flabby tummy?

ozzy22 · September 22, 2010

Hi there! I am currently looking to have my VSG sometime in Jan or Feb 2011.

I am a 20 year old female, my height is 5'5 and I weigh 270lbs. My goal is to lose 110lbs and weigh 160lbs.

I am just wondering if anyone out there was around my age/weight and reached their goal weight. I am just wondering how much extra skin I will have. I know since I'm young, my skin has more elasticity, I just have so many questions flying around in my head!

Tiffykins · September 22, 2010

Skin is also genetics. My family has decent skin, but I was also fat for a lot longer than you have been. I was 32 when I had surgery with being over 220lbs for a solid 12 years. I am 5'2" and lost 140lbs with VSG and now I hover around 120-125lbs. I do not have a huge amount of excess skin, I have a baby fat roll on my lower tummy that no matter what I do, it's not going anywhere. I'm okay with it. I started at 5'2" and 270lbs, BMI of almost 50. . . EEEKKK that's creepy when I write it out now.

My recommendation is stay hydrated, work out, and moisturize every day, twice day. I exfoliate with a homemade sugar scrub weekly. It's olive or grapeseed oil, sugar, and lemon juice. It's fabulous! ! !

No one can predict how your skin will look because we have different genes, and there is just too many factors to try to compare. I can tell you that have more wrinkly skin that I have flabby, saggy skin. I have a friend that is 10 years younger than me, had RNY, lost the same amount of weight, and her skin looks horrible now, and she has a lot more excess skin on her inner thighs and abdomen than I do. We're also completely different body types. I carried the majority of my excess weight in my upper body/ abdomen, and she carried all hers in her butt and thighs. I was an apple, she's a pear. She wears a small on top (like a 4), and an 10/12 on the bottom. She's closer to your age and had surgery 4 years ago at the age of 19. So, just by that example you can see there really isn't a way to compare.

My surgeon recommends waiting a minimum of 1 year after reaching goal weight before considering plastics. Every month my arms, inner thighs and tummy skin looks better. It's rebounding really nicely and my surgeon is impressed with my results thus far.

I'm still getting a Tummy Tuck, boob job, botox/collagen injections, and other nip tuck procedures done in the future.

Good luck, and my thought process on the skin is "I'd rather have some wrinkly, excess skin over the fat rolls I carried around for years."

ozzy22 · September 22, 2010

Thanks tiffykins, you're posts are always so helpful. My mother had the RNY surgery at age 44 she started at 330 and got to 140, but she has a ridiculous amount of extra skin. However, she didn't drink enough Water and she's never exfoliated a day in her life. I guess we'll just see how it goes. You're right, I'd much rather have a little extra skin that huge fat rolls.

ozzy22 · September 22, 2010

Plus I hear Spanx are live savers :laugh0:

AutumnLily · September 22, 2010

Ozzy how long ago did your mom have the surgery? And as time goes on is she noticing the skin tightening up?

Lily

ozzy22 · September 23, 2010

My mom had her surgery about six years ago, and no her skin hasn't tightened at ALL. I mean her arms are fine, but her legs are so lose that she cannot even wear a short dress. She's very self consicious about it. But I just hope that maybe by drinking TONS of Water and exfoliating my skin, it might help a little bit.

Tiffykins · September 23, 2010

Thanks tiffykins, you're posts are always so helpful. My mother had the RNY surgery at age 44 she started at 330 and got to 140, but she has a ridiculous amount of extra skin. However, she didn't drink enough Water and she's never exfoliated a day in her life. I guess we'll just see how it goes. You're right, I'd much rather have a little extra skin that huge fat rolls.

It really does help to stay hydrated. I can tell when I've slacked off on Water because my skin gets way more dry than it did when I was fat. Dry makes wrinkly skin look worse. So, I lotion up every day sometimes twice a day.

Plus I hear Spanx are live savers

Ehhh, I'm probably one of the few Spanx haters. They just don't breathe, and I am all about trying it, but they're just kind of unpleasant to wear. Some love 'em, I hate 'em and don't wear 'em.

But, those that love them, absolutely swear by them.

You'll do great, and just taking little steps everyday, making new habits will really help. I didn't exfoliate before like I do now, but I really believe it helps. Other people may think I look horrible, but my husband thinks I look pretty good considering I lost an entire person weight-wise.