Goal weight vs loose skin

One big surprise for me in the process of losing weight was how thin I looked at higher weights. When I made it down to 210, I looked like I was 170. Originally, I just figured it was my own perception after being obese for so many years. 

Now I realize we are all much thinner than the scale says as the loose skin becomes more and more prominent. In some ways I look like a starving person from a 3rd world country in my shoulders and arms but average in my mid section.

I guess the real point is we don't know the real goal weight to strive for without an accurate assessment of excess skin weight to add to the total. 

I'm not complaining and glad for the surgery, but didn't realize the impact on weight expectations before.

Moreso than loose skin, which is only a few pounds, bone density from being so obese for so long is what gives such a skewed perception

I'm not sure I follow. Since we can't see bone density, I don't know how it would impact my perception of weight.

Our bones "beefed" up to support our larger frame.  If you were to take just the skeletons of the same exact sized people, one who never gotten MO and one who had, the bones from the MO one would be much heavier.   Same is true if you would take the bones from a weight lifter .vs. a swimmer.  The bone respond to load.

I wonder if that is why I lost such a big percentage of my bone mass in the first 2 years post op (27%I think) and I thought it was calcium deficiency and beefed that up.

K

Skin does not weigh very much. That should not factor in to determining your goal weight. Perhaps you should get a dexa scan to accurately determine your body fat percentage. That would be a good tool to help you determine your goal weight.

You may use your "perception" of your body to help determine your goal weight but I'm not sure it is healthy. I have a lot of loose skin and I don't look like I'm starving. Some days, to me, I still look fat, other days I look too skinny. It can be a real mind game.

If you are just interested the most I have seen from post-op plastics people is that the excess skin they had taken off was in the 5 - 15lb range. Most people are astounded that it didn't weigh more but if you wanted to up your original goal weight 10lbs then I think that would be reasonable. I just think how you look to yourself is something that changes over time with WLS.