ObesityHelp

Exercise is a wonderful thing!  Honestly though, the hanging skin thing has more to do with hereditary, age and how much and where you carry your weight.  Having my surgery after 40 and losing all the weight I did, surgery was just my reality.

I encourage all the patients I work with to start a plastic surgery account pre-op.  If they end up not needing plastics when all is said and done, they have a little something tucked away for a reward trip! 

Carla

 From what I understand there is a combination of things that contribute to excess skin - how much you have to lose, your age, genetics, elasticity of skin.  Exercise can firm up the muscles underneath the skin but can't tighten the skin itself.   But you know - I don't think it makes a difference if you lose fast or slow if you have lots to lose - the skin has stretched out and it may not shrink back.   I know a gal who lost 200lbs on her own - and her skin was in folds.  I guess there's only so much that will shrink back.  But I'd rather be healthy with batwings than obese with co-morbidities.  The skin canbe fixed with plastics!  

IMO EXERCISE has NOTHING to do with skin....  only muscle.

let me tell you I am lifting weights twice a week with a trainer and doing yoga three times a week (along with 3-5 30 minute bouts of cardio weekly) and I have SKIN like you would not believe....  and I'm not even done losing.

I look like a sharpei puppy....

my arms have wings which looks weird because i have large biceps and great shoulders....
my boobs... well there is no hope for them... NONE....
my belly when I sit looks like a tushie because it creases in the center...  the panni hangs so low you can't even see if i'm a boy or a girl....
my back folds onto itself like a puzzle
my inner thighs I can't even begin to describe them....  but suffice it to say it's so bad you can see it below the pannus...  

my husband bless his heart loves me no matter what but his refrain when he sees me now is  "you're going to need plastics".....

I'm now 54 years young. Honestly WLS was about getting my health back and never once did I question excess skin...honestly!!

Okay exercise helps but you also have to take into consideration, how long you have been overweight, how many times you have "yo-yo'd" losing 100 pounds (like I did at least 3 times in my life, then 80, then 60)...get my point. How good your genes are?

I do have skin but it's not that bad and I just don't really care. I look great in clothes and my hubby doesn't seem to mind my skin. I do exercise every day.
I do have shar-pai thighs and hell yes I do wear a bathing suit in public and sleeveless tops too.
I have a belly but with support panties my belly gets the support it needs.
I have angel wings but ever look at skinny people...they do too!

So people how are you going to deal with skin?
Can you afford plastics?
If you are young, start saving money to have Plastics.

Now for me, I can't afford plastics and if I started where would I start and stop????
So I have embraced me for me and will not have plastics. I'm good. I'm happy.
If you can't be happy about your body, then save the money...

Me...??? I'd rather have a garage! LOL

Well there you go...!!
Great attitude, just love yourself and it's all good!!

Please ask the trainers to put you in contact with people about your age who want to lose about what you want to lose who have not had excess skin due to exercise. My bet, based on personal experience trying that, is that they cannot.

The previous posters were correct - it's so individual based on your age, genetics, and history, that it's a real gamble to know if you'll have excess skin or not.

I'm 54, yo-yo'd from age 30 until 54, and spend a lot of time on our boat, so much tanning even with SPF 50 every hour and a half. I too have skin like a shar pei, but so much of it that literally, if I pick up my panni, I can fit in size 4 pants - and currently I wear an 8. It's all empty, so shapewear helps a lot to keep me from looking like a walking jello bowl.

Eventually, I'll do plastics at least on the tummy area just because there's too much excess to do anything else. DH says there will also be breast reconstruction, but so far good bras are dealing with that.

You will find out what your body has in store for you when it shows you - in the mean time, take care of your skin and do exercise because it's good for you, even if it doesn't fix the skin entirely.

Rebecca

Heather, I know your goal is another 16-17 lbs, but maybe you should be looking into plastics now?  That extra skin could be making up most of the extra weight you want to lose.  Even if plastics aren't in the picture right now, it might be helpful to know more about it. It might make you feel more accepting of the extra lbs (if it's due to the extra skin, there's not much you can do about it but cut it off!).

Just a thought.

Barbara