Needing encouragement
You are at a healthy weight and I agree that a lot of the excess weight you want to lose will come off with the skin. It sounds to me like you're a little depressed and that could sap your motivation. I understand not wanting another surgery, but it is very possible that getting the skin removed will be exactly what you'd need to motivate you to get back on track. Right now you're looking at it like you have to get motivated to lose weight, then lose weight, and then you can have the excess skin removed which will ultimately make you feel better looking in the mirror. But what about a different possibility: get the skin removed, lose some weight, feel better looking in the mirror, feel motivated to stay on track.
I'm almost 3 years out and I can relate to the loss of motivation. I recently came back to OH.com after avoiding it for a while and ended up gaining 25 lbs. I think coming back to OH.com has actually been very motivating for me - I needed to get back to the basics in order to keep myself in line and start losing again. So in my opinion, you've done the right thing just by coming here and checking in. It helps me to remind myself that "I AM a WLS patient" - I have been given my life back because of this procedure. I do not want to back pedal any more than I already have. You have done fabulous - forget about how you look with the excess skin and instead focus on how fantastic life is now that you are no longer carrying around the extra weight! Think about the things you can do now vs. before VSG. It really does help me to stay on track when I think of those things - hopefully that will help you too.
I was asking my husband the other day about surgery to remove excess skin in the stomach. He is an anesthesiologist and has seen a lot of surgeries over the course of his 37 year career. Anyway, he said it is mainly the omentum (spelling???) that is removed. I think that is the fatty layer under the skin along with excess skin. The abdomen muscle is not touched. I makes recovery so much easier. Is this true? What is the experience of others who have had this surgery? I'd like to know.