I am 50 years old and have stretched out my skin with fat. I see on TV people needing to remove extra skin after the loss (usually from bypass surgery). Will I need that too after a 120-140 lb loss through diet and exercise? I want to look good after losing all that weight. I will still look better even if I have saggy skin, but I would love for my skin to just shrink along with me.
For me personally, at 31, I have a little loose skin on my arms and a lot on my legs from my hips to my knees (I carried most of my weight there). I see some shrinkage from pictures but if it's not looking good in another year I'm getting it taken off
It varies from person to person. I don't see your weight and height on your post. I have lost 95 pounds but still have a lot to lose. I have some loose skin on my stomach and upper thighs but not enough to bother me. My upper arms do look bad with wrinkly hanging skin and I may have them fixed after I have finished. I feel so much better and can do so much more, that I would not trade my wrinkly hanging skin for the tight fat filled skin for any reason!
I am 5'5''. Highest weight 298. Current weight 271. I have been over 200lbs my entire adult life and over 260 since I quit smoking 3 years ago. From that FAQ - thank you RomanceDiva - looks like I will have extra skin.
I think it completely depends on your skin type, luck of the draw, genes? who knows! I've never had children so maybe that helped? NO CLUE!!! All I know is I worried myself sick over the possibilities and turns out it wasn't a big deal at all ~ upper arms are a big jiggly but that's ok!
I noticed it on The Biggest Loser last night - an older woman who'd lost over 120 pounds, her arms were pretty tight! And her daughter ( i think?) her arms were really loosey goosey and jiggly -- it just depends! you'll never know til you try - and i'd rather wear 3/4 sleeves the rest of my life than go back LOL
Quite frankly saggy skin was the least of my worries. And let me tell you, when I was super morbidly obese - I worried. I had terrible anxiety. I worried that I would drop dead from a heart attack or develop some totally avoidable horrendous disease - like the tons of obesity related cancers. I would lie awake at night planning out my funeral and who would take care of my 3 children. I worried how I would face another day with no energy and horrendous knee pain.
When I decided to lose the weight, saggy skin never entered my mind.
And luckily upon losing the weight, I no longer lay away at night worrying about dreaded diseases, who will care for my children and planning my funeral.
Saggy skin doesn’t cause high blood pressure and other heart diseases, nor does it cause diabetes or the other dozens upon dozen horrific medical conditions that being overweight does.
Do I have some saggy skin? You betcha. Would I prefer not to have? If I stop to think about, well yes, I suppose, of course. But it is totally and completely undetectable in my enormous collection of clothing - my size XS, petite and size 2's and 4's clothing, that is.
And like our dear Meg always says, if you're that displeased with the results, you can always gain the weight back. Something tells me it won't come down to that.
I am 40 years old, gained and lost lots of weight lots of time, had six pregnancies, got MAJOR stretch marks and a HUGE waist and hips, got above 280 pounds for awhile, stayed morbidly obese for about ten years of my life and am down to 203 right now.
I do have some saggy areas but they still have plenty of fat attached... thighs, upper arms, and hip area. But the skin thing, I took it seriously. I read all the posts and heard the naysayers who told me nothing would help skin shrink, and decided to do whatever I could to get the best result possible.
What I do:
dry skin brushing (as detailed, I think, in the above links) a couple times a week
take omega 3 supplements
use good moisturizers, every day (I rotate between whatever is on sale... firming lotions, body oils, alpha hydroxy lotions, whatever... and I massage it into trouble areas, especially my waist).
Not that this answers your question but the way I look at it, I'm not hanging out at the beach in a string bikini now so it won't matter if I'm not able to after I lose all the weight due to saggy skin. I have super bad stretch marks on my belly from gaining 100 lbs with my first pregnancy, so I know for sure I'll be saggy there!
I'm a pretty modest person wearing clothes that cover the parts that are going to sag isn't too much of an issue. The only person who sees me naked other than myself is my boyfriend and he loves me thick or thin or saggy, so I'm not worried about that either.
It is a valid question though and one we have all had here.
It takes time for your skin to retract as much as it will on its own. You can give it the best chance it has by taking fish oil supplements (which you should consider for health reasons) and using some topical firming creams (I use copper peptides).
When you see how it turns out, you can decide if surgery is the right path for you. There are a few lesser-scale options (like RF and laser technologies) but there are tradeoffs so research your options well.
I have now lost 100 pounds and have had 6 full term babies all delivered via csection. I have been to a plastic surgeon when I had lost 85 pounds to discuss a tummy tuck. He guessed that I have about 15 pounds of hanging skin around my mid section and told me how it would be removed. I have ALOT of skin that forms a apron that hangs down from my belly button to the top of my thighs. I hate it and it gets in the way of my life. I have to wear super supportive spanx to exercise comfortably without this flap of flesh moving about. The skin is empty and it can be squished and folded. I have to TUCK the flesh into my pants. It is the most disappointing factor of my journey but the surgeon agreed it has alot to do with the csections and babies not just the weightloss.
I want my batwing arms fixed to in time but I am working them hard to get them in the best possible shape. I am hoping to have the tummy tuck in 2011 I have to be willing to pay the 10k because insurance may or may not pay anything.
Last edited by Nikki6kidsmom; 05-26-2010 at 11:36 PM.
I am 50 years old and have stretched out my skin with fat. I see on TV people needing to remove extra skin after the loss (usually from bypass surgery). Will I need that too after a 120-140 lb loss through diet and exercise? I want to look good after losing all that weight. I will still look better even if I have saggy skin, but I would love for my skin to just shrink along with me.
10 down - 110 more to go.
honestly, I've lost 91 pounds and have about 30-40 to go. I have very little loose skin. But I have been losing it at a steady pace, not all right away, so my body has been able to adjust accordinly.
I'm 38, will be 39 next month. I have lost 158 pounds so far and yep, I have extra skin..I hate it, hate it hate it hate it but I would much rather have it then continue being morbid obese and headed to an early grave as I was 2 years ago.
Extra Skin - Crazy Question
