Weight Loss And Extra Skin

Hi all!


I used to weigh 240 pounds. I lost 40 of the 240 in about 2 years. Then I dramatically lost over 70 pounds during a painful split with my son's father and now weigh 128. I have a lot of extra, flabby skin from losing so much weight very fast. I lost 60 of the 72 pounds in 7 months. I am very insecure about it and hate looking at myself. I am really excited to have lost the weight, but I it is hard to enjoy it when I have such a hard time accepting I look good with this flabby skin.

I did not have any weightloss surgery to lost weight. I was under a lot of stress and could not eat a lot and I was constantly cleaning my house to try to keep my mind off the stressful break up.

Can anyone tell me if and how they were able to tighten up their skin/body from dramatic weightloss without surgery? I really appreciate your help.

Happy Holidays!

Replies

  • buda12345
    buda12345 Posts: 142 Member
    Surgery
  • aliciab307
    aliciab307 Posts: 370 Member
    Maybe you could do some strength/muscle training?? Depending on how much skin you really have sagging it really depends. You should have it checked out by your doctor to see an estimate of how much s/he think it weighs. I know a girl that had a dramatic weight loss, even though she was bigger than 240. She had about 15/20 lbs of skin and could not do anything but have surgery.
  • Sorry, can't offer any help but Merry Christmas to you and your son ..
  • Jayme34
    Jayme34 Posts: 160 Member
    I have the same issue and have been told that no amount of weight lifting, heavy lifting etc will help. It may tone you up a bit but ultimately the only option for those of us with alot of weight to lose is plastic surgery to remove the excess skin. Sorry.
  • Debby0904
    Debby0904 Posts: 151 Member
    I'd jump on the surgery thought as well but you are still very young and your skin might be forgiving. At least somewhat. Factors though are how long were you overweight, age, etc.. Try strength training and give it another year and see what happens. It didn't stretch overnight and won't go back overnight either.
  • lin7604
    lin7604 Posts: 2,951 Member
    do you have any pics to show us? it may not be as bad as you are thinking as we judge ourselves so much more... you might be able to tighten it up
  • I lost 100 lbs in about a year and extra skin developed around my mid-section as the the weight came off. I began running and doing alot of ab work to assist with the weight loss and in doing so my mid-section skin size was dramtically reduced. I have very little left (can pinch about an inch) and expect that to be gone within the next few months (hopefully).
  • juliekaiser1988
    juliekaiser1988 Posts: 604 Member
    My insurance covered my tummy tuck. My boob lift was paid for because I was getting a hysterectomy at the same time and only had to pay the surgeon because obviously I was already receiving the services of the operating room and the anethseiologist by way of the hysterectomy.

    Totally happy with both jobs.

    Now, an upper body lift is what I really want. That'll be all on my dime, though.
  • I have no idea what the "right" answer is, but I can say that since I've roller-coastered and lost over 100# a few times in my life, the loose skin did take care of itself for the most part, eventually - and by that I mean the times I've kept it off for a year or more, it gradually got better.

    I'd wait a while before doing anything drastic, personally.

    -Johnny
  • simple yet effective tips Exercise regularly to tighten and tone problem areas, Follow a healthy diet plan, Do resistance training 3 times a week to build new muscle for the skin to adhere to
    Count calories
    Don’t follow an extremely restrictive diet
    Drink a lot of water