Help! Excess Skin!!
 

Hi ladies and gents,

I am currently about 325 pounds. I am going to lose alot of weight this year. I was very excited about the prospect UNTIL I hear about the excess skin that many people have after losing weight. Is there anything I can do about this? Anyone out there lose over 100 lbs? and if so , when did the excess skin start to show??
I need help. This new discovering does not give me much motivation for losing the weight.
Thanks for any help you can give!

P.S. I hope this isnt against the rules but I might post this in another of the threads so possibly the right person can see this.

Hey MissJo--

The person you want to look for is MrsJim and the thread you need is somewhere on the Maintenance list--there's a whole lot of info on just this thing. UNFORTUNATELY I've got my middle-aged brain fully engaged tonight and can't point you more closely than that. I know that the bottom line is: every person is different, lotions don't make a difference, some people won't really have much/any, some may.

DON'T LET THE THOUGHT OF IT STOP YOU THOUGH. Excess skin won't send you to a premature grave, but diabetes, stroke, heart disease, hypertension, etc.--all those things we KNOW FOR A FACT to be exacerbated by excess weight--now THEY can kill us. Hope you don't mind me layin' it out here, but I've wrestled with similar thoughts since I've got 100 pounds to lose and I finally had to decide that getting healthy was more important than worry about flappy skin (which may not stop me from saving up for a little vanity surgery down the road if that's how things go).

Tracy

Oh hey, I found it. Go to Maintenance/Living Maintenance and it's one of the top sticky notes--the Skin FAQs. (sorry, I don't know how to do the cool links that automatically take you over there). anyway, you'll find the info you want there!

T

Here ya go on the link: Weight Loss and Skin FAQs. ;)

Tracy's absolutely right ... no one can tell in advance how her skin will react to weight loss. But ask any of the big losers here (and there are LOTS!) and they'll tell you that excess skin is better than excess fat any day of the week. :D

OMG yes. Excess skin is sooooo much better than excess fat! A good bra and a pair of tights and mine becomes pretty darn invisible. If money were no object, I'd be tempted towards surgical correction, but even without it I'm so much happier now.

I had to go to a new doctor this year for my annual exam, and when I mentioned my weight loss to her, she made my day by being surprised, saying that she just thought my skin was stretched from a pregnancy.

Thanks everyone for the info and the encouragement. I guess I am self conscious because I am not married yet. I am sure this is going to sound minute BUT I always thought when I got married I would have the perfect body..wearing Victoria Secret. But of course, I won't reject the fact that it is best to have my health above all else. But sometimes it can be a little unsettling (as well as depressing) to let go of our dreams. Anyway, I will just lose the weight and see how it goes. According to the link you all posted, I might not be that bad off. I am 30, never had children, never smoked or tanned. The only thing is that I have been heavy for about 10 years....but I have been this heavy (about 50 lb difference) for about 5 years. Anyway, I am glad I can come to this forum and really be truthful about my feelings. I am going to really use this website and you ladies as a resource. Thanks so much for the encouragement!!

I know EXACTLY what you mean about being self conscious because you're not married yet...

I used to weigh 265 pounds but for some reason I ALWAYS thought when I got married I'd be strutting around in skimpy lingerie, etc...lol....it never occured to me that I didn't have the body for that!

Now I have lost 79 pounds and while I still don't look like a Victoria's secret model, I am much happier and feeling much more self confident.......I do not even come close to looking like those models do, but here's the way I see it...

My fiancee fell in love with me when I weighed 265 pounds and he had NO IDEA I was considering having weight loss surgery. He loved me the way I was! Now that I am 187 it can only get better right? :)

As for the excess skin, I am working out a lot and not noticing any loose skin yet. I am going to keep working my butt off and hopefully I won't have to worry about it. You are right, they say since we are pretty young (I'm 26) and haven't had babies yet we should be able to tone up pretty well.

God bless you on your weight loss journey!