctuations caused by pregnancy can also reduce the amount of collagen your body produces.

In good news, there are several foods you can eat that will promote your body to increase collagen production.

Collagen-Boosting Foods

Making sure your diet contains these collagen-boosting foods is a good way to prevent stretch marks during high-risk periods. As a bonus, they may also help reduce signs of aging.

  1. Lean Proteins: Tuna, Salmon, Egg Whites, and Turkey
  2. Citrus Fruits: Grapefruits, Oranges, Lemons, and Limes
  3. Berries: Blackberries, Raspberries, Cherries, and Strawberries
  4. Green Vegetables: Spinach, Olives, Brussel Sprouts, and Cabbage
  5. Orange Vegetables: Carrots, Sweet Potatoes, and Pumpkin
  6. Red Vegetables: Tomatoes, Red Peppers, Red Onions, and Radishes
  7. Soy Products: Tofu, Edamame, and Soy Milk
  8. Beans: Green Beans, Hummus, Black Beans, and Pinto Beans
  9. Nuts: Peanuts, Walnuts, and Flaxseeds
  10. Favorites: Garlic and Avocados

Other Ways to Prevent Stretch Marks

While making sure you’re eating plenty of collagen-boosting foods is a good way to prevent stretch marks, there are many other things you can do in conjunction with altering your diet to lower your risk.

The first is to avoid sun damage. Don’t go to the tanning bed. If you need or want to appear tanned, opt for using a sunless tanner instead—either a spray tan or sunless tanning lotion. If you’re going to be spending a lot of time in the sun, make sure to wear sunblock so you can prevent your skin from being damaged by harmful UV rays.

Another way to prevent stretch marks is through frequent application of a stretch mark prevention lotion or cream. Stretch mark prevention creams are specially formulated to make skin soft, supple, and less prone to damage when stretched, and it may help prevent developing stretch marks at high-risk times. Apply a stretch marks cream all over your body once or twice a day for the best results.

4 Surprising Facts to Consider Before Starting the Raw Foods Diet

If you despise cooking, the raw foods diet may be a good option for you. The diet encourages eating only raw foods and avoiding foods that have been cooked, preserved, microwaved, or genetically engineered. Individuals on the raw foods diet primarily consume organic fruits, vegetables, and nuts in either natural or smoothie form. Because meat and dairy products must be cooked or pasteurized before safe for human consumption, these foods are typically not eaten by individuals on the raw foods diet.

While individuals on the raw foods diet tend to lose weight quickly, not all outcomes of this diet are desirable. Keep the following facts in mind when considering whether or not the diet is right for you:

Raw Food Is Not Necessarily Better for Digestion

One of the biggest tenants of the raw foods diet is that cooking food destroys its nutrients, and it also destroys the natural enzymes found in food that promote proper digestion. However, cooking actually makes some foods more digestible. Additionally, cooking food can make food safer for consumption because it kills the bacteria that causes food poisoning.

The Raw Foods Diet Could Cause Malnutrition

While eating plenty of fruits and vegetables will provide lots of vitamins, minerals, and fiber, the raw foods diet tends to lack in important nutrients like protein, iron, and calcium. Lack of protein can cause fatigue, depression, and muscle loss; lack of iron can cause anemia; and lack of calcium can cause osteoporosis. All of these can result in serious long term damage to your health, so it’s important to speak with a doctor before starting a raw foods diet for tips on how to get all of the nutrients you need.

The Raw Foods Diet Is Difficult to Maintain

If you’re moving from eating large amounts of meat, sugar, and fast food to eating a diet composed solely of raw foods, you will almost certainly lose weight. However, eating only raw and unprocessed foods is a huge commitment in the long term because it will be very difficult—if not impossible—to enjoy things like having dinner with friends or participating in a cookout or potluck. The diet is really only practical if you’re preparing all of your food for yourself at home. Because of this, it is unlikely that you’ll be able to stay on the diet long-term, and moving from the diet back to a normal eating style may result in quickly regaining the weight you lost.

Rapid Weight Loss Can Cause Stretch Marks

If you’re hoping to lose weight in order to improve your appearance, you’ll want to keep in mind that losing weight rapidly can cause stretch marks. In order to avoid getting stretch marks while on the raw foods diet, you’ll want to apply a stretch mark prevention lotion over your skin each day. Check out of catalog of the best stretch mark prevention products to find one that’s right for you.

What Causes Stretch Marks After Losing Weight?

Striae, more commonly referred to as stretch marks, are scars that form in the middle layer of skin when brittle skin stretches and tears. While stretch marks are most commonly associated with pregnancy and weight gain, losing weight is also a common cause. This surprises most people because skin isn’t stretching when you lose weight—it’s shrinking. However, there are a few reasons why stretch marks form as a result of weight loss:

Weight Loss Causes Stretch Marks to Appear

In some cases, it’s not losing weight that causes stretch marks—they were caused by gaining weight and just didn’t become visible until after you lost that weight. If you have preexisting stretch marks caused by weight gain, you won’t be able to prevent stretch marks when losing weight because they’re already there.

Excess Skin

If you’ve lost a significant amount of weight and have excess skin because of your weight loss, that excess skin can cause stretch marks because it weighs down other areas of skin. The excess skin pulls on healthy skin and can cause stretching, tearing, and scarring. If you plan to lose a lot of weight, using a stretch mark prevention cream daily can help prevent stretch marks from developing due to the weight of excess skin.

Muscle Gain

If you engage in strength training to lose weight, quick muscle development may cause stretch marks to form. Rapid muscle development can stretch skin to accommodate larger muscles, so strength training and bodybuilding are common causes of stretch marks. To help prevent stretch mark development, try to gain muscle as a sustained pace rather than very quickly, and avoid using steroids or other supplements that encourage rapid muscle development.

Rapid Weight Loss

Any rapid changes in the shape of skin can result in stretch marks, even the shrinking of skin caused by losing weight quickly. To prevent stretch marks from forming due to weight loss, try to lose weight at a consistent pace rather than all at once or very quickly. Dramatic diet changes and sudden intense workouts can cause rapid weight loss and stretch mark development, and these weight loss methods are also harder to maintain. You’ll have more success making gradual changes to your diet and exercise routines, and you’ll be less likely to develop stretch marks.

Treatment Options

If you are already suffering from stretch marks, there are many treatment options available for fading or eliminating stretch mark scars. Laser treatment, chemical peels, and microneedling are all procedures that a doctor can perform to minimize stretch marks scarring. A tummy tuck can also be performed in cases where you have both stretch marks and excess skin, though a tummy tuck is a highly invasive procedure that carries many risks.

An economical first step for stretch mark removal is to use a stretch mark removal cream. Available over the counter, a stretch mark cream may reduce the appearance of stretch marks and doesn’t require a doctor to perform a high-cost treatment.

What You Need to Know Before Starting CrossFit

CrossFit is a popular workout and training program that encourages people to push past their limits to lose weight, gain muscle, and get stronger. Proponents of the program absolutely love it; they rave about its benefits and attempt to recruit others. People who aren’t fans of the program, on the other hand, warn that it’s dangerous: trainers with minimal credentials encourage people to push further than they feel they should go. This combination could lead to injury and other serious health conditions.

Regardless of which side is correct, you need to do your own research to determine if the CrossFit program is right for you. Talk to your doctor before starting the program, and consider these four pieces of information designed to assist you in making a decision:

CrossFit Is Not for Beginners

If you’ve spent the last year sitting on the couch eating potato chips and watching Netflix, you probably don’t want to start exercising at the level of intensity required in a CrossFit program. While you’ll probably lose weight if you stick to it, you’ll be so sore after you first workout that you’ll never want to go back, discouraging you from sticking with the program. Additionally, going from not working out at all to working out at such a high intensity can lead to injury and other serious health issues.

Becoming a Trainer Requires Little Education

You can become a CrossFit level 1 trainer by taking a weekend course and passing a written test—that’s it. What this means is that pretty much anyone with a little extra cash and a couple of free days can take on the title of coach. These coaches may have varying levels of education on proper form and health and could coach you into doing reps of an exercise incorrectly, increasing the likelihood that you’ll be injured. An injury could leave you stationary for weeks and force you to start all over again after healing.

CrossFit Works

Like any program that encourages regular exercise, weightlifting, and constant improvement, CrossFit does help people get in shape, lose weight, and build muscle mass. It’s high-intensity workouts provide regular practitioners with sculpted bodies and can provide desired results to individuals who already engage in regular exercise and weightlifting in their daily lives and are looking to get to the next level. CrossFit also promotes dieting to assist in getting into shape, which can also add to the program’s effectiveness.

Weight Loss and Muscle Gain Can Cause Stretch Marks

Before starting any new diet or exercise program, it’s important to keep in mind that losing weight rapidly and gaining muscle rapidly are two of the most common causes of stretch marks. Since one of your goals for getting in shape is likely so you can look your best, you may want to start using a stretch mark prevention product daily before beginning CrossFit. An over the counter stretch mark prevention lotion or cream may reduce your likelihood or developing stretch marks when you start CrossFit.