Now that I have lost 144 pounds, I'm realllllyy starting to notice loose skin. Which we all know sucks in and of itself. But here is my question - isn't there quite a bit of weight to loose skin? I mean, it doesn't seem like it would be realistic for me to get down to say 120 pounds if I have 20 pounds of loose skin. I'm not trying to make excuses, just trying to be realistic. Because when BMI calculators tell you what a "healthy weight" is, they are certainly not taking into account pounds of loose skin.

Any thoughts?

It is definitely true that this does add weight. But it's also true that some of that skin will very likely shrink up over time which really depends a great deal on how fast you lost that weight and genetics, of course. If younlost the weig at a pretty good clip it might take the skin a bit longer to catch up.

Wow, Cherrypie! I remember when you started here at 3FC. Congratulations on your awesome accomplishment! One more pound to go and 100's here you come! So cool!

I have thought the same thing numerous times. Like how do we account for that?? So just from some weird funky weighing parts of my "skin" on my kitchen scale...(okay, so I live in the middle of nowhere and need something to do for entertainment...lol) I estimate I have at least 10 pounds of the stuff hanging on my body, give or take. I think that is one of the reasons I just can't lose anymore weight. I have tried umpteen times to take off 7-10 more pounds, only to get lightheaded, weak, and not feeling too great...so I go back to my maintaince eating. I think I either need to just except that I'll never be a 130's girl, or have surgery!

Woo hoo, I agree with Lori -- way to GO! You are awesome!

I have been thinking some about this lately as I'm starting to understand/realize that loose skin is GOING to happen to me (already is). At this point it's a question of how much and what that will mean to the bottom line.

I'm looking at Lori and thinking she looks like she weighs less than she does -- I mean, I don't see an ounce of fat on her! I've been wondering if I were to get down to 130 or so, a healthy weight for my height, that I would be a bag of bones covered in lots of skin. I think it needs to be taken into account, and that we need to be careful when we get close - to understand that we might be thinner than what the scale says because of it. Guess we'll find out!

Thanks guys for your kind words! When I started this I picked the number 150 basically out of a hat, because it seemed impossible that I would be able to get down to 300 let alone get into the 150's! Now I know that 150 is still considered too much for my height, but I have so much skin already, I'll bet I've easily got 20 lbs. that could be cut off!

Since that isn't an option, I'll obviously keep working at the weight loss and see what I look like and how I feel to gauge where I guess I should be.

There is not a lot of weight with the loose skin. About 5 pounds. I lost 214 pounds and when the doctor removed excess skin from my stomach when he did a hernia repair, it was only 4.8 pounds. Think of a balloon. It weighs very little but if we fill it with oil, its a lot. Empty it and its back to not much.