Have you read the FAQ sticky on excess skin that we have in the Maintainers Forum?
Yes, skin is a reality that usually won't go away without surgery. Expensive surgery. I had a full tummy tuck, but still have excess skin on my back, armpits, inner thighs and neck. To me, the stomach skin was a HUGE issue. I didn't feel like I had "succeeded" with it there, and I don't honestly know if I would have been able to keep the successful mindset to maintain my weighloss if I hadn't had it done. I'm thrilled with the results, but I won't have more extensive surgery. The rest I can live with. As Beverly said, I'm angry with myself for the damage that I did to my body, but it's done. All I can do now is move on and try to make it the healthiest, fittest body I've ever lived in. For me, building a lot of hard muscle under the skin, saggy as it is, has been the best option.
Even though I didn't lose as much as you, I really understand your pain and frustration. I know I'm incredibly lucky to have been able to afford surgery, but it's not a choice that everyone has or would want.
How long have you been maintaining your weight? Are you exercising? Lifting weights can change your shape, and fill up a bit of that skin.
Echoing oliviacw here. I would do the bend over in front of the mirror stance and think YUCK! I'd get this pouch of flab with what hubby would call my "alligator skin", all bumpy and wrinkly and saggy. Ewww. But as I kept losing, and was right near my goal, and doing lots of abdominal exercises (plenty of situps and crunches), it got a bit tighter. Doubt it will all go away ever, but it wasn't nearly as bad looking as it was earlier on.
Oh, boy do I know how you feel - I posted something very similar last week! I obviously don't have the magic answer myself, but I'm just spending every day trying to focus on the positive aspects. Sometimes all it takes is to see a (clothed, of course) recent picture where sometimes I feel like, "Wow, is that really me????!" Then I can sorta get back that initial exuberence I had with the weight loss. But yeah, other times, especially nekkid or when I look down and see my ugly crepey arm skin, it's hard.
Like Beverly said, feel free to PM me if you ever need to vent to somebody.
And CONGRATS on your weight loss. Honestly and truly, it's a huge accomplishment. I hope to be joining you in the 100-pound club very soon (well, relatively soon - I'm a snail these days! ).
Yes! My stomach skin is what bothers me the most!! It's not like it's just skin though, I can still feel some fat under there. You can't really notic it until I lean over, naked. Or, if I stand up and squeeze it all together! It's my mushy stomach face! LOL Arms and upper, inner thighs are the same way. I can mush up my upper arms and inner thighs too!
I'm actually STILL losing weight!! LOL I'm not neccesarily killing myself to keep losing, just keeping up with my exercise and eating healthy and the weight just continues to come off. I just figure that when my body says that I'm at a good size and doesn't want to lose anymore, it'll just stop and that's when I'll begin my "maintenance". This isn't something I'm going to stop doing after I lose all the weight that I wanted to!
All in all though, the more I think about it, the more I'm not so sure that I would go through with the surgery if I was able to get it. I mean, that's a lot of pain, a lot of stitches, and it's a big chance for infection. I think I'd actually be too scared to do it! But, I do plan on having babies one day, so I'll have the saggy stomach skin regardless. And as Beverly said, I did do this to myself, so now I pretty much have to deal with the consequences!
I also feel some of the pain.
Ive lost 78 pounds and the excess skin shows in my legs and that great Kangaroo pouch of a stomach, which bothers me the most.
At times I just dont want to be intimate with my husband because it makes me feel unattractive. I also have some sagging skin showing under my arms. And my breast ohh geeze.
I wont be having surgery either unless I hit the lottery.
Sometimes it bothers me and sometimes it doesnt. The longer I look in the mirror the more I dont want to. But looking in the mirror is something I need to do to see what the food and my will power did do to my body.
So all I can think is that losing the weight is worth this skin and its worth being more heathly.
Keep up the good work everyone and keep losing. I will take the skin over the fat anyday.
Hi - I am sorry for all of you who are dealing with the extra skin problem - but maybe a view from the other side will help you. I am trying to lose 60 pounds. I probably will have excess skin, because I already have a little pouch from 2 c-sections. But right now I can't look good with or without clothes and I am at high risk for developing diabetes. I can't keep up with my children.
I personally would love to get some weight loss advice from all of you who have done so well!! I know the extra skin has to be depressing when you have worked so hard to lose weight. But at least you can dress up and look good, and you have to be much healthier! And you know, I bet within the next few years insurance companies will start to be a lot more willing to cover procedures like this for people who have lost weight, especially when they do it with a lifestyle change and the ins. company doesn't have to pay for gastric bypass surgery. It only makes sense.
So congratulations!!! And please share with me how you lost your weight!!
About 5 years ago I lost 75 pounds doing a "CRASH" type diet. I kept it off for about a year, then ended up gaining it all back, plus some! But now I am trying to get back on track with a more healthy lifestyle changing weight loss program.
But when I had lost the 75 pounds I was facing the extra skin, flab and saggy breast problem. I started doing small things all threw the day that REALLY, REALLY worked! You don't even feel like you are exercising if you do this.
For my arms and breasts I would extend my arms straight out in front of me and press my palms together as hard as I could in a fast count. You can actually see your breasts lift up while you do this. It built up my muscle at the top of my breast and lifted them and filled them out so they didn't look so saggy, and it REALLY toned up the inside and back of my arms! I usually did this while I was watching TV or in the shower.
For my stomach, butt and legs I would just take turns squeezing them in for a count of 5 all threw the day here and there. You will notice a HUGE difference within a few weeks! I have always had cellulite on the back of my legs and squeezing your butt together as tight as you can burns all the way down the back of your thighs and within a few weeks about half of my bumps were already gone on the back of my legs, my skin was tighter and I started to get the great definition line under my butt cheeks.
I noticed the biggest difference in my stomach though, the skin roll that was over my hip bones when I stood up almost disappeared, and the roll of skin at the bottom of my stomach went down at least by half.
The other thing I did was practice deep breathing. I read an article that most people only use about 10% of their lung capacity in normal breathing, and that most of the reason people that exercise lose weight and have great tone skin is because of all of the oxygen that you enter into your system with breathing heavy during exercise. I started taking larger breaths and focusing on my breathing more and I noticed a HUGE difference in my energy level, skin color, and skin tone.
Hope this helps! I am just starting again, and have a long way to go, I hope that I can do as well as all of you girls. Great job on all of your weight loss, and I wish all of you the best of luck!
I know I am going to be joining those amongst you who have ended up with hanging skin. It's one of the reasons I have kept putting off dieting. I have the added problem that I have a stoma (an ostomy) so when my skin starts to sag I may have terrible problems with keeping the bag on and stop it leaking. I guess maybe I might even be given a tummy tuck on the NHS because it will be a medical necessity because of my ostomy. BUT the thing is I don't want the surgery, I never want to have surgery ever again. So I think I will just have to lose the weight and just see how the skin goes.
In the UK I am pretty sure that if you can prove that the excess skin is causing you mental turmoil and depression you can be put on the waiting list to have a tummy tuck. Is that something that perhaps people in the US could do with their insurance?? Just a thought.
So far the only area I'm unhappy with is my stomach. I still have a long way to go and I know that I could easily end up with tons of loose skin when I get to my goal, but so far it's just my stomach. It's BAD, too. I am already contemplating a tummy tuck when I get to my goal. At least it's less flabby, but the skin looks really stretched out and pretty gross. I just keep telling myself that at least it's a thinner version of "gross" but it's still not something I'm happy about.
I guess fat and pregnancy will do that, though. Especially when they're combined.
I try to avoid putting myself in the position to make my problem areas look really bad. It's kind of silly I guess, but it makes me feel better. I don't run around braless and if I'm nekkid I tend to squat to pick something up rather than bend over. I've actually noticed some small improvement in my stomach area over the last few months, so I'm not giving up hope yet that it may improve a little more.
Tummy tuck...man that sounds scary! I too have the pouch, and what a pouch it is. I had to gain weight really fast when I was pregnant with my son (found out I was pregnant at 6 months along and I was underweight), and then my thyroid went! I flew from a size 5/6 up to a size 20 in nothing flat...like a few months. I hate my dimply, wrinkled, stretchmark laden gut!!! Having just reached my first mini goal today (yippee) I find my thoughts wandering down to my stupid pouch...how depressing. The problem is that I want to have more kids...so I think a tummy tuck is out of the question. Plus (and nod if you agree) there is just something intrinsically creepy about having someone cut me out a new bellybutton. Maybe in my mind there is something symbolic...and kind of sacred about my bellybutton. Okay, so maybe I'm just strange, but someone has to agree with me. C'mon, a counterfit bellybutton!!!
G E Girl - I guess we just have to keep saying to ourselves that although our body may have excess skin (still earning mine lol) that internally our organs and veins etc are saying THANK YOU, now we don't have to work so hard. I often watch a show about a medical examiner and she removes hearts from obese people that are so much bigger than they should be due to high blood pressure. Also many of those obese people die from deep vein thrombosis. It's a big worry. So when and if I get some excess skin I am just going to concentrate on how much healthier I will be. It might help if you think about that as well.
Tani - good idea trying not to put yourself in a position where you notice the skin. You have lost so much weight, and I am sure you feel so much better for it. You said that your skin on your tummy seems to have improved too, so fingers crossed it will improve more for you.
Amanda - lol I am right there with you on the belly button thing. It also freaks me out when I think about breast lifts and how people have their nipple cut out and moved, eeek!!! I watch too much reality tv I think.
With still having a L O N G way to go, if I was offered the option to stay this way or drop 100 pounds overnight and have some excess skin, I would take the later!
Yea, it stinks to still have a tummy bulge after a big weight loss but, think back to how you felt before you lost all of the weight? Before your loss nothing fit, everything was tight and uncomfortable, you wore what you had to, not what you wanted, etc. etc. etc.
Love yourself and try and focus on the positives not the negatives. Loosing over a 100 pounds takes a very strong person! Pat yourself on the back, what's done is done. Move ahead and look for things that you love about yourself. All of us no matter what we weight or what flaws we have, have great qualities! Lets hear them girls! I will go first.
The top 5 physical things I love about me are:
1. My long naturally curly hair.
2. My beautiful face.
3. My soft skin.
4. My fast growing fingernails.
5. My skinny feet & small ankles (even at 262 lbs)
I would love to hear yours if you want to share. Have a great day all! Feffyy
Wow girls I know what you mean. I have lost 118 pounds now and the loose skin is no fun. I have been very overweight though since I was 6 years old. The weight I am at now I haven't seen since I was 12, so I guess that's a little different than other people. I often too get down about my "water bed belly", and my deflated little breasts. I look at pictures of myself when I was like 5 and think what a waste, I had know idea what I was doing to myself or control at that time. My body looks like a road map of stretch marks and my biggest wish beyond fixing the tummy flab is to have new skin all over my entire body. I know this must sound crazy but I have had stretch marks since I was about 8 years old and never had a chance to have even just one summer in a bikini. Yep this would be my wish, though impossible no matter the amount of money.
I am now 24 and have been married for 5 years. I know that at some point I will be lucky enough to be a mother and this won't matter as much but I just feel so cheated.
For now I am accepting of these eternal issues, as they are not something that I can change. My life is such a gift and I am ever so grateful at what I have achieved so far. We all have done something rather amazing for ourselves. Hooray for US!
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