Well, I was reading Star magazine the other day and they were reporting on how Ms. Janet Jackson had lost 60lbs in a mere 3 months.

Can't say I'm a huge fan, but if you've seen her latest videos you'd see how fabulously fit the woman is. She is ripped, I mean absolutely buff. Her abs are fantastic. They showed the before photo from the alleged 3 months before and she was chubby. So congratulations to her, she looks quite good.

But, the magazine was questioning how she managed to lose so much weight in such a short amount of time and has NO LOOSE SKIN ANYWHERE. They hypothesized that she must have had surgery to tighten it.

My question is not whether she actually had the surgery or not. My question is; loose skin, are you kidding me? Is this another thing I've got to worry about?

I don't want to lose the weight if I'm going to have horrible loose skin hanging off of me; I'd rather just be the tall 'thick' girl I am now. Because it's not like guys aren't attracted to me. I do need to lose weight, I am overweight but people don't really notice because my height stretches things out and it's distributed fairly evenly; plus I'm a master at camoflague. I want to lose the weight but, I'd rather be the size I am now than have loose skin everywhere.

Is there any way to prevent this from happening? I want to be tight and toned everywhere when I've lost the weight. Would weight training and other exercises keep me from having loose skin? Is that why, perhaps, Ms Jackson has tight skin? Because she had so many muscles built underneath the fat?

Someone explain to me, I am confused. I've never heard of this loose skin thing before.

Maybe she was also less likely to have loose skin because she was only overweight for a short period of time. The elastic tissue in her skin might never have gotten to the point where it truly lost it's elasticity, so it could shrink back fairly well. I think some people also just have more elastic skin than others. Oftentimes those people tend to look younger than they are (like she does).

Yeah, she looks pretty young. But, like her brother, I think some of that is due to plastic surgery procedures.. She still looks great though.

Hopefully my skin will shrink, I've been at this overweight point for like 2 years now. I don't even really have stretch marks or anything, just light ones on my hips you can barely see.

Well, Id say that you have age on your side. That should relly help. I am 43 just lost 40 lbs and have that loose skin problem with my arms inner thighs and stomach. Yea, really exciting , I know! It 's disgusting actually. My only exercise has been treadmill. I have recently started teh firm tapes and strengthening and toning exercises. I'm not sure if it's too late or if Istill have a chance at tightening it up a bit.
So, even though you have age on your side, MAKE SURE you work out to keep tone!!
maggie

I have loose skin. My boobs deflated and my stomach will not recover without surgical measures. I have slight batwings.

Oh, and I'm 24 and have been overweight/obese my whole life.

However, I lost relatively quickly and my skin has definitely improved over time! I have said before that I will take the loose skin over my previous state and haven't given it another thought. I know that people who lose an excessive amount quickly (gastic bypass, for example), often need corrective surgery because it can be unbearably uncomfortable. To me it's just vanity and inconvenience.

I think that there isn't a whole lot you can do about preventing it, but you shouldn't expect to look like some hideous creature, either. You just don't know and every case is different- some don't have any, some have a little (like me) and others have a lot. I would say that your youth and the time you've been overweight will work for you, though.

Read this thread for great information on loose skin.