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Not sure how old you are or how much weight you've lost, Angela. It could be either way some creams or that red light therapy mask thingy could help tighten up the face or as with other parts of the body, the skin stretched out from being overweight and won't simply snap back which may require some cosmetic procedures. I am 42 and have been blessed with some decent genetics - ie not many women in our family have many wrinkles - but good genes cannot outrun the excess skin in my waddly neck area. It's not super awful - but something I can see getting done down the line (after a tummy tuck, boob lift and brachioplasty I all want to have at some point). I find myself doing the slight skin pull below my ears in the mirror and it would make a world of difference

Yeah I haven't looked in to the plastics side of things as to what is covered for me. I do recall it being mentioned at one point by the psychiatrist I had to go see and I think he said it had to be a few years and then a decision process but at this stage it is too soon to be thinking about that. My big (literally and figuratively) problem area is my legs, thighs in particular. Even after loosing so much weight, with a bit more to go, there is no way I would wear anything that would show anything above my ankles. As it is I have to go back into hospital next week for a few days to have the tube in my stomach removed and them to monitor me to see if my leak has fully closed.

hi dear! thank you so much<3 im not in my 60's hehe i meant my weight range but i will start bathing in moisturizer so when i reach the age of 60 my skin actually does look like this. my stomach is usually the first place i gain weight so i can thats my issue here. i'll try focusing on some ab workouts hoping that can save it. thank you again ❤️

Thanks @LisaCaryl @NickelChip @RonHall908 For your support yesterday ... t'was a very angry day for me because it bought up a lot of the disregard I've had to deal with these last few years because of my weight! Today is a better day. I'm just off to meet my physio ... who will no doubt make me do squats but who also emailed last night that he'd found a list of fat friendly doctors in my area for me ... Also I'm a metric girl... and I've hit below 80kg - I'm 79.6kg this morning (175.1lbs) ... and breaking that 80's barrier hasn't happened for me since 2021 so I'm very encouraged this morning. also I took liquid iron the parmacist reccomended no problem at all... and she mentionned my visible weightloss in a very chic, discreet and also commercially savy way ... bascially asked me if I wanted to get myself a new lip gloss or shampoo at the pharmacy too... I asked her why and she said with a smile "to congratulate yourself on these little changes you seem to be making" . She won, I got an expensive pharmacy face cream... 🙂 Do you folks have very dry skin? Mine is really not great at all... especially my legs.

It sounds like maybe you would benefit from a stricter routine. At least, I know I tend to flounder when I am just let loose without many rules. If I have to figure out what to do every day and each day is different, I get totally off track with stuff. But when I get into a routine, it's way easier. I haven't gotten off track yet simply by virtue of not being able to eat very much right now, but I know that establishing habits and routines is the most important thing for me to do before I get to the point where I could. Here are some suggestions, just in case they help! Put your full week's worth of vitamins in a weekly pill case (I use this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C6XZN1YH). It's especially helpful if you get the kind where you can take the day's box with you for those later in the day doses like calcium. Make the same thing for breakfast and lunch every day, or have a rotation of things you can do that are all close to the same in protein value. Plan a dozen dinners that are also roughly the same in protein. Add them up and make sure any breakfast, lunch, and dinner chosen from your repertoire will hit your protein goal. If not, plan for a snack or two in the same way. Don't eat things that are not nutrient dense, and if you do have a treat on occasion, make sure you're limiting yourself to once a month, not once a day! (And if you happen to love chocolate, consider this for one of your daily calcium supplements: https://procarenow.com/products/calcium-dark-chocolate-500mg-calcium-500-iu-vitamin-d) Consider getting something like the Portion Perfection plates and meal prep containers if you struggle with portion size Buy a bariatric cookbook to help with food choices and portions Put your gym or exercise time on your calendar and treat it like you would a doctor's appointment (I struggle with this so much) Or, if you hate the gym, choose exercises you'll actually look forward to. Going to a gym is not a requirement but moving your body is. Put all your reminders for vitamins, mealtime, snack time, and exercise time in your phone so you get reminders

How do I get my skin especially my face to look healthy again or not so wrinkly?

first congrats on the weight loss! second: for someone going into their 60's your skin is phenomenal!! do you like bathe in tubs filled with moisturizer?? never go out in the sun??? amazing 😳 third: unfortunately you cant target weight loss to a specific part of ur body without losing in other areas as well. generally the first place you notice weight gain is the last place place it will come off. unless you have an underlying condition (which you can be found out by visiting ur doc), bigger midsections are usually the result of 3 main things: (1) genetics...do ur parents have higher-proportion midsection circumstances? (2) bloating...from ones diet that causes fluid retention and gas...cut the carbs! (3) inactivity... visceral fat lives on inactivity, and guess where visceral fat likes to hang out? around ur internal organs which are located in your midsection.

Long rant ahead sorry ... So, I'm slightly angry (understatement). I saw my french primary care doctor yesterday. She's never been great to be honest. I've been seeing her for 6ish years. 5 years ago I gained over 80lbs pounds in a year and a half going from 118lbs (that had been my standard adult weight since my teenage years with a BMI of 19) to 200lbs ( BMI 32.3) after taking antidepressants. I stopped the antidepressants after a year because the weight gain was making me more miserable than I was being slightly depressed and thin. I have been struggling to loose the weight since... loosing and regaining the same 15-20 lbs again and again. As I've mentioned before, I have slight cérébral palsy - nothing too bad but enough to make walking pretty painful on my legs when I hit over about 130lbs and to make me generally clumbsy - I also lack gross motor coordination and don't have the best fine motor skills either... I can't really do any sports that require coordination and can only really ride a bicycle in a flat straight line and it takes a lot of mental effort for me to keep my balance, crowds freak me out because I'm scared of tripping and falling and don't even mention jumpy little dogs, my nemisis as my balance is so precarious. However I've always made do and It's never stopped me having an enjoyable fufilling life and a pretty decent career. My weight gain really really made me suffer, emotionally of course, my self esteem, my self worth etc ( I live in Paris which is the thinnist city in a thin country ... and it's not a place where people are kind to overweight people at all - I checked and the mean BMI of a Parisienne woman is 22.3 - so when you hit a BMI of 30 here you're really a fat outlier and are basically scorned in all public spaces ). It also made me physically miserable and I lost the little flexibilty I had - constant pain when walking - loss of gross motor skills, trouble showering standing up at 30 years old, not being able to put my socks on etc etc. For the last 4 years I have been to my Primary care doctor about 5 times asking for a referal to a nutritionist - she's always refused as told me "but it's simple, you just need to eat less and move more, it's not magic, No need to waste money on a nutritionist if you have no willpower "No **** sherlock! She has no idea the willpower it takes to get out of bed at 200lbs with cerebral palsy when you feel like your legs are litterally going to snap, when your feet are burning with weight stress induced neuropathic pain. In January I finally cracked after a lot of introspection and thought and booked my VSG for February in Turkey. I've now lost 35lbs since my preop diet so in just under 2 months. I already feel a lot better, the pain when I'm walking is lessening, I'm fitting back into the "second round" of fat clothes I got myself. So I walked into her office yesterday ( I had the intention of "fessing up" to having had a VSG and asking her for iron supplement ideas as I'm still being sick when I try and take iron ) She took one look at me and said "ah, you've finally found your willpower, loose another 20kg (40 pounds) and you'll be an attractive young woman again" I had a surge of red rage inside me, I kept my calm, but didn't tell her about the surgery, I just smiled and told her I needed a refferal to a dermatologist for a mole on my face and left. I'm never going back to see her again. I spoke to my physical therapist on the phone this morning and he sort of helped he said "can I be unprofessional ? Honestly, qu'elle aille se faire foutre, (she can go f*ck herself)" Lets find you another doctor." My physical therapist knew about the surgery, as did my orthopedic surgeon and booth agreed that with my CP anything is better than being even slighty overweight and that the surgury was worth the risk as they've both seen me loose my mobilité over the last few years and has seen how its affected me. They said that if I could afford to go private abroad I should because If not I'd have to jump through hoops for years in france because my BMI (32) wouldn't have been considered high enough as a stand alone. So yeah... this weekend I find myself another doctor who's not a fatphobic arsehole and has a minimum of human compassion. And for the iron I'm just going to go and ask directly at the pharmacy what the have to propose. Sorry that was long but I just had to get it out, I'm slowly realising all the **** I've put up with because of my weight these last years and I am ANNNNGRYYYY!!!! Hope everyone is having an okay hump day!

I do. currently I take one by ProCare Health (with iron) also a hair/skin/nails and collagen

i think it all depends on how much actual fat you still have left when you get plastics. even if you reach "goal weight" you may still be carrying subcutaneous fat along with the excess skin. i've read of folks on here who have dropped 10, 20, 30 lbs after plastics, so it has been done. me, I lost a grand total of 400g (i.e., 0.88 lb), so basically nothing....BUT it made a huge difference visually, so...

The iron is in the multivitamin ... which is an issue in itself because I'm being sick and "loosing" all the vitamines ... I4m seeing my primary doctor tomorrow so will ask him. Sorry about your knee, do you have a physical therapist ? I'm not very au fait with how insurance and everything works in the US, but would that be a possibilty so you can "preserve" your knee as best as possible until you can have surgery. I see you're nearing 100 pounds lost! Thats amazing.

Great points. I don't have a lot of extra skin, so this doesn't really apply. I'd say, if I removed all that I have 2 or 3 lbs max. At my 1 year mark, in May, they will do a body composition test; so I'll know more then as to my muscle mass. My last test in November, I was right where they wanted me and hadn't lost any muscle since my 3 months test. I definitely don't have much fat left, just a bit on my thighs. This is why I'm concerned. My goal was 140. I've gotten down to 135, and bounced back to 136-137. I was concerned because I lost 4 lbs in a week after I started upping my calories to stop losing. Maybe my body was excited for the increase and lost more fat 🤷‍♀️

Bodyfat to muscle ratio? My concern as the weight comes off is losing too much muscle weight as opposed to fat %. A low number on a scale doesn't reflect that. But it will show in clothing sizes. Or could it be excess skin???? This discussion does pose a question for me. Everyone here who has hit goal weight and lost a ton of weight to get there. I see these people who have skin removal surgery, and they weigh it and turns out to be 30+ pounds. How does that figure in to goal weight if never removed??? Say if goal is 150 and you are left with excess skin weight, would 180 be more realistic or if you reach 150 would you be underweight if you are carrying around 30 pounds of excess skin???? Such a conundrum. 🤔

I bought Polysorbate 80 which is an emulsifier and causes oil to mix with water. But I ended up not using it because I decided I didn't want to clog my water pipes up with a bunch of oil. I used Teal's Hemp Epsom salts soak a few times but that was more for sore muscles and bones. My Pilaris Keratosis is completely gone now along with my dry skin. I attribute it to the WLS since I've had it since a small child. I still moisturize Using castor oil now. It has many benefits.

Soaking in a tub can dehydrate your skin (I work in dermatology), it can remove natural skin oils. Adding oils - they float so don't penetrate as you soak. So if you're not allergic try making your soak an oatmeal soak. It dissolves and mixes with the water opposed to sitting on it and can help with dry skin. Baking soda can help as well can help detox and balance the skins pH when you add to essential oils and helps bond to the oils.

"Otherwise my skin will waft in the breeze! 🤣" I am forever going to think of my post bariatric body as having sails...wafting in the breeze. I'll have to be careful in a strong wind storm unless I lower my rigging and trim my boom! 😂😋

From what I know if you look at your BMI range, it is the top figure weight, say in my case, 78 kg. You now take your current weight, which when I started surgery was say 128 kg. Sorry I work in Metric but it works the same in imperial. 128-78 equals 50 kg. That 50 kg is my XS weight, so if mini gastric bypass has a predicted loss of 70 to 85% of the XS weight then it is 70% of 50 kg to 85% of 50 kg. I.e 35 to 59.5 kg is what I am expected to lose with the procedure. When it comes right down to it from what I understand. If like me, you have been obese all your life. Then you will have thicker, heavier bones to support that weight, more skin to wraparound it and a larger heart to pump blood around your body, so that means no matter what the general BMI limit is it is not totally relevant and there has been some suggestions by bariatric surgeons that to aim for a BMI of 30. BMI is intrinsically a flawed concept as it does not take into account, body muscle mass. You will know the example of the brick **** house musclebound New Zealand rugby player with no fat, looking like a crazy obese person on paper because they have a BMI of 45. I am 52 this year, so I think I would be happy with something above the BMI range. Otherwise my skin will waft in the breeze! 🤣

From what I know if you look at your BMI range, it is the top figure weight, say in my case, 78 kg. You now take your current weight, which when I started surgery was say 128 kg. Sorry I work in Metric but it works the same in imperial. 128-78 equals 50 kg. That 50 kg is my XS weight, so if mini gastric bypass has a predicted loss of 70 to 85% of the XS weight then it is 70% of 50 kg to 85% of 50 kg. I.e 35 to 59.5 kg is what I am expected to lose with the procedure. When it comes right down to it from what I understand. If like me, you have been obese all your life. Then you will have thicker, heavier bones to support that weight, more skin to wraparound it and a larger heart to pump blood around your body, so that means no matter what the general BMI limit is it is not totally relevant and there has been some suggestions by bariatric surgeons that to aim for a BMI of 30. BMI is intrinsically a flawed concept as it does not take into account, body muscle mass. You will know the example of the brick **** house musclebound New Zealand rugby player with no fat, looking like a crazy obese person on paper because they have a BMI of 45. I am 52 this year, so I think I would be happy with something above the BMI range. Otherwise my skin will waft in the breeze! 🤣

I've had a lower body lift, breast lift, arm lift, torsoplasty, face lift, and neck lift. It's expensive and some of the recovery was painful (esp the lower body lift), but I'm still glad I did it. It's been several years, but I don't remember the arm lift as being particularly painful (well, at least not compared to the lower body lift!), but I do remember it being pretty inconvenient not being able to reach for things for while I was healing. Also, scarring tends to be worse on arm lifts than on other procedures, I think because the skin is thinner there than in some other areas and there's a lot of tension there because we use our arms so much, and they move in so many directions. I do have visible scars there, whereas I can't even see my scars anymore on my breast lift (you can on my Lower body lift, but it's below my underwear line). However, I'd have to hold my arms up in the air for anyone else to see them, like if I was doing that "YMCA" dance, and how often do I do that? Not often. So it's not a huge issue. anyway, yes, I do understand your feelings. For me it was more the money issue that bothered me. Plastic surgery is really expensive. But I now have a normal-looking body, which I didn't before, so there's that..

5 years out of vsg . Please no judgement. I’m loosing to much😢. I regret the decision to better my life with this surgery . now I’m walking skeleton. It’s a side effect that’s not talked about. ( shame ) If anyone is having the same issue please reach out. I understand most aren’t in my predicament. But nice encouraging words are helpful.

One site says that the gas and more frequent/ loose bowel movements are a little less than the DS but definitely an issue with the SADI and the gas can be quite stinky as well which is probably the biggest fear I have right now aside from the real scary risks. I THINK the bathroom issues are just when you eat bad and if that’s the case that may actually help keep me on track because I obviously don’t want to have those issues. I have an appointment tomorrow morning with my family PA and that’s definitely a question I will be asking her if she knows. I think the supplement question is more likely going to be one for the surgeon but I will ask her about that as well. I have until the end of next month when I meet with the surgeon to come up with a list of questions for him (whatever I can’t get answers for before then). Thanks again and please Let me know if you think of anything else I should ask. Until yesterday morning hadn’t even heard of this procedure. At least I have a list of questions to start with now.

the malabsorption from it also helps - you won't absorb all the calories you eat (or the nutrients, either, so keeping on top of your supplements will be more important than ever..). I know some people with the DS get really gassy (and sometimes get loose stools) if they eat too many carbs - not sure if that's an issue with the SADI or not.

Thank you @Shanna NYC for your kind words. I broke my stall (slightly) this morning and am feeling much better for it ... I also know that I need to work on my coping mechanisms and be kinder to myself. Up until 2019 I'd never weighed more than 115 pounds for my whole adult life ... and then I gained nearly 100 pounds in just over a year and have spent the last 3 years desperatly unhappy and going through cycles of loosing and gaining the same 20 pounds and you are right ...25lbs is more than I've lost on any of the crazy diets I've tried... So I'm on the right track! Merci Encore (as we say in French!)

So many great tips out on the internet, the one I found most helpful is not to prematurely rush recovery with the goal of getting back to normal as soon as possible. The other is to be very specific with your surgeon about your expectations and make sure they align. Especially if you get to chat again during preop. For instance instead of saying I just want my loose skin gone, it’s helpful to say I want to be as flat/tight/contoured as possible.

Thank you guys! I am having a tummy tuck and skinny bbl! I dont want to lose anymore weight at this point, but rather get rid of the loose skin on my stomach and perhaps lift up the backside/eliminate some sag there. I go wednesday, so Im starting to get a little anxious about it—i know it will be fine, but am not looking forward to being in recovery for a while. Any advice or tips appreciated.