I've been dealing with this as well, and it's an extremely touchy subject for me. My husband has left me because I'm so unattractive now (that's his current reason). I've got a lot of sagging skin around my arms, belly and inner thighs.
I've done a lot of reading on the subject. Yes, a lot of factors come to play with the saggy skin. First, when we're losing weight, we do get squishier. We're starting to lose the support of the undercarriage of fat. There's a subcutaneous system that holds our fat in place, and as our fat cells shrink, it gets jiggly. It does take a couple of years after we've lost the weight for that undercarriage to snap back into place.
While we are dieting and exercising, our bodies are working in a caloric deficit mode. Our bodies use up all the calories we've taken in for the day, plus another bit from our "storage system" (only about a third of the calories we use daily come from stored fat). If we don't eat enough protein during that time period, our bodies will go for our muscles for fuel as well. That's why it's important to get enough protein, plus to do weight training exercises while we're losing weight. It's also important to do cardio exercises because those specifically burn calories from fat.
So now we're all jiggly and droopy and we're wondering if we're ever going to stop resembling an amoeba. I've been assured by some people, one of whom is in her 50s, that our skin will shrink, but we have to do a few things to help our bodies along with this. We need to get our percentage of body fat down below 20% and keep exercising. And to help it along even more, the skin needs to be
dry brushed on a regular basis to remove old skin cells and get the circulation going properly. Deep tissue massage can also help to rejuvenate the connective tissue in our bodies. And make sure to keep drinking adequate water to help clear out toxins during the weight loss process. Hot and cold showers are also reported to help. Good nutrition is also important, to help feed the right nutrients that support better skin health (essential fatty acids and antioxidants).
I guess we all need one more important thing...lots of patience!
I'm actually considering buying one of those post-surgery body compression stocking things to support my whole body and skin while I'm losing weight. I get so discouraged by my sagging skin. I'm going to talk to my doctor about it first, though.
Georgia