Too terrified to focus

If you have obsessive thoughts and anxiety, seeing a doctor may be more use than talking to people here.

Having said that - I'm 100 lbs down. I do have some loose skin on my lower belly, but it's easily hidden by bikini panties and doesn't bother me. And I'm 49 years old. You are much younger and have less to lose.

What's the worst that can possibly happen? The absolute worst thing is that you will look much better than you do now. A healthy weight person with some loose skin looks better than an obese person. And chances are pretty good you will have minimal loose skin which will correct itself in time. If the absolute worst comes to the worst and you look like a Shar Pei, there's surgery available, which is often paid for by insurance when the skin problem is severe.

Weight loss may not be for you then.

Good news may be that most people who come on here wanting to lose weight don't manage to do it. Likely your loose skin will never materialize.

Like the other posters who have lost a lot, 110lbs here, I have loose skin. I'm terrified of surgery.

30 years is young enough. If you lose it slowly there might not be any loose skin. Start losing at 1lbs per week and reevaluate your decision after 20lbs. There won't be any excess skin at that point yet. So there's nothing to lose.

Go slow and have a plan in effect to fix it if it’s that bad. I have obsessive type anxiety too. I know it’s not what logical ppl would do, but I’d look up ways to fix, or help prevent loose skin, and try to set money aside incase I felt like I needed cosmetic surgery, or massage, or whatever. I’d make sure to keep eating healthy fats, and work those into my calories, and moisturize carefully with lots of grape seed oil. Again, I know most ppl would say things like this don’t matter, and that nothing will help, but I would cling to anything that could help a little. It’s a crutch, but if you need to lose the weight, it’s a trade off. That’s what I do during Noro virus season.

The problems that obesity can bring should be more terrifying than loose skin. I am down 113 lbs and have some in my belly but I look f-ing fantastic in clothes now and my fitness is amazing. Things may tighten and I continue lifting ... but loose skin is nothing compared to How I looked and felt before. Don’t be afraid!