Loose Skin

[dgarcia27 5]

I am 1 month and a couple days post op and have lost about 30lbs. I have already started noticing my underarms getting very flabby ☹️ my arms have always been an insecurity and although i'm glad they are getting smaller the loose skin isn't helping. Does anyone have suggestions on what i can do exercise wise? Did any of you start any exercise specifically to your arms to prevent very loose skin? help!

[LittleLizzieLilliput 919]

ok!! So I'm 5' 1" and weighed over 350 lbs up to 5 years ago. The loose skin is something that may get better with exercise, toning, using cocoa butter creams, etc. but depending on how much you had it's something you are going to have to come to accept. But it's not easy.

In fact, I'm almost 9 months down the road on this particular part of my journey and I JUST started trying to put this ego issue to bed. I have a lot of loose skin and depending on what angle my arm is at it changes the manner in which the skin appears loose. lol! It's not just one look, no, it's a few! haha!

But even as I joke you should know just how hard it was for me to expose that part of my arm. Or upper legs or abdomen or breasts for that matter. But the arms are the most commonly exposed portions. Below is a link to something I bought but have never worn as it just doesn't look right with any outfit. Last week I finally wore a short sleeved shirt. I wore it to work and just exposed that part of myself and allowed myself to feel vulnerable and embarrassed but then as the day went on and nobody's eyes ever glanced towards my arms, nobody made any comment and I was told I looked good that day! Yesterday I wore a short sleeve shirt to work and today as well. I'm trying to put down that issue because I don't want anything holding me back from feeling great - even myself. But it's so much easier said than done and don't push yourself to just accept it. Find your natural pace.

Additionally, I plan on having surgery to remove my extra skin. That helps my peace of mind as well. I fully understand that the surgery will replace skin with scars and that's a whole other issue as well. But regardless of what I do about skin removal I'd much rather feel a bit embarrassed about some skin I'm showing now than feel worthless as the person I was before this journey.

Here are some arm compression things I bought but never used:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00R1L2F1S/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01C83CHSY/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Edited June 27, 2017 by LittleLizzieLilliput

[dgarcia27 5]

i want to fall in love with my body but the more i stand in front of the mirror i notice things i'm not starting to like. I'm only 24 and my breasts are starting to sag and it's turning into an insecurity. I totally forgot about those arm shapers so i'm definetly going to look into those. Good luck with everything! thanks so much for your input!

[LittleLizzieLilliput 919]

8 hours ago, dgarcia27 said:

i want to fall in love with my body but the more i stand in front of the mirror i notice things i'm not starting to like. I'm only 24 and my breasts are starting to sag and it's turning into an insecurity. I totally forgot about those arm shapers so i'm definetly going to look into those. Good luck with everything! thanks so much for your input!

You're only 24? Oh sweetie you are in such a good place! Your skin is most likely going to bounce back to such a better condition than I am at 42. My doctor, my general practitioner, told me that even my arms are going to bounce back so much more than I thought they were so your arms probably will too. I also do a lot of arm strengthening exercises and toning exercises with 2 to 5 pound weights. I recommend going online and finding arm toning exercises and just starting on them now. Actually, just do everybody part toning exercises. LOL!! No but for real's I focus on my arms and my abs and my thighs. I do stairs, I do crunches, I do arm exercises, hiking and yoga. I also run. The closer I get to goal the harder I'm working to try to pull this **** together. LOL! But at 24 you were in SUCH a good spot! I'm so excited for you actually.

Please don't start hating your body right now. This is when you need to love it the most!!!

if you have any questions or need any encouragement or ideas please feel free to message me. This is been such a crazy journey for me and I wish I had done it 20 years ago. If I can help somebody like I wish I could've been helped then I'll be so happy. Let me know if there's anything I can do. Please don't hate any part of yourself right now. please love yourself because you were about to have an amazing life!

Edited June 28, 2017 by LittleLizzieLilliput

[AK_Bookworm 116]

I actually love seeing loose skin because I know that means I'm losing the weight. I know most look at it as ugly and a painful reminder of where they were but I am getting more and more happy to see it especially since at 6 weeks post op I haven't lost much weight so the loose skin shows me that I am doing something right. Hang in there I know it's hard but I'm sure you'll find some things to help lessen it. Pinterest has some good workouts to help so that may be a good place to look.

[dgarcia27 5]

thank you girls so much!!!! reading these messages made my morning!!

[doppelganger 54]

I'm a year and 3 mos post op and my neck was really loose and looked horrible. I didn't think I'd mind that much but my neck combined with my upper thighs and arms was a lot. Just this past month I noticed my skin under my chin/neck and stomach have snapped back quite a bit. My weight loss has slowed and I have long stretches of stalls now but if my skin which scars if I look at it wrong can snap back I'm sure yours will to a certain extent. I'm also 45 so there's that! Give it time for your body to catch up and you might be surprised. 🙂

[naturegirl 320]

I'm almost 2 years post-op and I'll be honest, my upper arms are so saggy that I can probably lift my arms and fly. I joke about it, but that's because if I view it negatively it makes me depressed. Instead of looking at all that I've accomplished I look at the extra skin everywhere. My skin shrunk back some but not all. I was overweight almost my entire life so not all of it was going to shrink. There are days where I look in the mirror or at pictures and cringe at the saggy fly away skin, but it's much better than the alternative me from 2 years ago! Since you're young you might find that some of it shrinks. You can also work to tone your arms, but keep in mind that this might not fix everything.