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" Hi Jess,  I am a 15-year-old girl who has serious body issues. I have stretch marks on my thighs, the side of my stomach, my lower back, and my knees (behind them, too). I&amp;#039;m not fat. I&amp;#039;m an average weight, but I would like to lose weight. I truly hate my body.  My friends and family say I&amp;#039;m a beautiful girl but it breaks my heart that I can&amp;#039;t see what they see. All I see in the mirror is everything that I&amp;#039;m not. I&amp;#039;m not skinny, stretch-mark-free or beautiful. I don&amp;#039;t wear shorts or skirts without leggings because I&amp;#039;m afraid that people might point out my stretch marks.  One day in class we watched a pregnancy video where the pregnant women had stretch marks. My friends among other girls in the room literally coiled at the sight of her stretch marks and said how disgusting it was. One of my friends said that it looked like a parasite. I didn&amp;#039;t think my self-esteem could get lower than that, but I was WAY wrong. Every morning when I look at my self in the mirror I feel so disgusted. Jess, I have no idea what to do. I&amp;#039;m tired of feeling this way but I really can&amp;#039;t help it. I try to talk to my mom but she doesn&amp;#039;t want to talk to me about it. I have nowhere else to go. \u2014Precious  Hi Precious, I am so sorry to hear you are having such serious body image issues. I know it&amp;#039;s no consolation, but stretch marks are INCREDIBLY common for girls who are growing during their teen years. Most girls have them. MOST. Even the ones making fun of you. (That&amp;#039;s why they do it!) Sometimes African-American, Native American, or Eastern Indian skin can show stretch marks more prominently than other skin types. And sometimes stretch marks are also a sign that your body&amp;#039;s growing very fast and the skin hasn&amp;#039;t caught up with it yet. I know it&amp;#039;s an embarrassing and painful thing to experience but I assure you\u2014you are not alone. If you are uncomfortable with wearing shorts, try cropped pants or leggings, which feel cute but and make you feel good, but don&amp;#039;t expose your skin. But I can&amp;#039;t fix what is hurting you with just clothing advice. You are really in crisis with your own self-esteem. If you use words like &amp;quot;hate&amp;quot; to describe the relationship you have with your body, then that&amp;#039;s where we need to start. Your body isn&amp;#039;t something separate. It&amp;#039;s you, and if you HATE you, then how do you expect me or anyone else to learn how to love you and appreciate you. You must be an example, Precious, of how you want to be treated. I know you are in pain but don&amp;#039;t give up on yourself. And try to look at your body. Just look at it. It&amp;#039;s yours. And it&amp;#039;s a miracle. You have healthy arms and legs\u2014some people don&amp;#039;t. You have a healthy heart. Some people don&amp;#039;t. You have a face that can smile. Some people can&amp;#039;t. So find your blessings where you have them and make sure you continue to say in your head what you are thankful for, over and over, until that begins to replace the negative voice that is dominating you right now. If you need more support, talk to a friend&amp;#039;s mom, a counselor, a teacher at school, or someone in your community. I am sorry your mom doesn&amp;#039;t want to talk to you about it\u2014but maybe you can frame the question to her differently. Instead of complaining about how much you hate your body\u2014or your stretch marks\u2014get to the deeper issue\u2014tell her you are hurting and you don&amp;#039;t know how to stop. Tell her you are scared about your body&amp;#039;s changes and don&amp;#039;t know how to handle it. It will be a vulnerable conversation but one worth having. You are not your skin or stretch marks, Precious. You are not your weight or your size. You are a unique human being who lives in a body that is blessed. So find those blessings and move forward. Don&amp;#039;t get distracted by this body loathing. Blessings, Jess "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.seventeen.com/health/q-and-a/a13862/stop-hating-your-body/>