Saggy skin, stretch marks, and all the things no one talks a

How your skin reacts all depends on your genetics, how long you were overweight/obese, if your weight has yo-yo'd a lot, etc. I'm not happy about my saggy belly and arms right now but, as others have said, I'm much more proud of them than I was of my body when I was almost 80 pounds heavier, that's for DAMN sure!!

Up until a few months ago, I'd been overweight/obese for my entire adult life (nearly 20 years) so I can't expect my body to magically firm up because I want it to. I know the 2 year rule...it won't be pleasant at times but I'll have to keep reminding myself to be patient and that being fit with a bit of flab is WAY better than being obese and unhealthy.

For those of you who are slathering on the lotions, remember that the body also hydrates from the inside out so be sure to drink plenty of water and don't skimp on those healthy fats!

Usually, saggy skin only happens in extremely obese people and stretch marks only occur in people who lose alot of weight VERY quickly (the unhealthy way).

Or when you have a baby. Just saying.

I've noticed my stretch marks are fading, but I do have really saggy skin. I'm afraid it will never go away for me

I've been overweight my whole life, and got to 325lbs. Im currently 232lbs (so 93lbs total lost). I have another 60 to go. . Im 5m10" tall.

I have excess skin..something that I feared, but something that I've come to realize, id rather fit into normal clothes, do activites I want to do, not be limited, than to be this 300+ lb person that is miserable..yea the skin sucks, and hoping it will shrink up..but im prepared for the fact that it might not.

They say that it can take a couple years after all ur weight loss to finish tightening. In the mean time, to try to help ur skin along, u can drink as much water as u can (half ur body weight in ounces of water a day, or a bit more), you can do strength excercises, use vitamin e, c, a lotions, and try to eat as healthy as possible so ur body gets plenty of nurishing vitamins that help with skin..

Im starting to see what id call wrinkely skin on the tops of my boobs when I lay certain ways, I notice this same wrinkley effect at the very top of my inner thighs, directly under my breasts on my abdomen area (still breast area kinda), on the fronts of my upper arms where my arm meets torso, and straight down the middle of my lower stomach under my belly button. And then other than that I have the loose skin everywhere except my face/neck/lower legs/lower arms. I have very little stretch marks, but notice them on the tops of my shoulders which if I tan a bit they don't stick out as much and then directly on my mid-side near the lovehandles, but not very bad in either location. But..even though it looks as if I probably will be left with alot of skin, im not letting it worry me..I will like it better than the weiht I was..I may not beable to ever wear a bikini, but that was never my goal anyway..

Also age plays a factor in the tighening of skin...if ur younger then u have higher chances of success, if ur alot older then gravity is already against u (but doesn't mean it definetely wont happen)..I've heard its in genetics too. I, by the way, am 26, so im not a lucky young person..yet..

I've lost juuuuuust about 150 pounds in about 10 months. I always had a LOT of stretch marks so they don't really bother me any more now than they always did. They're not really that noticeable, except for a few on my shoulders (!!) and boobs.

The sagginess is kind of bumming me out a little bit. It isn't even terribly bad, but it's there. Especially around the ol' underarms, arms and thighs. I am doing what I can to keep it minimal and hoping that given time. considering I'm young, it'll tighten up. If it doesn't it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

GNC sells a product/supplement that is suppose to boost collagen. A friend of mine bought some because she has problems with collagen production apparently. I haven't asked her if she could tell any difference with it but I was considering getting some myself. I think I will try to research it a bit. I wonder if it could help with the sagging skin.

Usually, saggy skin only happens in extremely obese people and stretch marks only occur in people who lose alot of weight VERY quickly (the unhealthy way).

I had stretch marks at age 12. I went from a very short kid to average hight for my age and ended up with stretch marks as a result. And my DH has some & he's never been obese.


Now I am obese and have a very saggy belly. I very much doubt that it will 'bounce back' at my age, but I'd much rather be fit with a bit of loose skin than the way I am now.
If it gets me down too much I could always resort to surgery.

Top weight 350ish hard to find a scale that accurate back then...Now 261....already see the saggy skin in my face, arms, thighs .I have made mention to my friends to stay back cause those arm flaps can cause serious damage if i pick up speed...lol...I do the gym at least 3 times a week and have a weight workout to go along with the 45min of cardio ...i read that muscle pulls the skin toward it...???...we shall see...I don't lift anything under 100lbs...squat/calves machine -175 lower back machine- 160 anything lower body 150 and up...upper body not that strong yet...i do the show me your muscle pose in the mirror....I see the definition in my upper body (neck, shoulders, biceps) and then i see massive flap of skin hanging down off of it. when i was fat (fatter) my skin was tight and i could wear sleeveless shirts, as i live in Florida, but now there is no way i can wear them. i have mixed feelings about all of this stuff... as a fatter person I was never unhealthy (laugh, but even my doctor commented on it saying she couldn't believe my numbers) good sugar, good cholesterol, good BP, I attribute it to not yo yoing and dieting, i gained my weight with both kids (100lbs each) lost a little between but when the second came around and the weight came again i gave up...husband never said anything about it so i didn't do anything about it...anyway, I know no one wants to be fat or unhealthy and neither do i ... and everyone here says they would rather have the saggy skin... i, personally, don't like getting slapped by my own arm every time i brush my teeth! Don't get me wrong, I plan on continuing this journey and saving my pennies to have it all removed at some point....just wondered if anyone else had mixed feelings?

On the contrary, on MFP people talk about these constantly, including giving you useless advice on how to get rid of it.

First, you'd have the stretch marks whether you lose weight or not, so they're not really a weight loss issue.

I got a bad biological/genetic hand. I've done all the stuff people say helps with extra skin (e.g. exercise, weights, "give it a couple of years," etc.) and I still look nasty. I dislike it, and it makes doing some things I love to do more difficult (i.e. pole dancing, where you need to use your skin to grip the pole). BUT...and this is a very important but, even my nasty, irritating, pisses me off, extra skin is better than being morbidly obese. No one gets diabetes, heart disease, etc. from extra skin (at least not that I know of). My extra skin doesn't give me back spasms the way being really heavy used to. When I've got clothes on, no one can see it, while no amount of clothing hides being morbidly obese. Basically, I wish I could be one of those women who lost a lot of weight and can now rock a bikini, but I'm not, and, without major surgery I never will be. Life goes on. I'd still rather have the extra skin than the 90 or so pounds of fat I lost.

I've lost almost 50 (lost a few before joining MFP)...I don't have any sagging skin, probably because I lost the weight slowly, giving my body the ability to reshape. When someone has quite a bit of weight to lose, some sagging skin may be inevitable, but taking it slow is the way to go. When people lose too rapidly I think they have more of a chance of having the sagging skin.

I don't have many stretch marks but I do have loose skin around my naval. My belly button looks like it's frowning and my breasts sag because I went from a DD to a high B/low C.

I feel like moisturizer is helping my breasts and I've been doing Jillian Michaels' DVDs (so far 30 Day Shred and Ripped in 30) and the skin on my stomach has been improving and that might be helping my chest too. I don't think it'll ever be completely flat but there is improvement.

I lost 98lbs originally and had lose skin on my stomach, top of my thighs, arms and back.

I've given up on ever having a flat stomach, but to be honest that doesn't bother me too much - it's more the arms that do.

2 years have gone since then and it hasimproved a little, but that might be partly because I'm 27lbs heavier (10lbs of which was intentional).

Some people are lucky and there skin shrinks back. But I didn't really expect mine to as I've been overweight/obese since I was 4 till I was 22 and above 200lbs from aged 12 onwards. So my skin wasn't just stretched for a few years then stretched back, it probably developed this way.

I've lost 85 pounds, and the only extra skin I have is on my stomach (it's basically just like having a little pooch). My arms also aren't as tight as I'd like them to be, but when I do a lot of push ups, they usually get better. My stretch marks are invisible, which is probably mostly due to the fact that I lost the weight in my early twenties. I guess my inner thighs are a little stretchy, too, but I look a hell of a lot better than a lot of people I know who haven't lost 85 pounds, haha. I sound like a jerk, but hey, I earned it

I have had stretch marks since I was 13, have them on my breasts, and hips. Which weren't from being over weight as I was maybe 110 pounds lol.
So stretch marks happen regardless of weight, just depends on how elastic your skin is.

My skin doesn't stretch well, I always get them whenever I grow, and unfortunately from gaining 40 pounds some grew longer on my hips and gave me them on my inner thighs -.-".
Losing weight has kept em from getting any worse, and cocoa butter really is helping fade them into silver faster.

I don't mind them too much when they are silver/white. I just hate them when they are purple/look like angry worms.

I feel lucky that I haven't noticed any loose skin. Two years ago when I lost a lot of weight I didn't get any so I'm hoping that I can avoid it now, even though I am trying to lose about double from last time.
I am trying to do a lot of strength as I shrink to avoid it.
If it happens though, whatever, I'll take health over my vanity any day.