100 lbs to lose Suggestions to prevent loose skin

ServusChristi wrote: »

My dermatologist says it makes no difference whether you lose quickly or slowly. It is what it is.

I think some people say it makes a difference because skin shrinkage Is likely to be slower than fat loss. (My loose skin kept shrinking well into my 2nd year of weight maintenance.)

People who lose rapidly give the loose skin less time along the way to shrink, so the wrinkles are more dramatic, while people who lose slowly "hide" some of the loose skin while they lose because the shrinkage is closer to keeping up.

Also, I should point out that some of us (like me) look much worse, in terms of what we perceive as loose skin, at a "partway to goal" stage, and things will improve from there and be better at goal (and can keep improving for quite a while afterward). This is because we can lose fat density anywhere in our fat mass, so that the overall fat area gets less firm/dense, more squishy/floppy at a midway stage - kind of like a water balloon partly full of water (no air ) as opposed to one totally full and firm.

This "squishy fat" is enough to conspire with gravity to keep skin stretched out so that it really can't shrink much. At that stage, it's easy to have the misimpression that one will look like a Shar-Pei puppy at goal weight . . . but that's not the case. When the fat mass depletes more with more weight loss, the situation will improve and be much better at goal weight. Then it can keep shrinking for many months beyond.

True loose skin, without much subcutaneous fat, is thin wrinkles, like wrinkles in fabric. Thicker rolls, like 1/2" plus, still have some underlying fat pulling them down.

Most people's worry about loose skin, IME, is worse than the reality.

OP, I think if you go over to the "Success Stories" part of the forum and read some posts, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by the appearance of most people who've lost weight, including large amounts of weight. Some of the posts there are very honest about their loose skin, with bathing suit photos and such. Do they have loose skin? Usually, yes . . . but not the full-body flaps of it that I think many obese people imagine. Almost universally, loose skin isn't visible when people are wearing street clothes.