Currently, I'm 26, 5'11 at 372. After a year off, (and gaining back all 80ish lbs i'd lost) I'm back at it, working hard to eat right, excercise and be healthy.

I've always had one huge fear tho. I'll finally get down to a healthy weight, but be left with tons of loose, flabby saggy skin. I am so scared that I'll put all this work in, and still be left with a body that I hate. SO my question to y'all is.... How do you deal with excess skin? Where does it tend to be, and how do you hide it? Better yet, how do you prevent it from happening?

To my knowledge there is no magic bullet to that problem outside of surgery. That being said... doing things to take care of your skin and shapewear will help you heal and disguise it.

The extra skin will be in all the places you currently have extra fat. From what I've read and personal experience that is going to be the lower part of the upper arms, the inner thigh and of course the tummy.

Exercise with small weights is really your best bet to minimize excess skin.

I am dealing with this now (I've gone from a 22-24W to a regular 10-12). It is there and not the best. However, I would much rather have the loose skin than to have it full and stretched!!!! I'd take the loose skin with a healthier heart any day

Loose skin is the price we pay for our previously unhealthy life. Resistance training (weights) has helped me a lot. Spanx hides a lot.

All I've been told is lose slow and lose young. Take good care of your skin and get all your necessary vitamins. Bulk up with some strength training. Although I have seen the occasional Biggest Loser contestant with a nice body afterwards - so there is probably some genetics going on there.

I do agree that I will look much better at my goal weight with loose skin than I do now with full skin. And it'll be healthier!! It does make me afraid that I will not like my body once I lose all the weight, but I know that my body will be much more mobile, strong, flexible, etc. I am just terrified that I will never feel comfortable naked.

I think in the future I may consider surgical options, depending on what I look like when I get there and what the money/insurance situation is.

Do not let that stop you I started at 380lbs I am at 233.5 right now I must admit this is my biggest worry as well but I tend to not believe all that is being said about lose skin I know a lot depends upon age genetics how long the skin has been stretched all that. But I also am realistic and know that you can't call it loose skin until you have shed all the fat down to a athletic body type with toned lean muscle and very low body fat percentage only then will you see how much is actually loose skin. Mostly all of what I see online of people saying they have loose skin is people with at least 100 or 50lbs left to loose so I am taking myself as kind of an experiment I have been fat my whole life never been skinny my skin is horrible it looks as if I will have loose skin everywhere my triceps inner thighs and stomach if you look at me right now also I have stretch marks like everywhere but I am going to keep going no matter what and only judge by body fat percentage what is actual loose skin or left over fat deposits.

I try to keep my skin moisturized everyday by taking baths skin brushing using lotions and oils and body scrubs. I know it takes some years at a very low body fat percentage as well for your skin to tighten up. I believe it will mostly tighten up on its own and if I am left with any loose skin I tend to believe that it will be more like wrinkly spots instead of big folds of loose skin I just don't believe that and hopefully if that is the case would only require minimal surgeries instead of highly invasive ones. Anyways that's what I'm going for going to see what happens and hopefully I can make a post about loose skin here giving hope to others who have these worries when I'm through.

You are a good age and height as well your probably not as bad as you think skin wise you should really lose the weight right now because age is a very big factor for loose skin / wrinkly skin that would be left over.

I am 32 right now my goal is to get all this weight off this year because I realize I am on the brink of when your skin changes if not a little past it already. Hopefully I will still see good results.

You best prevent it from happening by losing the weight as soon as you can. That's number one.

I went on Youtube and I've seen lots of videos of people (mainly after having gastric bypass surgery) that have tremendous amounts of loose skin on their now small bodies. There is no doubt, after seeing it, that its loose skin. Most of them started in the high 300's (some close to 500 lbs). Loose skin is definitely a real thing. Genetics, age, all that will be a factor in how much you have at the end. I have noticed (from watching youtube videos) that the ones that lost without surgery had less loose skin. Just my observation.

I had this conversation with my daughter just this morning.
I am 46 and have lost 80lbs or so ( slight hiatus these last couple of weeks!)
So far I have no loose or saggy skin apart from the upper arms which as has been said I think will improve if I gain me a bit of muscle definition!
I may never wear a bikini as I have stretch marks from pregnancy and being super morbidly obese but there's always suck- it- in swimming costumes!
We ain't never gonna get perfection but I know I need to give myself permission to be....you know.....just OK or pretty good and I would take loose skin over the alternative any day!

I am now 27, but was 26 when I started losing weight. I began around 300 lbs and lost almost 150 by last spring.

I do have quite a bit of loose skin, particularly on my upper arms (bat wings) and stomach (apron), however weight training has already vastly improved both areas.

I only began weight training once I reached healthy BMI and I wish I would have started sooner! I had some loose skin around my thighs and bum and those areas tightened up right away. My arms have so much excess skin that it will take a very long time with dedicated weight training, but any improvement is improvement and even with the loose skin I would rather be a healthy weight than morbidly obese like I was.

Don't worry about the loose skin, just begin strength training as soon as you are comfortable and work on becoming healthy first.

Keep in mind that this is just one man's opinion, but Mark Sisson of the primal blueprint has an interesting take. He figures that its not loose skin, but adipose tissue (fat). I can't link yet, but visit his site, marks daily apple and search excess skin.

I am struggling with this too. I've only lost 50 of the 250 I need to lose and I'm sagging and wrinkling everywhere. I dry brush, moisturize, supplement with coQ10 and eat salmon, spinach, blueberries etc. I hope it helps. I really wanna look good naked someday!

I just wanted to add (and I am in no way knocking people who have weight loss surgery), that I tend to believe that it changes, at least temporarily, your body's ability to absorb nutrients and drain the lymph system. After all, it's a major trauma, and your body's resources are focused on things besides your skin. I have a few friends who have had the surgery, one who lost 50lbs in the same time span I took mine off without surgery. Her skin sag is far more pronounced then mine, and is not bouncing back, while I can see minor improvements in mine as i tone. Not saying this is permanent, but I think loose skin is at least initially a bigger concern for post ops as opposed to dieters.

I have loose skin. it is not sagging skin, it is loose skin and I have not had weight loss surgery. When you can pick up a handful of skin and there is nothing under it, that is loose skin. When it is on your stomach it is described as an apron and that is an apt description. I hide it under my clothes and as long as it is covered no one knows it is there, but I do and I hate it, but I would rather have loose skin than have tight skin and be 90 pounds heavier again. It can be removed by surgery and there are some on 3FC who have done that and as far as I know are happy with the results.

Go to the maintenance body image forum and read the sticky thread about loose skin. Lots of really good facts.

I'm sure I'll have it, but it doesn't really matter. The prospect of loose skin is not enough of an issue to stop me from getting healthy and losing this weight. I'd rather have some loose skin than a double chin, fupa, apron, etc.

I agree with QuitterInVA, consider it a slight penalty for a former unhealthy lifestyle. I am mixing in weight training with my cardio, and will hope for the best.

If I'm really, really unhappy in a few years I'd consider surgery to remove it. That's a premature thing to worry about now, though.