Well! I created an account on here to read the success stories and read up on how weight loss affects the boobs, and now that seems a little less important.

I haven't told anyone I've been trying to lose weight or how much I weigh. I guess it never set in how bad it had truly gotten? I was typing in my starting weight, current weight, and goal weight into my bio when I was shocked to discover I'm planning on losing 99 pounds altogether. Just to get to the middle of the healthy bmi category. I just stared and it and now... I feel oddly depressed? It had never really been a thing before, I just had some chub to lose I'm laughing at myself. Honestly. How was I not aware of this??

So, I got over the initial surprise that I am a little more than "a little chunky". That's okay! My man loves me and I love myself. I don't feel gross or like I should hide my body away. It's mine and I love it. I just want to be healthy again! But I gotta admit, I'm a little scared about the after effects. Specifically, saggy skin. I'm 20 years old so I've got that going for me, but does anyone have any tips for me? Give it to me straight! I can handle it, I just want to know what I'm up against! Could slathering my body in coconut oil and toning up while I slim down cause me to somehow come out of this with skin tighter than ever? I don't know!

Yours Truly, Fat and Didn't Know It

Hi, Kalley! I can relate with how you feel. In 2007, I started a new medication and gained 100 pounds in 6 months. Due to various circumstances, I haven't really been in a position to attack weight loss until now. Well, I had a go at it in 2012 and took off about 40 pounds, then since then have gradually put on 30 of the 40 I had lost. On this most recent go, I've lost 28 pounds and have about 45 to go to get to my most conservative goal. If I can lose more than that, I would be thrilled.

So far, I don't have any loose skin. I moisturize every day, drink at least 64 oz. of water a day, and am doing cardio and strength training 3 times a week. I also have about 30 years on you so we might be in different places elasticity-wise. I can tell you that my sister lost about 80 pounds through gastric bypass when she was in her forties. She said she has no loose skin on her stomach, but she complains a little about her chest. She is happily married and she feels that the cost (not monetary, but physical toll) of plastic surgery to get her chest lifted is not worth the benefit of having lifted breasts.

I have another friend in her low to mid-forties who lost about 90 pounds and she says she does have loose skin on her stomach and she is not happy about her chest. She said she lost several cup sizes with the weight loss. She wants plastic surgery. Ultimately, I think it is a very personal decision for each person. I am single and my chest has always been considered an asset at all of my various weight ranges. But, if I end up with loose skin after loosing significant weight, I would definitely consider plastic surgery.

The only thing I've heard to minimize loose skin is that slower weight loss helps, and to stay hydrated, moisturized, and build muscle to replace the fat while you are losing. I just saw that Palmers cocoa butter lotion at the drugstore and it is supposed to be good for you when you are pregnant to avoid stretch marks. And, if you read the label, it also says weight fluctuations. I've decided I am going to go through my current bottle of lotion and then try the Palmer's. It couldn't hurt IMO.

Good luck on your journey and best wishes! I'll check back to see what kinds of responses you receive.

I was going to mention that I, too, have a false sense of how large I am and/or had become. I would look in the mirror and I would see the image, but it wasn't until I really saw myself in pictures that I saw how large I was. I had the same experience when I recently took my measurements. I lost about 25 pounds before I took my measurements. I did not think my measurements would be as large as they were. But, interestingly, the same was true for me in the converse. So, when I weighed 110 pounds in college and was a size 4, with 18 percent body fat, I had the mental image of being much larger than I was. I hope one day to be at my ideal weight and to have an accurate mental image of myself and my size.

Good luck and I hope you receive some good advice!

Im In the same boat I always thought I didnt look to big im not that heavy but i recently got married and well pictures dont lie, so i looked at my bmi and im actually in the server obese category Yikes

i had done some weight loss before and lost 30 lbs and when i was doing that i had no issue with lose skin i drank alot of water, and did toning exercises at least twice a week but stopped and ended up gaining everything back and more

i also have a friend who lost eighty pounds she has a little loose skin but its not bad at all she would rather have that than all her old fat she says and i think i would agree with her on that, i rather have loose skin than caring all my weight around.

I wish you the best of luck on your journey!

You really don't have anything to worry about with the loose skin since you are 20. Unless you drop all the weight in like 2 months or something extremely unhealthy. Coconut oil is a great moisturizer and I highly recommend it, but hydration is much more important. Drink lots of water.

This may come off badly, but you need to be aware that you may very well be making excuses for why you shouldn't lose weight. Watch out for that. I use to do the same thing, every time I'd lose a few pounds I'd get all paranoid that I was dying of cancer and I'd gain it all back. Our brains try to trick us in weird ways.

You have a great start already. Almost 20 pounds! Wonderful. You and I are similar in weight where I started 5 months ago, but you are taller. I have 30 years on you and have lost 40 pounds with no ill skin effects. My guess is you will shrink up just fine. For me, I have taken up bike riding and I think part of my skin bounce back is the toning on the bike. It was slow going at first, but I easily do 10-15 miles a day now and it is a great work out. Why I like it is because I can't just decide I am tired and stop - because I am not home yet! So, I go far out and have to get back. I am just a wimp on exercise machines that way -- oh my, I am sweating and huffing and puffing - time to stop... Ya can't do that on a road bike!

Go for it and don't look back.

I understand the scary feeling of realizing how much you have to lose. We're similar in our height and roughly in weight. I'm 22. I am going to need to lose 60ish pounds to get to where I want to be, and I honestly don't know how it will go for me. I'm just trying to take it one day at a time, even though it's really hard when it effects every aspect of your life. Let me know if you'd be interested in being accountability/ support friends. :]

Zoniegirl- thanks for the response! I'm with you on the plastic surgery thing. I've decided that if the girls end up looking deflated, I'll be getting a lift. If when I bend over, my stomach skin sways in the breeze, I'll be getting that taken care of as well. I figure if I worked that hard for my goal body, I deserve to have it!

Thanks for the tips, I think I'll pick up some of that Palmer's lotion for weight fluctuations. I'm pretty prone to stretch marks

I'm also hoping to view myself accurately at my goal weight, but I don't think that's going to happen for us, right away, at least. I've heard that with a lot of weight loss comes a lot of body dysmorphia. Most memorably, I remember a coworker telling me that when she lost 120 pounds she found herself hesitating to sit in plastic lawn chairs for fear of breaking them, and leaving a lot of room between herself and walls, people, doorways, etc. to make room for her phantom body. This was two years ago, and she has since come to terms with herself. I'm thinking that any sort of change with your body takes some time to adjust to.

124stephee- thanks for the response! I remember looking up my bmi as well, I couldn't believe it! For the longest time I wrote it off as being a faulty, out of date calculator. Denial is the first stage, as they say.

thank you and good luck on your journey as well!

MonteCristo- thanks for the response! I'm pretty sure you're right in saying that I'm making excuses for myself to not lose weight. Actually, when I started thinking of loose skin and such I thought to myself "Maybe I should just get down to under 200 and call it good." and "I could just not gain any more weight, I'm not THAT unhealthy!" LOL. Now that you mention it, I've also had the same thought process before to talk myself out of exercise. I have Vocal Chord Dysfunction (If I start breathing too hard my vocal chords will clamp shut) so I used to tell myself "No, I shouldn't go for walks/bike rides/any sort of cardio because of my condition" Until actually my doctor told me I SHOULD be doing those things at a gentle pace to help improve my situation! That made it a bit harder to talk myself out of such things.

While I think this is a legitimate fear of mine, with all the responses coming in I'm pretty sure it's unfounded. When you say I won't have to worry about loose skin unless I lose the weight in an unhealthy way, that does make quite a lot of sense. I've got a friend who lost 70 pounds all in the last half of his senior year in highschool and he's got just a little bit of loose skin on his stomach. But even then he looks a lot healthier than before the weight loss (if we skip over the fact that he's lost it all with the help of adderall). Then there's my mother, who is down to 127 from 215 and she had no issues with her skin bouncing back!

Nightowlrn- Thanks for the tips! I think I'll steal your trick for my "runs" (fast walks). I usually just circle around the block until I've got my 30 minutes of cardio in. Getting far away from home sounds more effective, and probably a lot less boring what with the new scenery haha!

tessagetsfit- I think that's a great idea! Especially since we're the same height and so similar in age and weight (:

Awesome! I'll send you a profile message!

I lost about 100 pounds total several years ago (regained about 25 that I am working on losing now). I had loose skin but after a couple of years at a set weight it started tightening up so don't make any rash decisions about surgery or other drastic means to deal with it until you've given it time. I never regretted the weight loss in spite of the loose skin or saggy boobs.

At 20 years old, if you did it over the course of a year, worked out the entire time and then gave yourself another year to "snap back," you would probably have nothing but a bit of loose skin on the stomach. The breasts are hard to guess at, since a whole lot of 200lb+ women have big breasts, and you really don't know what you'll have at goal. Others have covered that part though.

One thing I wanted to comment on is that this should NOT keep you from losing weight. There are currently a lot of obese 20somethings now who aren't really feelings the consequences yet. Our bodies can handle a whole lot of abuse up until mid 30s/40ish. Then the high blood pressure, cholesterol, bad pain, neck pain and diabetes start showing up. If you act early, you can avoid all of the consequences of obesity that we really don't talk about around here as much. And of course weight loss at 20 is going to have a much better cosmetic outcome than doing it at 30 (like I did. I've got loose skin. I wish I had acted earlier.)