The Skin Issue

Hey Guys,

So I am getting to the point where I am starting to think about excess skin. Is there anything you are doing, or heard of doing, that helps the skin's elasticity?

I know I am going to have a lot of it, can't help it after being over weight my entire life, and maxing out at well over 400lbs.

Any advice would be great.

Thanks,

Ryan L.

I was at 566 n got down to 240 before a gain. I had some excess skin but ins wouldn't cover removal even though I was stable at the time. With the right clothes it isn't that bad. I have learned to look past the external Jabba the Hutt sharpei puppy look n see the Tom Cruise inside me

 Would I have plastics if I could You betcha. I'd get rid of a buncha stuff moobies esp

Exercise will help some.

Document with pictures all rashes etc, Get script or docs visits for all rashes etc as well. If you are going to try for ins approval you may have a fight n you will have to prove medical necessity.

Hey Ryan,

Nuthin' I did do or could do to my knowledge to help with the skin's elasticity. On the other hand, there is a ton of stuff I did to increase the ab muscles behind the skin. Lots and lots of ab focused exercises (situps, leglifts, leg pulls, side to sides, etc) for over a year prior to my PS. All the work saved me from having to get my gut muscles sewed together during PS.

To summarize, you can't fix the skin but you can build the muscles below the skin to fill out the skin. 

Boner 

Large upper body, particularly "wing-like" upper back muscles seem to help pull up the skin or at least improve proportions.

Best Wishes,

Dave

I read somewhere that the skin is a living organ and it can and will repair itself if we do everything we can (i.e. diet and exercise). It involves doing some intense workouts and eating an extreme diet.

Basically, the idea is that there is fat in that skin and unless we eliminate all of the fat, the skin is still going to be there. I don't know how true it is but it also points out that when you lose a lot of weight in a short period of time, you lose a lot of lean muscle. So what you're left with is a lot more fat than a person weighing the same that never had issues with weight. Our body composition changes and we have a lot higher body fat % than we might have had before we gained all the weight.

I'm down to what I weighed when I got married 10 years ago but I know I didn't have this muffin top nor the man-boobs back then. That leads me to believe that out of the 95 pounds I've lost, a lot of it was lean muscle and now, although I'm the same weight as I was in 1998, my body composition is way different.

According to this school of thought, if we can get our body close to around 10% body fat, we should have very little skin problems left.

sneeze, ahhhhh choooooo....sorry I always have an allergic reaction to bull ****

That stuff you posted is a BUNCH OF **** Before I had plastics at 199 lbs, I was 9 percent body fat (according to my gyms tanita scale. I thought the scale was way off because I looked HUGE, and I had tons of excess skin. I thought my surgeon was going to pull off 20 or 30 lbs of skin and fat, lo and behold, after a LBL and chest reduction "only" 8 lbs of skin was removed, there was vitually no fat.

Skin damaged from years of obesity will not shrink up in most people, you do get a lucky son of a ***** who won the genetic lottery like gus...or Notdave, whose skin retracts almost completely...but that isn't the case for most of us.

Scott

Woe there Scottie...tell me what you really think. Look, it makes sense to me but then again I'm 30 years old and if I make it to my goal will have only lost about 120 pounds. I can't say that this will be the same for guys in their 40's or 50's that had 200+ pounds to lose.

I found the site I was referring to where I read the "BUNCH OF ****" as you so eloquently put it: http://www.bodyfatguide.com/LooseSkin.htm

Only time will truly tell but I'll let you know in 6-12 months how it turns out for me. As an aside, maybe it's all the cookies you eat that kept that extra skin on there...

Well obviously, you've read it on the WEB and IT MUST BE TRUE....and I also believe in unicorns and rainbows come out when I fart (maybe it was the snark comments I make the kept the skin there...ROFL).

It couldn't possibly be that this fucktard that runs that site could is trying to peddle his book? I mean unless you also believe that the diet and exercise industry is so morally on target that they'd never lie to us, then if that is the case, your weight is the least of your issues.

The reality is this, I was 33 when I had WLS, yes I lost a lot of weight (300 lbs) I went down to a body fat % of 9%, which is extremely fit, even for a normal person. I had no body fat, to remove when I had plastics, just lots and lots of skin. Hopefully you will be lucky and not need plastics, that would be great, but that would have very little to do with exercising and body fat % and more to do with the amount you've lost, the # of years you've been obese, genetics, how well you've taken care of your skin...and a ton of other factors.

So you can believe in unicorns and rainbow farts, and I'll keep believing what the medical community say about excess skin, after bariatric surgery, that it's almost a guarantee.

Scott

BTW I do eat a lot of cookies, it helps me regulate my weight, so that I do not lose anymore. Trust me when I say it's no hardship to eat 1/2 a box of oreos a day.

Scott

Nothing you can do about excess skin except cover it or get it removed through surgery. The amount of skin will depend on age, how long you've been obese, genetics, etc....but once there, no cream, pill, or new magical lasar treatment can remove it, only a scaple. Sorry to bust anyone's bubble.

Scott