There's a young lady at my gym who has lost about 125lbs (if I had to guess -- definitely more than 100, though) and she is in her late 20s. She has a whole lot of skin hanging around, and I know it is not mostly fat because she is an aerobics instructor and has tiny calves and ankes.

You know what? I think she looks amaaaaazing! I think she wears a body smoothing top under her regular tops or something. But, really. Is it worse to have sagging skin and be healthy or have a whole lot of fat and be at risk for diabetes and heart disease?

I don't have a lot to lose, but after two pregnancies (and c-sections!) and about 5 years of being overweight post-pregnancy, my abdomen is a train-wreck. I'll never wear a bikini, but so what?

I think each and every one of you with sagging skin should be so proud of your weight loss! :-)

I'm not losing weight for appearance sake, but for health reasons. I'm pretty body-confident at my current weight (and was at my highest weight), so I'm thinking I probably will be at my lowest weight. I'm not saying I won't enjoy looking nicer (whether that's only in clothes, or not). It won't be the end of the world if I look funnier naked than I do now. I'm more concerned with the potential health and physical comfort issues of having excess skin, and therefore excess skin rub.

(Possibly TMI)
I'm not worrying about my husband making the adjustment, because I had a tumor removed from my breast the week of our wedding. The tumor (as we hoped, but there were no guarantees) turned out to be benign, scar tissue from an old car accident. That breast now looks a little funny, especially in some positions, there's an actual divot, a deeply concave spot where the tumor was removed. My husband is so sweet, he says it's his "favorite" of the two, because it's a reminder to him that he didn't lose his wife. I'm thinking that a guy that sweet is going to see loose skin as just more well-earned battle scars. Since our intimate life (being that we're both fat and disabled) is full of humor now (it has to be, with some of the challenges we face), I'm sure that skill will come in handy when one or both of us are saggy and flappy.

I'm a bit more concerned with the physical problems that can occur with very loose skin. Skin infections, friction burns.... I know some insurances (and hopefully medicare) will pay for "medically necessary" removal of extra skin, but I know it's a nightmare of red tape to convince the right people that the procedure is medically necessary. Where I have the most skin is in the stomach and inner thigh area, and I saw a woman on "Big Medicine" on TLC who was built a lot like me, about my age (a tiny bit older), and she had to have 80 lbs of skin removed. She looked like she'd been wearing a pair of skin pants five or six sizes too big for her. It took her nearly a year to convince her insurance to cover the operation (she was getting very serious skin infections and the skin was actually interfering with her ability to walk).

One advantage I do have, is that I am losing slowly. So slowly, I might qualify for the record in slowest weight loss. I've always heard that losing slowly does tend to help minimize the loose skin, at least a bit. I'm hopeing anyway.

I've undergone a dramatic and fast paced weight loss - the bulk of it gone in a year. The skin issues are NOT what I envisioned, thank goodness.

I weight train, intensely and often. My arms are fine - I could and WILL proudly wear a tank top in warmer weather, they are always bared at the gym in very short sleeves. There is no evidence whatsoever that they were once much larger. My stomach is improving dramatically as I lower my body fat. The difference between my abs now and 4 months ago is remarkable - the lower my body fat, the smoother and tighter the skin. My ab muscles are visible and defined. While I haven't lost substantial weight in the past 4 months I have significantly changed my body's composition. The lower body fat makes such a great difference, it's crazy madness.

I probably sound cocky, and I don't want to sound like that. I've just worked as hard as humanly possible to fill any potential problem areas with muscle and to eat the right stuff. I know a great deal of credit can be given to genetics, but I've also put my fair share in. It's amazing, what dumbbells can do for you. People are always commenting that you could never tell I was once morbidly obese - there's not any evidence of extra skin visible (I don't wear loose clothing or try to disguise anything). A strange compliment to me, one I never envisioned I'd hear.

What suffered is my chest. Oh, my poor girls. I'm a 32 A now. But you know, that's fixable and they fed my son for 2 years. I'd never get down on myself about that. A cool thing about the weightlifting is that I'm able to create a false cleavage line on my pecs - pair that with a great bra from Victoria's and I've got a normal looking set of knockers. :lol:

FWIW, I'm 32.

:)

Because I have yo yo'd my entire life I don't think my skin will ever "snap" back. It's kinda like the elastic on underwear; it reaches a point of no return. Also, age is a huge factor.

I had originally thought that I would have a tummy tuck and lift/augmentation but as time goes by I'm not so sure. I too have been somewhat obsessed with before and after pictures and stories; some are incredible and others are down right scary. As others have said clothes can do wonders to cover and compliment what we have so why take that chance.

My new concern is with what can't be covered; my face and neck.

I'm at the halfway mark of my weightloss journey. I'm sure I'll have at least some loose skin on my lower abdomen and chest at the end of my journey.

I don't know what's going to happen with my arms. I have massive, massive arm muscles ~ biceps and triceps ~ I have gone through periods where I have worked out intensely and big muscles are the result. I am very, very hopeful I will end up with arms like FB (above; my hero!) ~ the Linda Hamilton/Terminator II arms. For all the work I've put into them; I should! :) I restarted going to a gym last week and right now I am putting a lot of additional work into shoulders/chest to try to give myself a mini-breast lift if I can. That area needs work.

I am pretty hopeful that my legs, butt and everything else will shrink back into shape...hope so, anyway.

My main concern, moreso than saggy skin, is lower leg edema. My lymph system doesn't function properly, hasn't since I was 20 years old, and my feet/legs/ankles are always swollen. The last time I lost down to 180 or so, everything quit swelling. I hope and pray that happens again...losing weight seems to be ameliorating some of the swelling ~ I just hope it ALL goes away.