I know for people who have lost alot of weight the question of excess skin is a big one. I was brave and had my mom take pictures of my excess skin. I am willing to share with anyone who wants to see. I will warn you they are not pretty. Just let me know a email address to mail them to.

Julie -- you are so brave to do this! It's so important because it's the issue that no one talks about. Your pictures might not be pretty but they're real and it's part of the reality of weight loss.

You, my dear, are a beautiful person, inside and out.

I made a seperate webpage for the pictures it wont be available from the main page. Here is the link if anyone wants see. http://www.geocities.com/dowsx4/skin.html

Extra skin or not - you look FANTASTIC!!! Thank you so much for sharing!

Julie -- first let me say that you are lovely and have done such a wonderful job losing the weight. Considering how much you've lost, I think your skin's in really good shape. I've seen photos that are MUCH worse than yours.

That being said, you look a lot like I did. I had those handfuls of skin before I had the lower body lift. Time may help a bit, so might exercise, but I'd be kidding you if I said that it would all tighten up. Realistically, you've lost a whole person -- it would be hard for your skin to shrink that much.

Give it a little time and see what you think. Then you can talk to a few doctors if you want to consider going that route.

But chickie -- regardless of the skin problems, no one can see them when you're dressed and you look just fantastic now!

WOW! You've done an OUTSTANDING job!! 170 pounds! (do we have a 170-pound chickie?? )

Meg's right - give yourself a little time to maintain your loss and let your skin retract - if it's going to - as much as possible, then start shopping around for a PS if that's what you want to do.

In case you missed it, check out Meg's Loose Skin FAQ sticky here in Maintainers! (I'm 99.9% sure you saw it but just in case...)

Fantabulous transformation... Keep it up!!

Thank you!! Thank you!! This is such a selfless thing you are doing by posting these for others. You have done an amazing job at the weight loss, congratulations!!

Julie:
I'm with the girls here... Skin or no skin, you look dazzling!!! You can see it in your face...that "I lost weight and I feel DAMN good about it" glow. I love it!! You're an inspiration to all.

Wow....Julie, thanks for posting these pictures! That is truly selfless and brave of you....

You look fantastic! I cannot believe how far you have come! You are very inspiring....I have watched your success from the 100 lb club.

I gather that you are not very comfortable with the loose skin (since you said that the pictures were not "pretty" in your original message). Having seen quite a few pictures of you on your weight loss journey - I can tell you that I would never have known that you have loose skin under your clothes. You're lookin' great lady! Too bad there is no "I lost half of my body weight" club!!! LOL. Guess that it would be a pretty small club....you & Jiffy....What amazing success!

Thank you all! I look at my excess skin as a reminder if where I have been and do not ever want to return. Dont get me wrong if I could have it removed I would in a heartbeat! I just have accepted that its there and there isnt much to do about it unless the drs figure out a way to get the insurance company to remove it for me. I dont get skin infections or anything so they are going to try to figure out something to get them to remove it but its not easy to do. I am very happy with the the weight I have lost and never would regain the weight just to fill it out!

Kris- I do believe mothergoose would also be a member of that club as well! I just love to share my story with people who have gone through or are going through it so they know they are not alone. If I can help someone else find there path to weightloss I feel like its what i need to do.

Yes, you have some excess skin but you look good...I wish I was your size!

chiarij

Thank you for sharing. You do look wonderful. You can't tell when you are dressed! Great job at losing all that weight.

Sarah

All I can say is GOOD JOB! Brava!