Skin

[pcoswarrior1994 10]

Okay after a long and hard 3 moth decision I've decided to get the bypass after I read about the side effects of my GERD possibly getting worse even cancerous.

Anyways my question is when I'm losing weight how do I prevent myself from getting excess skin?

[Hop_Scotch 1,632]

Excess skin is a given for most of us..the extent of it will depend on genetics, age, history of big weight loss/gains, time for skin to shrink to the most its going to, plus some other factors.

Exercise, hydration and some good fat intake may help in a limited capacity, some people swear by certain lotions.

If you are fairly young and have the right genetics you end up with minimal excess skin.

[GradyCat 3,695]

You're gonna have excess skin, so you can either tone and exercise while you're losing weight to minimize the effects of it and make it as pretty as possible, have cosmetic surgery for it when you've reached your goal weight, or just learn to love it.

[catwoman7 11,220]

I agree with GradyCat - if you end up losing all the weight you're hoping to (over 100 lbs), you'll have loose skin. Plastic surgery is the only way to get rid of it, but toning will help a little. I did have mine removed a few years ago, but honestly, I'd take my loose skin any day of the week over weighing 300+ lbs again. ANY DAY! Besides, it's pretty easy to hide in clothes. I just wore slightly oversized, long-ish tops with 3/4 length (or longer) sleeves. Ta da! Skin gone. Here's a picture of me from BEFORE I had plastic surgery. See any loose skin? Nope! (several months after this picture was taken, I had a lower body lift, arm lift, and breast lift. But I did this for myself. No one knew that loose skin was there before I had it removed - other than my husband and me, of course!)

[mae7365 372]

I'm 64 years old, 5'4' and have lost 65 pounds since surgery in October 2020 and 97 pounds from my highest weight in 2013. Not only do I have excess skin, but I have the added problem of aging skin. BUT...…I'm amazed at the power of exercise, toning and strength building. I have focused the past 8 months on building muscle and it has made a huge difference. Now when I flex my bicep, what I see is muscle with some extra skin, not the shaking, sagging skin that was there before. I do core workouts and have built abdominal muscles, that does a great job of replacing a lot of the area where fat used to reside. I have people ask me all the time "Where's all your excess skin?" It's there, but not nearly as noticeable because when people see me, they see a toned body. The nicest complement I've gotten in the last few months was from a grocery store manager who said "You looked like you could bench press a 100 lbs." I thanked him and walked out feeling on top of the world.

[STLoser 1,099]

I've lost 193 pounds and am hoping to lose at least 20 more. I do have quite a bit of loose skin. It's almost all on my stomach and legs. I was always worried about getting loose skin, mostly because I was afraid it would be heavy and uncomfortable, but it really doesn't bother me much. I'm 50 years old and I don't know if I will get it removed. I already paid out of pocket for my wls, so I really can't afford a bunch of plastic surgery right now.
You really can't see it under my clothes and my husband and I are the only ones who see me naked and he doesn't care.
I was 393 pounds and I will take this loose skin any day over carrying all that weight around on my 5'3" frame.
I included a Pic of me from New Year's eve. My arms have always been on the smaller side for a big girl so there isn't much loose skin there but I do have some. Most of mine is from the waist down. Keep in mind I am still losing weight so I don't know what it will look like later.
The only skin that really bothers me is on my face. You really couldn't see a lot of wrinkles at my high weight, and you definitely can now. I feel like a look older than before. But again, I'll take this over weighing almost 400 pounds. I am healthy now and that's why I did this!


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[ShoppGirl 5,022]

You look young so you have that going for you but how long You have been overweight and genetics also play A role as well as how much weight you intend to lose. I am in my early 40’s and I have lost 66 pounds and so far I do not see any loose skin however I am still 6 pounds from the top of the normal range for my BMI. I have a feeling if I decided to adjust my goal And I did get much smaller I may have some. But I agree with others that You can’t prevent it if it’s going to happen and the only way to get rid of it is surgery. The good news is that if you have a lot, and can prove it is causing you issues you may be able to get insurance to pay to have it removed. There are plastic surgery forums where you Can ask about how that works. I was warned that I did not have enough weight to lose to have enough skin to qualify for insurance to pay before my surgery. I sorta guessed from that statement that the more you have to lose the better your chances are of insurance paying for plastics. Which makes sense I guess a bigger loss equals more excess skin.

[pintsizedmallrat 473]

I've lost 75 pounds in a little under 4 months--I have some minor excess skin on my neck and under my arms so far. I had a LOT of excess weight around my chin, neck, and shoulders (I feel like I have a neck for the first time in years!). It's already starting to tighten up as my initial dramatic weight loss has started to slow and my skin can catch up. I want to lose 40 more so it'll be interesting to see what happens over the next year or so.

I'm 39 and my weight gain was very gradual over a period of about 20 years, so I hadn't been at my "high weight" for very long, maybe 3-5 years, for background.