How to....avoid loose skin after weight loss???

I had surgery recently and am doing well. I am a little worried about losing weight to quickly and getting loose skin. Does anyone have suggestions and ways to firm up the skin? Also if anyone knows on a way to treat stretch marks, I would also appreciate the input.

Hello I am five weeks post op and have lost 50+pounds. I find that working out five times a weeks with cardio and weight training is keeping "skin hang" to a minimum. I have lost mega-weight before on fad diets and still never had an excess skin problem, so maybe I got the good genetics in that dept, but exercise has always been a major part of my weight loss programs. Good luck and God bless

Slow or fast - won't really matter in the long run.  If you have lots of excess skin or you have lots of deep stretch marks, then odds are even if you lose slooooooowly that you'll still have hanging skin.  If you don't have lots of either, then if you lose fast you may initially have excess skin, but it will tighten some as your body settles into itself.  I had a turkey waddle and lose skin on my face - but after the 2nd year that has tightened up nicely enough.   the arms and legs are a lost cause and I had to have 25 pounds of tissue removed from my mid-section.   Age, genetics and amount of damage will determine your end results for skin far more than how long it takes to lose the weight. I hope this helps, ~Tooter

One of the surgeons at Vanderbilt University Medical Center suggested Cocoa Butter and Water Aerobics.  He specifically mentioned that "water aerobics" - done during the period of losing (not after) - seemed to help people avoid as much loose skin.  I doubt there is anything that will completely eliminate it though....unless its surgical.

We realize that this post is 3 years old but does anybody have more info on this post or similar possibilities for avoiding/minimizing excess skin after RNY? We googled the topic with Vanderbuilt U, water aerobics, cocoa butter, excess skin and basically came up with this post.

My wife is 65, will be having RNY this summer, expects to lose 100+ lbs., and already has some problems with irritation under some skin folds.

We are also going to try making this a new posting, referencing the original post, so please excuse the double entry.

The problem is that you cannot UNGROW skin that is already grown.... it's there...and the only way for it to go away is to remove it surgically. At 65, your wife likely has no more elasticity left in her skin, she is unlikely to experience much of a rebound. You might check out my "skin" post where I discussed this.... I'll try to find the link.

I am pre-op and am VERY scared of the excess skin...my belly is HUGE and covered in stretch marks, so I'm pretty sure I'm gonna have really bad loose skin around my middle!  I'm 22 so that might help with elasticity, but you're not alone in worrying about the loose skin.

I do have experience in stretch marks, though.  I hear people recommend the cocoa butter quite a bit, but have you thought of trying Mederma?  Not much will dull stretch marks, but Mederma helps.  It's expensive but I bought it on eBay and got 3 brand new tubes (in boxes) for $10.  At the time ONE at the store was over $20.  So that's something to consider.  Good luck, hope you're doing well!

My surgeon and nurse coordinator both encouraged me not to lose too fast for this reason.  I posted this on my blog, and its COMPLETELY putting myself on the chopping block, but the truth is I slowed my weight loss down to a screeching halt for six months as result of sag-fear.  Im not recommending anyone do that, but thats my "vanity insanity" in high gear.  Funny thing is...I didn't give a crap about vanity when I was 320 lbs.  Skin folds and bat wings are nuthin next to that!  Its my warped, addicted mind playing with me and this board really helps me to get real.

This is a little confusing to me.  How do you control how fast/slow you lose?  I thought there was a specific diet one needs to follow?  I'm sorry...I'm a little dumbfounded on this one.

(Holy necropost, Batman!)

From what I've seen, I don't think losing slowly helps with the loose skin as much as it's sometimes purported to do. It may help a bit, but I think that age, genes, and highest weight play the biggest part.

My sister-in-law's mother lost 100 lbs slowly doing WW, and she has tons of loose skin. Another friend lost 120 over the course of 3 years with a lap band, and she has lots of loose skin as well. For some people, I think stretched is stretched, and there's not much that can be done.

-Jenna