Hey everyone
I've read a lot in the forum about excess skin post-weight loss, but the majority of the people posting have either A) been pregnant or B) been overweight for 20+ years and are older than me. Since neither of those apply to me, I was wondering - to those of you who have met your goal or are close, did you have a problem with excess skin? One thing I read on here was that if you're younger, your skin is more elastic. But what constitutes "more elastic"? I'm 22, top weight was about 230 and I'm down to about 194 right now. I'm just curious how it's going for all of you 20-somethings!
My highest weight was 147-149 and 178 when I was pregnant. I had a lot of excess skin after my first pregnancy at age 20 and it did not go away no matter what I did. I opted for a tummy tuck and that removed all the excess skin. I did not have any problems with excess skin with my second pregnancy. I have lost close to 23 lb and I do not have excess skin. Some with a lot more weight to begin with may have excess skin and yes, your skin is more elastic the younger you are. Sometimes it takes longer for your skin to shrink after weight loss.
Well, I have been pregnant, but I lost about 70 lbs. before that. My highest weight was 230 also, and I got down to 159 before the pregnancy. At that point, I still had a bit of a pooch, but it's hard to tell if that was just because I needed to lose more weight (I had planned to-- I was a size 8) or because of excess skin, or both. I will say, I would have worn a bikini at that weight. If I was wearing underwear, you didn't see the little roll, so it wasn't bad at all. My trouble area is my upper arms, and even those had improved, but I probably had more skin there than anywhere else.
After pregnancy, I don't have any noticable difference in anything. I think I'm just genetically lucky that way because I have no stretch marks, and my stomach looks the same as it did when I was at this weight before. It's hard to tell what your results will be. It really varies from person to person, but just stay positive. Most likely it won't be as bad as you expect, and you will look better in the end excess skin or not.
My starting weight was 200 pounds, but I think I weighed more as a teen (maybe 20 pounds more). I'm down to 152 pounds right now and I don't really see any extra skin and I think I seem to be tightening up nicely. For brief periods of time I'll have (what I think is) extra skin, but it seems to go away quickly as I think my skin catches up with my weight loss
I am one of the genetically unlucky ones with poor skin elasticity. I had two babies in less than two years (my youngest is now almost 9 months) and my highest pregnancy weight was around 200 with my son and 180 with my daughter. My highest pre-pregnancy weight was a few years earlier and probably in the 180s (though I avoided the scale in those days). I have a lot of excess skin at the very bottom of my belly and it's really wrinkled and reminds me of elephant skin. I'll absolutely be getting a tummy tuck when we know for sure that we're finished with babies.
While I am currently pregnant, I was 22 when I lost weight. I had a 90lb weightloss over a relatively short span of time. While everyone is different, I can tell you that youth worked in my favor as far as elasticity. I also think realistic expectations are very, very important as well. I recall being rather disappointed because I worked so hard yet wearing a bikini was still a problem due to tummy sag. But I also worked really hard on building muscle and became pretty satisfied with the result!
I would also allow some time for things to move back into place, which youth also favors I think. My skin didn't move at the rate of my weightloss, but 1-2 years out made a big difference to certain areas. My tummy will always be saggy, but my boobs and arms for example eventually did catch up. So keep in mind that the body you have when you first hit goal may not be the same body one, two, or even three years out.
In the end, even with excess skin, I was thrilled with my new body. It was a small price to pay.
My highest weight was 266lbs I'm now 194lbs and I have noticed excess skin on my arms, belly and inner thighs, but I have also noticed that it is tightening up, albeit more slowly than the weight is coming off. It will happen for you, I have found that keeping up a slow and steady weight loss, exercise, lots of water and protein help to banish excess skin.
At 16, I was about 240lbs. I'm now 18, and weigh about 150lbs.
Inspite of my age, I do have a considerable amount of excess skin. But not to worry, it's nothing as dramatic as what you might have in mind. Things just tend to look a little bulgier in certain areas.
I personally have to be a bit more selective when it comes to clothes, but I can still go out in a tank top, or a skirt. And considering the fact that my skin hasn't a lot of time to adjust, and I haven't really been putting time in to tone my muscles, I'd say you haven't got too much to worry about.
But looking back, I wish I'd been toning my muscles, and taking better care of my skin. Lately I started using cocoa butter, and it's been doing awesome things for me. It's not too expensive, so I'd recommend giving it a whirl.
I actually just asked this the other day... My starting weight was 278, and now im at 203... I am seeing some issues (mostly my tummy and arms) I obviously cant say what is going to happen but hopefully it will go down over time. (I have never had any kids either btw)
I am just going to take care of my skin as much as possible and try and tone as I lose... Hopefully that mixed with being 24 will help...
If everything tightens up and all is well then that is great... if not then I will just save up and have a doctor take care of it for me later. lol.
I started at 220 and am around 140-145 now, with about 10-15 more pounds to go (maybe more we'll see) and you can look at my pics in the links below...I don't have any excess skin despite having been obese for years.
I truly believe the reason for this is because I went about it the right way...doing plenty of weight training from the beginning along with not losing too much too fast....
At the end of the day, weight training and exercise and eating the correct foods will help on this. Like everyone else said...over time it can definitely firm up, just keep doing what you're doing!
Ok I'm 25, started at 275 (was overweight mostly obese pretty much all of my life- so it is 20+ years but anyway) and have been am now at 180-185 depending on the day. My biggest issue however is not with sagging skin, and I won't particularly say I'm a huge weight lifter or strength trainer (I prefer cardio anyday). I did do Jillian Michaels videos a lot in the past which do incorporate some strength training so maybe that help. My biggest issue is more the stretch marks.
I temporarily had a boob issue, where I had the rock in a sock saggy situation thing going on, but it's 1000 times improved over the past 6 months. In fairness to my body, I did start at like 44J and end up where I am now at a 36F and it took my body some time to get used to that. It does get better.
I think the main thing that's helped with not being saggy is that I didn't lose weight that quickly- not necessarily my choice, but that's the way it's worked out. So maybe try to lose weight at a healthy pace and exercise, every little bit helps.
Diets make you look good in clothes, strength training makes you look good naked!
I SO couldn't agree with this more! What an awesome saying! "Diets make you look good in clothes, strength training makes you look good naked!" In fact, I'm going to post that on twitter and facebook now, LOL I hope you don't mind! It's SO true. In HS when I was freaking 135 I looked HORRIBLE naked...I am a little bit heavier than that now and I LOVE my body naked LOL More so than with clothes on if that's possible. Mostly because I can see the definition in my abs and legs and arms and it makes me SO happy.
Excess skin?
I'll absolutely be getting a tummy tuck when we know for sure that we're finished with babies.
