i am losing weight and worried about saggy skin. i now weigh about 210, and plan to get down to 130 or so. my highest weight was 220. does anyone know whether everyone gets the saggy skin? is there some way to prevent it? thanks for any information about this worry of mine.

Hi and welcome to 3FC! No, not everyone who loses weight ends up with excess skin -- some people do and some don't. There's no way to tell ahead of time, unfortunately. We have a Weight Loss and Skin FAQs here at 3FC that you might want to check out: http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=36040

One thing that I can tell you for sure is that all our big losers here agree that excess skin (if you do end up with it) is much better than excess fat!

Hi - I'm 52, and believe me my skin didn't shrink back like it did in my youth... well, even in my 40's I didn't look like a raisin - like I do now. hee,hee.

It's mainly on my inner thighs and stomach, which is hidden by clothes. I must admit that I don't like the look of the delfated balloon skin, but I'm getting more used to it as time goes by. I went from 258 to 145. I was over 200 for 3-4 yrs. That might have something to do with the stretchies too. I'm not sure.

I do prefer being thinner with the deflated skin problem that only a select number of folks view, than being 258 (and the smooth skin) and the whole world could see my problem. For me the stretchies is a problem that I can keep concealed for the most part.

Then there's the neck...... oh well, I've never been a model anyway. :-)

Amen to that! I have some loose skin and stretch marks mostly around my lower middle, hips and thigh area. But it only shows if I don't practice good sitting posture, and when naked. I now wear, and love, hip huggers and ultra low rise jeans...and you don't see the bit of puckered lose skin. If I'm naked and lean forward, looking in the mirror, I think gag me! LOL But who am I going to pose like THAT for? I wear a two piece bathing suit now, and again, the lose skin is not a problem. I just have to consciously be aware of my posture, which is a good thing.

And perhaps one day my rich uncle will get out of the poorhouse and I'll get the lower section and the breasts done up right. My arms and face didn't suffer really. But my mid-section was mighty rotund for many a year. I think if I haven't been exercising daily for over a year, I'd have a much bigger problem with it. And that I lost the weight slowly helped. Because I'm certainly not a young chick, and I've had a baby, and have been overweight for nearly 20 years, AND smoked for about 18 years. So I pretty much had everything against me skin-wise and I am NOT unhappy with how I look at all. Just the opposite.

My hubby's taken to calling that "alligator skin". Men!