Loose Skin

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frickenheck
frickenheck Posts: 1
in Health and Weight Loss
Does everyone else hate their loose skin as much as I do?

I've lost 64lbs since last June and I can't stand the loose skin on my stomach/arms/thighs. Will my skin tighten up over time? I've read that it can take up to 2 years to tighten up. Is that true? Are there things I can do to improve my loose skin beside waiting for it to tighten up?

I'm just really uncomfortable with my skin and I feel like it's preventing me from feeling good about my weight loss. I also feel bad for complaining about it because my skin isn't as bad as those who've lost 100+ pounds.

I'd love to hear about how some of you have dealt with your loose skin. Did it improve over time? Did you have skin removal surgery? Did you just learn to accept it?

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  • Dpackard11
    Dpackard11 Posts: 4 Member
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    I haven't lost enough yet to have this issue (only at 25 lbs currently but have a lot more to lose) but I would like to hear about other people's experiences with this as well.

    Nice job on the 64lbs!
  • Flying_Joe
    Flying_Joe Posts: 15 Member
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    When I was 44 I lost 98 lbs in about 3 and a half months and my skin tightened at the same pace that I lost weight - no sign I had been overweight when arriving at my goal weight. From what i could measure, I had lost only about 10-15 lbs of lean weight with that process, and so I exercised to replenish that - while staying at my goal weight but changing my body composition to being leaner.

    However, for different reasons, I did put on that weight again and much more since then. Now at 54 years old, I have lost 89 lbs since February and I can see that my skin is pretty different this time - where I'm starting to develop some real folds which I didn't have last time. However, I still have 50 lbs to lose so cannot completely say how I'll end up or fully compare until I get to that equivalent weight as last time.

    From what I can see with myself - there is a difference with age and my skin is definitely looser. Hopefully, I started this round of weight loss soon enough that my skin can bounce enough that I can live with what I'll look like in the end.

    Although I am very very concerned about this aspect (it even held me back from starting my weight loss journey for a while), I currently feel optimistic that as I remove the remaining fat and as the skin catches up over the next year that it won't be too bad - but I am prepared to have the loose flap that is now growing around my waist and my neck and the bubbly loose skin on my inner thighs.

    I will certainly also start some resistance training to help maintain lean mass as much as I can while I am doing this, and to build that further when I get near my goal weight. From what I've seen, along with less supple skin as one gets older, it certainly will take more effort to build muscle mass as well as for a man of 55 (which I'll be when I reach my goal).

    (And no lectures please from the few who have axes to grind about VLCDs - Regaining the weight wasn't related to how quickly I lost it, but rather on how I ate after - when in maintenance mode. This time around, I'm doing a lot of extra work in preparation for that as I never want to get back to heavy again)

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