Photo of stretch marks making me feel really down.

[TinyStripe]

My mum just sent me a load of photos that she took of me a few weeks ago. In one of them in reaching up to get something out of a cupboard with my son by my feet. Lovely photo but my top has risen up and you can see my belly. It looks absolutely horrific. My body didn't take pregnancy too well. I was absolutely huge and I am covered in stretch marks which are red and scary still. I didn't realise my belly looked quite so bad though. I've been dating someone recently and he's only seen me clothed. I'm in tears over this photo and know that it's just loose skin and there's sod all I can do about it. I exercise, I'm slim and healthy. My loose skin is never going to go. Can't stop crying. What if the guy I've been seeing thinks it looks as horrific as I do?

Oh and I forgot to say, when you’re naked all your man really notices is tits, pussy, bum and naked woman. 😘

Echoing what everyone has said.
When I went for my first shower after giving birth, I looked in the mirror and cried at the state of my body. I had horrendous striped, wide and deep, all over my belly and hips. The marks were so dark they were almost purple.
They WILL fade to a kind of silvery grey. They can look worse in certain lights.
Once you have them you can't 'get rid' of them as its actually the collagen and elastin layer of your skin that has 'ripped' like a ladder in a pair of tights. Some people swear by certain oils or lotions but this is not proven. It may be the actual action of rubbing that stimulates collagen reformation, but they don't really know. They only way to get rid of them would be to have abdominoplasty (tummy tuck) but obviously this isn't something most people would do, and obviously it would do nothing for stretch marks over your hips, arms or thighs etc.

Please be assured they will fade over time. Most men couldn't give a monkeys about stuff like this, we are far too critical of our own bodies. I have such a wide stretch mark over my navel that the flesh underneath it actually pouches out! It's gross. By my husband has never commented on it.
Be kind to yourself.