We talk about loose skin a lot...

So, I was wondering what you guys think of this:

http://www.bodyfatguide.com/LooseSkin.htm

Basically, it says that no matter what your age or how much weight you have lost, you can get rid of your excess skin simply by getting your body fat% down to less than 10%. 

If I read and understand this correctly, he says that excess hanging skin is still filled with fat.  He says that if you pinch the skin on the back of your hand, you will see that skin (without excess fat) is very thin.  The skin we have hanging is NOT so thin (you can probably pinch more than an inch).  Therefore, the fat is making the skin hang. 

I ASSUME (yes, I know what they say about the word assume) that if this were true, not so many of us would need to have skin removal surgery. 

*shrug*  I don't LOVE my excess skin, but I can live with it.  Just wondering if anyone here thinks there might be some merit to what this man is saying.... or if you think he's full of poo. 

I think the answer is more complicated than yes or no. Skin elasticity changes with age and with severity of weight prior to loss, as well as speed of weight loss. Some people would benefit by losing weight if their skin is still on the fat side. However, many people have loose skin that no amount of weight loss or body fat decrease would change. It's a bummer but it's true.

I hate my extra skin but my body has been through so much. losing weight by starvation, getting pregnant and gaining  alot of weight, then gaining more weight after baby and then losing it.

My only argument is from what I've seen and not read. I know a lot of post ops that have extra skin with no fat in it. It just doesn't hang as much. It's a bit more....shrively? If that's a word. The skin is still there. Not tight and firm. Not hanging and causing problems. Just wrinkly. My own skin is getting to the just wrinkly, shrively stage....but it's still there and loose.

I don't really think it's realistic for most people to have less than 10% body fat, especially women. It's even more unrealistic for wt loss surgery patients. Years of extra wt will stretch your skin, and no matter how well you manage your daily diet and exercise routine--I seriously doubt you'll get to 10% body fat. The elasticity of skin is reduced as you get older OR when it's been stretched to it's limits.  I know many post ops who have done well with their RNY.  Yet, they are bothered by loose abdominal skin, loose upper arm skin, loose thigh skin, etc.  I only really know one person out of hundreds of post ops who have the appearance of no loose skin. This particular woman exercises some 3 hours a day, participates in 5 and 10K runs, does "mud runs" etc.--much more active than most post op schedules or energy will tolerate.  If lose skin bothers you, you likely will have to pay for plastic surgery. DAVE

 This guy is ridiculous!!!...and if you believe this article, I have a bridge for sale...LMAO
If a women had less than 10% body fat and was of child bearing age she would no longer have a menstrual cycle. Women in general have thinner skin and more body fat than men. There are so many factors that contribute to stretched skin. If the elasticity of the skin has been stretched beyond repair and gravity has taken it's toll, unfortunately plastic surgery is the only option if a person is bothered by this. I have stretched skin on my abdomen and thighs but I choose not to have surgery to correct it. I am almost 57 years old and for me, it causes me no health problems and I accept myself gracefully. I am also single. If a man cannot accept me with my so called "imperfections", he can move on down the road.

I agree with you guys.  I just saw this and had never read anything like it before, so I wanted to know what you thought.  =] 

Many time the excess skin may be filled with fat, but losing that fat won't get rid of the excess skin.  It's not just that our skin stretches when we are very overweight.  We actually grow more skin.  Once you grow skin, you can't ungrow it.  You might be able to ungrow the fat, but not the skin.

What a bunch of nonsense.  The only part of it that is true is that SOME excess skin still has residual fat attached to it.   My personal example: When I had my brachioplasty (arms) and mons done, there was still a small amount of fat attached to the tissue attached to the skin.  You could feel that it was more than skin alone.  When I had my panniculectomy done, however, the surgeon originally estimated -- based solely on the measured SIZE of the apron of skin -- that i would lose 20 pounds when it was removed.  I asked if he was sure (I was VERY excited at the prospect of the scale going down so much, of course!), because when I would lift it up to wash under it, etc. it didn't feel like it weighed anything close to that much.  (That's when he said his estiomate was based on the surface area and that the amount of tissue/fat attached could cause that to change)  My panni -- which originally hung 3 inches below my pubic bone -- ended up weighing just SIX measly pounds... nothing anywhere close to the 20 he estimated... because it was all just skin with veyr little tissue or fat attached.

Excess skin is either skin that has been stretched and no longer has the ability to retract (for a variety of possible reasons) or is additional skin that was GROWN in order to cover your additional body surface after gaining a large amount of weight.  In the first case, if the skin's elasticity is shot, it makes NO difference whether or not there is any fat attached to it or not.  (Think about it this way: if the elastic in your underwear gets stretched out over the years and you cut it away from the cotton or nylon fabric, the elastic does not magically tighten back up.) In the second case, you simply cannot UNGROW the additional skin.

Also, as others have already pointed out, 10% body fat would be extremely difficult to achieve for women.  Any woman (unless she is a professional athlete) with only 10% body fat would probably be pretty emaciated looking.  She would still have the excess skin however... a woman who is nothing but skin and bones with a bunch of extra skin.... now that's a disturbing mental image.

Lora