Excess skin after weight Loss

Options
ericalippe
ericalippe Posts: 1 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi- new here! 13 pounds into my weight loss journey-5'5 and Down from 180-167. I look at B and A photos of folks who started out at about my height and weight and get down to about my weight loss goal and some of them have excess skin after and some don't. What I'm wondering is- does anyone knows of any factors outside of how long you were overweight, age and skin elasticity, genetics? I know I'm not old, but also am not a spring chicken and was overweight for a bit, so if there is anything I can do to minimize this that I don't know about, I would love some advice. To clarify: I know I will not have a large amount of skin excess and that this is on a much larger scale for some folks- My sister had bariatric surgery and is saving for several surgeries for her excess skin, so I'm sensitive to the comparatively minimal issue I will have. Just looking to see what folks experienced and if they attribute anything to lack of excess skin, perhaps especially folks who lost around 60 lbs give or take a pound or twenty. Thank you!
«1

Replies

  • rickiimarieee
    rickiimarieee Posts: 2,212 Member
    Options
    I lost about 40 pounds very quickly and had a lot of extra skin (I thought) and I had a mini abdominalplasty (yummy tuck) and they just cut from hip to hip and removed the skin. No lipo or anything. 18 inches of excess skin was removed.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    Options
    Some of it depends on how you carry your weight. The more concentrated it is in one area the more likely you will have loose skin.
  • como_agua1
    como_agua1 Posts: 210 Member
    Options
    @rickiimarieee congratulations on your achievement - but that cutttttt... ouch. so brave you are, girl. hope you are healing fast and well..... <3
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,178 Member
    Options
    I'm 5'5", started at 183, lost around 50 pounds in just less than a year, at age 59-60.

    In year 3 of maintenance, I have surprisingly little loose skin. Mine continued to shrink quite a lot, well into year 2 of maintenance. I think that rate of fat loss makes some difference in whether skin shrinkage can keep pace with fat loss (skin shrinkage is slow, and needs enough fat loss to happen to stop remaining "squishy fat" from conspiring with gravity to keep skin stretched, before it can even much start shrinking.)

    I have no scientific evidence, but common sense suggests to me that the things that might help our skin behave in an optimally healthy way (in this case, be dynamic and elastic) are the same things that keep our other organs healthy and functioning well (skin is our largest organ). That would be sound nutrition, regular exercise, and avoiding physical or mental/emotional stress to the extent feasible. Losing weight unnecessarily fast counts as a physical stress, and therefore a health risk for skin (and the rest of the body).

    Be aware of two things:

    1. Some of us look worse partway to goal (because of that "squishy fat/gravity" thing) than we will at goal weight, let alone at a year or two of maintaining goal weight. Don't get discouraged along the way, and be patient.

    2. True loose skin is thin wrinkles, like wrinkles in fabric. 1/2" or more rolls or wrinkles still have some subcutaneous fat helping to keep them stretched out. If you reach a healthy weight with still some problem areas, recomposition can potentially help (recomposition is strength training at maintenance calories to very slowly lose a bit more fat, and gain a bit of muscle, so that weight stays constant). In loose skin removal surgery, it's not unusual for some amount of subcutaneous fat to be removed along with what's literally just skin.

    Best wishes!
  • cheryldumais
    cheryldumais Posts: 1,907 Member
    Options
    I lost 103 pounds. I had a tummy tuck after the second year but I was actively losing right up to that point. At the time my rear and underarms were horrible but I couldn't afford a second surgery. Now a year later my behind has improved alot and my underarms are better. Give it time to improve. My abdomen would never have come back because I had hanging skin before I lost from too much weight and 2 -9+ pound babies. If you didn't have hanging skin before I wouldn't worry about it until a year or two after you reach goal.
  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,874 Member
    edited March 2019
    Options
    I've lost 55 pounds (total of 75 from my highest, actually). I have a bit of loose skin but nothing I'd think twice about except maybe my stomach, but that is courtesy of babies. A little on the inside of my upper arms if I hold them just so and some on each flank (the thin, wrinkly kind so I'm hoping that might continue to improve as I'm just now reaching my final maintenance range). I can generally pinch up some skin and get those thin wrinkles all over, like my whole skin is just a size too big, but I'm confident that will go away with time, and you can't 'see' it normally anyway.

    I am 5'2.5, 185 to 130 in 1 yr 8 months, age 39 for reference.
  • Sunshine_And_Sand
    Sunshine_And_Sand Posts: 1,320 Member
    Options
    I feel like the rate you lose the weight has very little (if even any at all) to do with the amount of loose skin you end up with after you've lost all the weight and maintained it for a couple years. A slower rate is safer and better for lots of reasons, just probably not for loose skin. Losing slowly will probably help you look a bit better during weight loss because you are giving the skin more time to adapt, but your end result probably wouldn't be any different.
    How long you were overweight and how fast you gained the weight is probably a bigger factor than rate of loss, but genetics are what's really going to make a difference, and you can't control that.
    Gaining the weight is what caused your skin to have to stretch, so if genetics aren't on your side in this one, any "damage" has already been done before you even start losing.
    My opinion here - you're best to lose slowly even if it won't really change the end result for your skin and exercise along the way and not worry much about the loose skin until you've been in maintenance a few years. It may continue to tighten up for a while. Once you've maintained a while, then make the decision about the amount of loose skin you have. You may not have any, or it may be a small enough amount that it won't bother you, or you may have a significant amount and decide you actually don't care about it because you feel so much better/healthier otherwise. If you end up with a lot and decide to get it removed, there's that too. You just really won't know until you get there.
    Good luck!
  • TravisJHunt
    TravisJHunt Posts: 533 Member
    Options
    rickiimarieee wrote: »
    wok9ona8eq9u.jpeg

    Ouch, you're so brave! I had paper cuts, I can't imagine that. It must hurt!

    Congrats on the 40lbs! That's a great inspiration to everyone! You must feel so much better overall health wise! Keep it up!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,178 Member
    Options
    cheryldumais wrote: »
    I lost 103 pounds. I had a tummy tuck after the second year but I was actively losing right up to that point. At the time my rear and underarms were horrible but I couldn't afford a second surgery. Now a year later my behind has improved alot and my underarms are better. Give it time to improve. My abdomen would never have come back because I had hanging skin before I lost from too much weight and 2 -9+ pound babies. If you didn't have hanging skin before I wouldn't worry about it until a year or two after you reach goal.

    This was very close to my experience with my derriere (about which I was less specific in my PP on the thread). My rear view at first was ultra scary, even after losing only 50ish pounds: Looked like a bloodhound's face. Yikes! I'm still a li'l ol' lady (63 now), so I'm not Ms. Perky-b*** and never will be, but it looks pretty normal and non-scary for my age now, thankfully.

    I had fewer underarm issues, probably because I lose aggressively and earlier from my upper body. The profile photo is my right arm within 6 months after reaching goal (age 60), and most of what might appear to be loose under my upper arm is triceps that aren't fully flexed into firmness, rather than fat/skin.

    Your point about hanging skin is insightful.
  • rickiimarieee
    rickiimarieee Posts: 2,212 Member
    Options
    como_agua1 wrote: »
    @rickiimarieee congratulations on your achievement - but that cutttttt... ouch. so brave you are, girl. hope you are healing fast and well..... <3

    Hey thanks girl! It actually wasn’t as bad at all compared to how it looks. But I had a lot of trouble healing (you’re suppose to walk slouched over for awhile because your skin is stretched so tight but I stood straight up so it kept opening up). I have a high pain tolerance so I didn’t think it was that bad at all. I also had a breast augmentation with this and that was a lot worse than the skin removal. But overall pain wasn’t bad at all except waking up, it feels like you were hit by a truck. But they’re pretty rough with your body while you’re in there, pull and tugging and stuffing and stabbing so it’s to be expected! But this was a year ago, I’m completely all healed now!
  • rickiimarieee
    rickiimarieee Posts: 2,212 Member
    Options
    TravisJHunt wrote: »
    rickiimarieee wrote: »
    wok9ona8eq9u.jpeg

    Ouch, you're so brave! I had paper cuts, I can't imagine that. It must hurt!

    Congrats on the 40lbs! That's a great inspiration to everyone! You must feel so much better overall health wise! Keep it up!

    It honestly wasn’t bad at all compared to how it looks! It only looks bad because I had trouble healing and my stitches weren’t dissolving but this was done a year ago! I’m completely all healed now! I actually got pregnant and had a baby since then, and was afraid the surgery was gonna be for nothing and the skin was gonna come back but my stomach is still flat as ever and I delivered a whole human 2 weeks ago!
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,902 Member
    Options
    rickiimarieee wrote: »
    como_agua1 wrote: »
    @rickiimarieee congratulations on your achievement - but that cutttttt... ouch. so brave you are, girl. hope you are healing fast and well..... <3

    Hey thanks girl! It actually wasn’t as bad at all compared to how it looks. But I had a lot of trouble healing (you’re suppose to walk slouched over for awhile because your skin is stretched so tight but I stood straight up so it kept opening up). I have a high pain tolerance so I didn’t think it was that bad at all. I also had a breast augmentation with this and that was a lot worse than the skin removal. But overall pain wasn’t bad at all except waking up, it feels like you were hit by a truck. But they’re pretty rough with your body while you’re in there, pull and tugging and stuffing and stabbing so it’s to be expected! But this was a year ago, I’m completely all healed now!

    @rickiimarieee thanks for posting - interesting stuff.

    Would love to see a current picture.
  • rickiimarieee
    rickiimarieee Posts: 2,212 Member
    Options
    b2phvbf2s8l4.jpeg
    rqvup64uw8iv.jpeg
    This is my scar currently. My stretch marks are much worse/ more noticeable than my scar! But I’m currently 2 weeks postpartum. I’m actually very happy with how it looks considering I was carrying a human in me after I got it done! I thought I’d have extra skin after but it’s still flat!
  • rickiimarieee
    rickiimarieee Posts: 2,212 Member
    Options
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    rickiimarieee wrote: »
    como_agua1 wrote: »
    @rickiimarieee congratulations on your achievement - but that cutttttt... ouch. so brave you are, girl. hope you are healing fast and well..... <3

    Hey thanks girl! It actually wasn’t as bad at all compared to how it looks. But I had a lot of trouble healing (you’re suppose to walk slouched over for awhile because your skin is stretched so tight but I stood straight up so it kept opening up). I have a high pain tolerance so I didn’t think it was that bad at all. I also had a breast augmentation with this and that was a lot worse than the skin removal. But overall pain wasn’t bad at all except waking up, it feels like you were hit by a truck. But they’re pretty rough with your body while you’re in there, pull and tugging and stuffing and stabbing so it’s to be expected! But this was a year ago, I’m completely all healed now!

    @rickiimarieee thanks for posting - interesting stuff.

    Would love to see a current picture.

    Just did above! I also had a baby since then, two weeks ago!
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,902 Member
    Options
    I lost 80 pounds in my 30s without any loose skin. I lost it slowly, and exercised.

Categories