Loose Skin

It all depends on your age, how much you have to lose and yes how quickly you lose it. Or at least that's what I've read. I was 268 lbs and dropped to 144 lbs and yes I had and still have lose skin. You may only have some or none. But that's nothing to worry yourself over. Focus on what's important and that's being healthy. 😊 Good luck!

AnnPT77 wrote: »

I lost 50+ pounds at age 62, and don't have much . . . had more when I first hit goal weight, but the true loose skin (thin wrinkles like wrinkles in fabric) kept shrinking well into year 2 of maintenance. Fat loss is slower than skin shrinkage. A lot of the final result is genetics, probably.

This is me as well. I lost ~50 lbs over a couple of years aged 65-66, and I've been in maintenance 4 months. In even that small a period I've seen slight (but noticeable) improvements on loose skin, especially in my midriff.

Can’t really say because there are several factors to consider, but in general everything that can relate to your internal and external health. The ones that stand out are: age; nutrition; physical fitness/muscle mass; exercise; health; genetics; drug use (tobacco/otc/scripts/illicit drugs); the rate at which you lose the weight; the products you use on your skin; exfoliating/not exfoliating your skin; your environmental quality; and I can think of at least 5 others, but there are more than five to consider! BTW...Collagen supplement are bogus...eat your nutrition via whole foods!

I lost 40 Lbs over 5 months (10-15 more to absolute ideal) and noticed a bit of crinkles in my skin, mostly around my elbows...sure it’s awful, but personally I’d rather be a wrinkly Shar-Pei, then obese/petite BBW! Isn’t that an oxymoron, “petite BBW!” Nix the nice euphemisms, small BBW, curvy, big girl, chubby, etc, and call yourself what it is—FAT/OBESE. Telling myself I was obese (5’3” @ 180Lbs w an 88cm waist and 112cm hips), and more importantly sharing this obese epiphany with friends/acquaintances, helped me drop those 40 Lbs. I’m at my penultimate shape and happy with my physical appearance (today I’m 5’3” @ 137Lbs w 73cm waist and 93cm hips). To limit any further crinkles I’m taking the last 10-15 Lbs (or what ever gets me to 89x60x89 or there about!) off over a year and trying to put muscle on to take up the space I lost.

If you believe you might have too much extra skin that will likely not snap back start a savings account today, do a little math to estimate surgical costs, divide costs by pounds to lose and factor in time, then put this amount of money away each week, money NOT to be touched for any reason (pretend you don’t have this money and don’t tell family/friends about this money.) and after 18mo to 2 years of HOLDING YOUR IDEAL WEIGHT you can use that money for plastic surgery (FYI insurance will typically cover abdoplasty if the excess creates problems (rashes etc) IF you need it. If you don’t treat yourself to smthg nice—new wardrobe, special trip, etc.

Good luck.

Something I didn't see mentioned. In part, it depends on how long your skin has been stretched out. Have you been overweight your whole life? If so, then you might end up with loose skin because it's been stretched out and stayed stretched out over a longer period. Where, if you had a fairly rapid weight gain and only carried around the extra weight for a year or two (think pregnancies as a good example) there is much better chance that things will "spring" back.

In total, I need to lose 145lbs (lost 68 so far) and while I do expect some loose skin as I've been overweight most of my adult life, I'm hoping it isn't too bad as the majority of my weight gain (100lbs) came on quickly when I got sick several years ago. We'll see. I also practice IF to achieve autophagy, but I won't go in to that here as I'm likely to get woo'd right on out the door.

And go look in the "success stories" forum. People talk honestly about loose skin, and often even have photos. It's almost always way less than many people fear.

It's also important to realize that we can look worse part way through weight loss, when a less dense (squishier, floppier) fat mass is still conspiring with gravity to keep skin stretched.

At goal weight, it's often improved (less stretched), and the true loose skin (thin wrinkles) can keep improving for up to a couple of years after that.

I lost 92 and only have noticeable loose skin in certain positions (like pushups, sitting down, or laying on my side). 6'1" 31 years old. I reached my goal only last month, so I expect it will get even better over the next couple years. I definitely feel "squisher" than the average person though.

FYI: The "how quickly you lose" matters thing is a myth. If you lose fast, you will have more at first of course. After a year or two of maintaining, you will look the same whether you lost it fast or slow (assuming you minimized muscle loss). Skin won't just stop tightening because you loss too fast, that's silly.

I've lost 100lbs in about a year and have hardly any loose skin. It comes down to genetics quite a bit. I didn't lift weights at all during weight loss. Mostly walk and ran. I'm pretty lucky I think.

And also, I WEIGH 100LBS LESS THAN I DID TWO YEARS AGO.

There is no one size fits all answer. How you carry your weight (all over? Mostly stomach?), your height (50 pounds on someone who is 5'0" stretches you more than if you're 5'10"), your age, your skin's natural elasticity, your genetics, how long you were overweight, how fast you lose...

Tbh? Problaby a little, but maybe not. Does that mean you shouldn't lose weight? Definitely not.

I know slower rate of loss helps, as does being well hydrated and working out (for overall body comp).

I lost 75 before and didn't really notice that much, but I was 10 years younger and still had some weight to lose.