Loose skin

[SaraJay425 12]

I am loving seeing the before and after pics as I am just a little less then a week post op. I am

Scared of losing too much too fast and having so much loose skin. I am

Only 25 and want to not only be healthy but feel

Good about myself. Everyone I said just depends on age and amount of exercise and genetics all that but just wondering of ppl farther post op how this is for them and is it a lot ect.

[lemonpoppyseed2013 10]

I never did any extra exercise after surgery...as I loathe exercise.

That said i walk a lot and I like to keep busy.

I'm 2 years sleeved....but what I do regret is that I didn't do MORE.

I'm older than you...but I have yucky thighs and a bit of excess skin under my arms.

Advice to my younger self would be to not waste the opportunity again and get in and do more exercise.

I'm not saying go and run for 2 hours on the treadmill but definitely do more toning exercises.My Dr did advise me to do this but I though I knew better.

I also think to lose it slowly is the best way too...it's not a race.:-)

Good luck :-)

[MichiganChic 3,262]

@@SaraJay425 you have youth on your side, so it may not be an issue for you. Here is my opinion: The things that contribute to loose skin are age, genetics, years of obesity, amount of obesity, quality of skin. What will not contribute to loose skin is rate of loss. People say that all the time and I don't think slow loss = less loose skin. It does take some time for your skin to shrink, though, so when people lose slower their skin has time to "catch up or shrink" compared to rapid loss. Unfortunately, exercise will not tighten loose skin, either. It will, however, make you strong with great muscle tone. If you only have a little looseness, the extra muscle might fill out the skin better.

I'm 52 and was obese for 30 years. I had a ton (actually 12 pounds) of loose skin I had removed. I lost 140 pounds in 14 months. My daughter is your age and had a sleeve 5 months ago and has lost 80 pounds so far, and she has no loose skin. She was obese only a few years, though she was overweight most of her life. We are from the same gene pool, so that is a good example.

I would not fear the loose skin. You may or may not have it. I doubt you'll have much because you are young. I'd rather have loose skin than fat because you'd be surprised at how much you can hide with clothes, and we clothed most of the time. Good luck!

[JamieLogical 8,708]

A lot of it is out of your control, but there are a few things you can do that *might* help as you are losing. Drink a LOT of Water. You should be doing this anyway, of course, but hydration is great for the skin. Moisturize thoroughly daily. There are a couple of supplements that are said to help with skin elasticity, namely Vitamin C and Beef Gelatin. I take both daily, not sure whether it's actually making a difference. And, of course, strength training can help "fill in" the loose skin with some muscle.

Personally, I lost 90 pounds on my own a few years ago (when I was 30-31) and I ended up with a lot of loose skin. Once my weight had been stable for about 8 months I had an extended Tummy Tuck and breast lift with implants because of my loose skin and sagging breasts. Luckily, the tummy tuck held up through all of my weight regain and now that I am re-losing post-sleeve, it still looks great!