QUESTION ABOUT EXCESS SKIN!

defygravity531 · January 2011

Hi all,
I'm 22 years old, 5'1", and have gotten down to 170 from 210. I'm sometimes scared to keep losing weight because I worry that if I ever really do get thin one day I'll have all kinds of excess skin. Has that happened to anyone here? Do you have to have surgery to remove it? Is it as bad as I imagine it to be? This is my biggest worry, I'm afraid to finally be thin and hott and STILL have flabby skin everywhere!

00trayn · January 2011

I started a bit higher than you at 215 and I'm an inch taller. So far I've gotten down to 150 and loose skin is a minor issue. I've been putting Bio Oil on the trouble spots and I'm seeing an improvement, slowly over time. My stomach is definitely starting to flatten out, but I'm not sure how flat it's gonna end up. It depends on the individual whether you'll end up with lots of loose skin or none. You definitely have age on your side (and if you haven't had a baby). I'm hoping mine will continue to snap back. I've see pictures of loose skin from people who have lost weight and mine definitely isn't bad in comparison, but it depends. I'm just gonna keep moving forward with getting to my goal and hope the rest of me catches up. I have heard it does take more time for the skin to go back, so give it a year before you think about surgery to fix it.

melissa1977 · January 2011

At your age, there's a good chance your skin is going to snap right back as you exercise and tone up.

I think the really bad excess skin often comes from people who have been significantly overweight for a long long time.

galvestongal · January 2011

I am 5'4" and went from 241 to my current weight of 172. I have questioned my doctor about this very thing. He told me that most of it will shrink back up on its own but it does take time and exercise helps immensely! After I first lost a lot of my weight the skin was horrible, but now about 1.5-2 years later and with exercise, it has gotten a lot better. There is only now a small pooch where the my stomach used to hang to my knees, and my thighs and arms have tightened up. The only thing I have a problem with now is celulite underneath. It WILL get better, don't give up on that. Surgery is very exteme and expensive. Just remember, it won't be perfect, but then again...what is?

hmdavis · January 2011

I have a problem with excess skin myself…..although it's not just from weight loss…I had 2 pregnancies, pretty large babies, and I'm not that tall myself (5'4"), combined with weight gain. Also, I had a c-section with my second baby, so I have what a lot of women term the "belly flap" I have a horribly ugly skin flab on my lower abdomen, unfortunately, this will not go away on it's own… Every person is different, I found that sitting in the sauna at the gym is helpful, time and toning is helpful, but that flap of mine will not disapear on it's own… I don't know if you've had pregnancies before, because that really does make a difference. I would suggest giving it plenty of time to tone and continue being healthy and see what happens. By the way, congrats on the weight loss! 40 lbs is huge! Keep up the great work!

lucybp · January 2011

I agree with the above comments, specially Melissa's. I do not believe you have to worry about excess skin. My highest has been 232 and at one point I got down to 145 and I'm 5.0. Excess skin was not a problem. I also did strength training 2x per week. Hope this helps.

newmeat30 · January 2011

If you are young and haven't had kids, chances are good that you won't have excess skin hanging around.

In my experience pregnancy and repeat C-sections did a number on my skin.

With my first child I only gained 20 lbs, had a C-section, lost all the weight and had NO saggy skin.
With my second child I gained 50+ lbs (from 134 to 183+...and only 5'3), had a repeat C-section, lost 40 lbs but the skin was very saggy so I put on more weight to fill out the skin (didn't help at all).

I know that in my case after I lose the 30 - 40lbs that I'm working on I will still have saggy skin. So my plan is to have that extra skin surgically removed.

defygravity531 · January 2011

Thank you all! I think that since I'm so young and my I don't plan on having babies until my late 20s that I'll have time to slim down and firm up my skin (exercise and bio oil, thanks for the tips!) before a baby stretches me back out again, lol.

Thank you so much for calming my fears.

madijo41 · January 2011

I watched the finale once of the biggest looser. He was the runner up first season I think. It sticks in my mind because I think he lost something like 200 lbs, and when they showed his stomach he had a six pack. He had this itty bitty weeny itsy flap of skin. I can live with that!

AndriaLL · January 2011

I agree with what everyone is saying here, I just wanted to add that there is now laser skin tightening which is a lot less extreme than surgery and less expensive. It can't do quite as much as surgery, but depending on how much you have, it may be all you need.

kittyscousin2 · January 2011

I went from 260s to 175 in 16 weeks...so you can imagine the loose skin (mainly my arms and stomach). My doctor said to continue working out hardcore for about another year and it should tone up/go away. (This of course is different for everybody depending on age/motherhood/etc.) I also heard that you can donate your extra skin after sugery and get discounts on the actual procedure. I haven't looked into it though, so I can't say for sure.

artschoolgirl · January 2011

It is different for every person. For me, even though I was young & lost weight the right way over a period of time I still had significant amounts of excess skin around my stomach & the rest of my body, but tummy area being the worst. I work out 5 days a week, working out hard & eating right, but this wasn't going to help this skin disappear or tighten to the point where I would be happy.

Almost exactly a year ago I had a tummy tuck to remove my excess skin at age 23. It was the best decision I've made & has really motivated me to train harder & improve my other areas to the best of my ability. I still have some problem areas & because of the amount of skin I had on my stomach, things still aren't perfect, but I can wear a tight shirt & jeans with no spillage or bulges!

Just remember, don't be afraid to lose weight because of this. Trust me, you're going to be much happier being thin with some excess skin than you are going to be overweight & unhealthy.

Best of luck!

QUESTION ABOUT EXCESS SKIN!

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