Excess Skin Surgery

doodles21224

I am fairly new here and I have a question. A very close friend of mine has lost between 125 and 150 pounds over the last two years, very slow but she did it. She is an inspiration to me. However the only exercise she did was walking and chasing her grandchildren, lol. She had to have surgery to remove excess skin. If I tone in addition to walking will I have to have the surgery at the end also? Has anyone else on here heard of this before. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

ozigal

I guess the reality is you don't HAVE to have surgery. It's whether or not you choose to based on how comfortable you feel about yourself.

So here's what's going to happen (most likely)... you lose weight, since you aren't in your 20's or 30's, depending on how much weight you lose and how elastic your skin is, you may well end up with loose skin.

Remember that toning exercises tone up the muscles underneath the skin not the skin itself.

In the meantime, drink heaps of water, you can rub vitamin E cream on it... whatever you want.

I know that's not necessarily what you want to hear but it is what it is.

Vickil57

My doctor told me that not to do anything until 2 years after I lost the weigh. I am really concerned about lots of skin hanging. But trust my doctor. So will see what happens.

Prettee2B

I could imagine that it may be different for each individual is different with different body mass, skin. Where one person as excessive lose skin theres plenty with out. You'll do fine just wait it out

doodles21224

Thanks everyone! Need all the info and encouragement I can find.

vscott913

I lost 120 lbs and I am about at the end of my weight loss journey. At my heaviest weight, I was 255. I started MFP on June 15, 2011 weighing in at 249. I started with walking, then progressed to swimming, bicycle riding, zumba.... I exercised 2 hours per day as a general rule. I took about a 6 month hiatus from logging and exercising last spring and did OK for a while, but then gained back 18 lbs. I goet started again the end of July, joined a gym in Sept and I now weigh 134.5. My initial goal was 135, but I've decided to go for 128. I have been incredibly active, but I still have excess loose skin. I was worried about it when I started my journey (well, actually, before I started my journey), but someone on here told me, better to have excess skin than excess fat. They were 100% right! Excess skin does not make me unhealthy. I have a couple of problem areas: 1) My abdomen which has had loose, saggy skin since my first c-section in 1983, so that doesn't look a whole lot worse than it's always looked, but it's WAY smaller now! ;-) If I could just get lift, my upper arms would fly me to the moon and back! LOL OK, they're not terrible, but I don't like them. I am self-conscious of both areas. My face has also drooped just a little... the fold by my mouth is deeper and I have a little bit of that "jowl" look to my neck. That actually improved as I got the last 25 lbs off, I'm happy to say. My arms and gut do look better now than they did 25 lbs ago, no doubt! I've been pricing for brachioplasty (upper arm or batwing surgery ;-) and a circumferencial abdominoplasty which would be a tummy tuck and butt lift all wrapped into one procedure. Mind you, I do look really good.... in clothes particularly. I have LOVED how I've looked throughout this weight loss process. I'm at the point now, though, where I feel like I am being kept from really seeing the true results of my efforts. It's kind of like having earned a trophy, but not being able to receive it... and there's nothing else I can do about it. I'm still doing 2 hours of exercise per day. I'm in amazing shape. I have GREAT muscle tone and definition, even in my upper arms, but the skin obscures it. I'm self-conscious when I raise my arms, or dance.... so... I really want the surgery. I'm afraid of the scaring, infection, pain (not so much because I know they can drug me out of my skull for a few days)... I'm 49 years old (almost 50 now) and I started my weight loss journey at the age of 47, well past the 27 I heard you have to lose weight by if you want the elasticity to work for you. I don't know how old you are, or how much weight you have to lose, but I can almost promise you that you'll love how you look much better with the weight off and you will feel worlds better too. The skin is something to worry about later, once you see what you have left, if anything. My dilema now is that it's hard to tell if I've lost all the fat I can lose or if there's still more in my upper arms and gut, or that's just skin. I just can't tell. I'm going to see a plastic surgeon on Tuesday for his assessment. He saw me when I weighed 157 for an initial consultation and he said he guestimated I had another 20 - 25 lbs to go....so my goal was realistic and I'm there now. Hard to believe, but I did it! I don't want the surgery to remove fat... I was determined to do that work on my own, I do want the surgery to make me look like the 49 year old I would have been if I had never been 120 lbs overweight. I hope all this helps.

Veronica

vscott913

Just an update: I've had 2 doctors tell me now that I am at goal weight and need to lose no more, so I am maintaining at 134. The plastic surgeon feels I am a candidate for L-shaped brachioplasty and a 360 body lift, or circumferencial abdominoplasty. I have an appointment for my arm surgery on April 30th, 2014. I am stoked.... a little scared, but STOKED!!! Feel free to check back with me in a month ;-)

Veronica