Thank you! I've heard good things about Dr. Grantcharov, I certainly feel safe in his hands. Good to hear you had a positive experience, and congrats on all your progress! I can see from your ticker that you're doing amazingly well!

Thank you! I realize now that my question was kinda dumb...I posted when I still feeling overwhelmed and a bit panicky about my upcoming surgery. Since then, I've been doing a lot of reading and I see so many folks here who have sleeves and have done amazingly well. Like you say, it's all how you approach it and work the tool.

Thanks, OutsideMatchInside. I'll be doing my best to avoid any transfers through the US anyways, due to all the extra security. I've often gotten patted down in the past here in Canada and various countries in Europe, as I always seem to trigger the beeper.

I've had numerous humiliations at the weight I'm at now (pap smears, too big for MRI) so getting my extra skin patted down at the airport doesn't worry me. I'll just be happy to be a healthy weight and to be traveling.

Your info about different shapewear is really helpful- I'm not familiar with the different brands, etc. so you've got me thinking and you've given me a place to start researching.

Makes sense about loose skin being less cumbersome the more weight you lose- I guess there would be less fat under the skin so it would be "thinner" and not take up as much room.

Thanks again for the info, this has been very helpful!

Hello! I'm wondering if any of you folks who have had a massive weight loss could give me your thoughts/share your experiences with respect to loose skin. Specifically, does anyone have experience with traveling around a country like India (or another "difficult", not fully developed country) with loose skin? Or even traveling around "easy" places like Europe?

I'm wondering just how cumbersome, uncomfortable, etc. loose skin can be, and whether it would interfere with traveling.

I'm not concerned with how I'd look in shorts or short-sleeves or that sort of thing. I more concerned with issues like physical comfort (ie wearing shapewear on overnight trains and long car rides, and long plane rides too, for that matter) and hygiene (bucket showers and squat toilets).

How comfortable is shapewear generally? Does it feel hot and/or restricting? Is it suitable for wearing on long walks, easy hikes, longs days in cities sightseeing?

I'm planning a big trip to Europe and (hopefully) India & somewhere else in Asia once I reach my goal weight, burning up my hoard of FF miles. Originally I planned to have plastics done to remove loose skin before traveling, but due to future changes in my FF program, it looks like if I want to take this big trip, I may have to do it before getting plastics. If the skin is too much to deal with, I'll regretfully drop the idea of India.

I realize I'm probably getting a little ahead of myself here (I haven't even had WLS yet, though will be done before the year is out) but I'm trying to plan out my life for the next 2-3 years. I guess I'm a little obsessive and certainly anxious about coping with the oodles of loose skin I know I'm going to have