I want to lose the weight, horribly! I know that! I'm only 22, and with a history of both heart disease and diabetes in my family I know that I need to get my butt in gear now if I want any hope of a future!! (Everyone on my dad's side of the family has had a heart attack by their mid 40's! My dad is 46 and had a massive heart attack about 2 months ago, leaving him with heart failure and on a transplant list)

But I'm terrified of what my body will look like once I've dropped the weight. I am currently 236 and my stomach is covered in stretch marks, my breasts are saggy and also have stretch marks.

What will I do with all this extra skin? After losing the weight will I be able to wear shorts? Or will I still have to hide because I have tons of excess, baggy skin?? I would kill to wear a bikini, but unfortunatly I'm almost positive I won't be able too

Is there any way to limit the amount of excess skin? Or should I just prepare myself??

I know that I could have it surgically removed, but since I plan on having children in 3-5 years I know that's not really realistic...

I have this same fear and I wonder all the time what will my skin look like? But I'll never know until I get to my goal. I have never been there so my skin has been streched this big for my whole life. I've heard from different people to do different things but I think really there is no way to tell what your skin is going to look like. But I tell my self that I will look so much better in clothes than I do now and I'll just have to adapt. I'm not really planning on being naked in public or anything so most of my days will be spent in clothing. I would much rather wear crop pants that are an 8 than shorts that are 20. Plus, you will be so much healthier. I know that I more than anything want to look like the little hottie skinny girls I see but I'm not going to and honstly, I wouldn't trade my life with anyone elses even if it ment I didn't have stretch marks and my boobs were perky.
Basically, don't worry about it, you will look and feel great once you get to your goal.

It's a trade off really, between excess skin and possibly never being completely happy with your body, or heart disease and diabetes and still never being completely happy with your body. I'm sure you already know that there is no comparrison and the choice is clear, it's just frightening to the point that you can't help but wonder, "what's the point", right? The point is, we did this to ourselves and now we have to suffer the consequences. But it's really not all that bad, the skin can generally be hidden under the right clothes, you just may not ever feel comfortable wearing that bikini. But I promise, it's a small price to pay for a lifetime of health. So, my recommendation is to prepare yourself, because it's either gonna bounce back or it's not, and you really don't have a whole lot of choice in the matter. Just try to lose slowly and keep hydrated and you may be one of the lucky ones, plus you've got age on your side. Just be realistic and try to accept and work with the outcome, cause that's all we can really do anyway, right?

Beverly

I have had 3 kids and topped out (weight wise) at 215 lbs. I've lost 33 so far and I figure that when I get to goal I might have some skin hanging on my belly. BUT...it will be far better than to continue weighing 215 and to feel like I couldn't catch my breath, even when I was just sitting down, not to mention the horrible heartburn that I used to have daily that now is totally a thing of the past. Loose skin or not I'm looking forward to reaching my goal. When I get there if the skin thing is a problem I'll figure that out then. For now just concentrate on getting to goal and cross the 'extra skin' bridge when you get there. You are very young so your skin should still have alot of elasticity, who knows you may be pleasantly surprised!!

Good Luck!!!

I'm not sure how truthful this is, but I've heard the younger you are the more elastic your skin is so it will "bounce back". I'm hoping this is true, as I'm 19. I'm worried too about excess skin and have stretch marks on my sides, when I get to my goal weight, I'm going to talk to a plastic surgeon about what I can do with that. I also want to have kids in a few years, so it would be a bad idea to get plastic surgery for stretch marks when I'll just get more if I have kids, but I'm still going to talk to one. I figure I deserve to at least see what they'll say after I've lost all the weight. I just don't want a reminder of my fat self when I'm skinny.

Does toning exercises work? What if you tone as you go? I agree with the others though. The health benefits from loosing out weigh the downs from the skin. I have heart disease and diabetes in my family and it's my main resolve to lose this weight so I'll be here for my son. Good luck to you.

Check out this (sticky) thread on the maintainers forum: http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=36040

I agree. I'm going to deal with loose skin if and when it becomes a problem rather than worrying about it at this stage.

50lb down and there's no real sign of anything, so I'm taking that as a good sign. I'll see what happens, I'm doing a lot of exercise so hoping that it will help with toning, I'm also 27 which should hopefully help!

Fortunately, girls, you are young (as am I--25). One thing that working in the cosmetic industry has taught me is that younger skin IS more elastic and resilient. The best thing you can do for your skin is to take good care of it NOW and every day hereafter, including during and after pregnancy. Drink lots and lots of water to keep your skin hydrated, and use lots of lotion. However, I will say that creams only work for slight firming/stretch mark problems, and will not get rid of large amounts of excess skin, and are therefore best used as a preventative measure. That said, cocoa butter is great (and dirt cheap!) for stretch marks and elasticity, as is any other ingredient that promotes the growth of collagen in your skin. Don't bother buying expensive creams just to get the collagen in the cream--the particles are too large to penetrate your skin--but there are some expensive creams that work very well (Lancome's Body Sculptesse, Strivectin-SD, which you can get a generic form of at any beauty supply store, like Sally's). Certain foods also promote the growth of collagen (although I'm drawing a blank at the moment--do a search, you're sure to find something), or you can take a supplement. But there are some good creams (even some of the expensive ones) out there that do decrease the appearance of stretch marks and tighten your skin (Nivea Q10 is decent), and there's a large market for it, so the technology is only going to get better. By the time you're done having kids (I'm thinking 5-10 years), there may be a product out there that "cures" it.

Believe it or not, cosmetics can do wonderful things. Not the least of which is make us feel better about ourselves and our bodies.

But overall, I agree with what everyone else is saying: no matter what you look like in a bikini, losing weight is a GOOD thing and a good decision. You'll look better and feel better and stay alive longer, and isn't that the point?

~Elisha

Hey, LB, my dad died this year from heart failure after a transplant. His story is different from your dad's because my dad had cancer which caused the initial heart failure.

I last saw my dad in August of 2004. I was seriously obese. I already had high blood pressure and was working my way towards diabetic I am sure. And here was my dad, fighting so hard for his life. I just felt like I wasn't even willing to fight for my own life if I stayed obese. How could I put my daughter through what I was going through on purpose. And really, it was on purpose. I knew I could lose weight and I was just too lazy to do it. I came back from that trip and started my current journey of healthy living.

I am 5'2" and started out at 244. I am now down to 163. The only real problem I have had so far is in my boobs. They *poof* disappeared one night (really!) and now I have a lot of hangy skin there. Everywhere else has kind of tightened up as I go. I am 33 (34 tomorrow!) and have already had one child. I was a DDD on the chest and I am now a big C or small D. I have a ways to go, but I too, would rather hide some extra skin with my clothes than hide myself beneath my fat.

Thank you for sharing your story. This resonated with me so much, and it's something I'll be thinking about a lot today.

As for loose skin, I've let the notion PLAGUE me, and voiced my fears very loudly to my boyfriend. He reiterated what I already knew, that loose skin or not I'll be so much better off as a fit and healthy person and that he wants me around for a very long time. So screw the loose skin. Every time I get all freaky about it, I think about walking up flights of stairs without breaking a sweat or breathing hard, shopping in non-fat-lady stores, and being free of all this fat that's been holding me back. When I put it into that perspective, I don't believe there's even anything to debate.

Thank you everyone for your words on this matter

I agree that I want to be healthy more than I want to look good, and I can mask my problems with clothes, and after kids if I've kept the weight off I can maybe look into surgery if I'm still unhappy

But I'm just happy knowing that each day I'm taking a step towards a healthier, happier me!

I know what you mean. I KNOW for a fact that I'll have a lot of extra skin on my belly. I already do, after 2 overweight pregnancies in a year and a half. I never had any intention of wearing a bikini again. The thought of plastic surgery has definitely entered my mind, but I'm going to wait and see what I look like after I've lost 50 more pounds and maintained it for a while. As everyone including you has said, I'd rather be thin and healthy with some extra skin, than fat and unhealthy but with my skin all filled out.

My highest ever was 228 or whatever it says on my sig down there... I'm now a US size 10 and I haven't got any lose skin or anything like that. I think age is on our side! Don't worry about what might happen, especialy if this is stopping you starting on a healthy journey. Aren't you doing this for your health's sake and your heart's sake? Your heart will be a whole lot better at 199 whatever you look like!

i had loose skin on my breats when i lost weight before, and have it now too to a lesser degree. toning exercises, water, and lotion all helped, but really, it just took a little time for my skin to catch up with my healthy eating habits. it's really not as gross as it sounds. my highest weight was 238, and even dropping to 165, it wasn't really a big deal. i didn't wear triangle tops (not b/c of loose skin, it was the d cups ), but i didn't sweat halter style swim suits. shorts will be fine, i think. i never had loose skin on my legs at all.