Skin....Really, Would It Have Made a Difference?

bekahler
on 4/27/12 1:06 am - Parkville, MD
 What a wonderful and thoughtful response. I look foward to witnessing your continued transformation as you become outwardly the man you deserve to be. Isn't it amazing...we really can have it all! Looks and Brains! Who knew! 

Congratulations on your metamorphosis! 

"There are no Strangers Here, Only Unmet Friends" ~Helen Keller        
        
AmberK
on 4/26/12 11:46 pm
VSG on 03/07/12 with
 I really don't think it would have made a difference for me. I was always very very thin, like string bikini thin in college. When I got pregnant with my first son, I gained 80 pounds!!! That is when I had my first stretch mark. After he was born the weight just spiraled from there. I really didn't know what to do to loose weight because it had never been an issue for me. Does that make any sense? 

 VSG 3/07/12     HW:260   SW: 249   CW:164  



 

BariBariHappy
on 4/26/12 11:46 pm - MI
Nope...it never made a difference because I've been yo-yo dieting since I was a kid in the '70's! I've got stretch marks bigger than some people I know (and scars from all the surgeries I had because I was overweight - back, hip replacement, etc)!

• Did I realize I would have sagging skin after surgery? HECK YES!

• Did that make a difference? HECK NO! Love the Sleeve!

• Did I know that I would have to work out to try and get that skin to fit a little differently? HECK YES!

• Did I know that perhaps one day I will get rid of that too? HECK YES! (What's one more scar! Ha!)

• Do I know that if I don'****ch my portions, follow the rules and not exercise that I can re-fill all that old skin with new fat? HECK YES!

These things are part of the journey! Love the post!
   HW: 291 • SW: 260 • CW: 196 • GW: 145            
     
vacationlover
on 4/26/12 11:53 pm
Wouldn't have made a difference to me.

I think... even knowing way back then (when my weight problem started at age 8) that I would end up being obese and needed WLS as an adult, wouldn't have changed anything in my life that led up to this point :(  I knew what I was doing these last 29 years... I knew that I was in an unhealthy lifestyle.  Honestly, I don't regret any of it though.  I like who I am now, and wouldn't want to change it.  Stretched out skin sucks.  Head issues related to food suck.  However... I do not suck :)  I like who I am now, and wouldn't change much in my journey...

CW: 130ish HW: 264 SW:254 Hgt: 5'2

Goals-Dr:159-MET Mine:140-MET!!! Final Goal: 135-MET!!!!!

W4:-22 W8:-11 W12:-10.5 W16:-12 W20:-11.5 W24:-9.5 W28:-8 W32:-7.5 W36:-8 W40:-7.5 W44:-5 W48: -4.5 1Yr/W52: -7

sublimate
on 4/27/12 4:57 am - San Jose, CA
No it would not have made a difference.. I'm an addict and wasn't ready to give up the crack. Thank goodness for all the latest technology of plastic surgery, lasers for stretch marks and scars, etc.! It was very disappointing (but not surprising) to do so much work to lose weight and still feel like a freak under my clothes.

I had no idea it would be that bad this time because twice in my life I lost significant weight (down into the 100's) and it was never this bad. I guess age also made it even worse. No matter how much surgery I do and cosmetic procedures, I can't ever get that body back, or those years I wasted being obese and miserable.

Yes that makes me sad, especially since the world realistically is so superficial and I missed so much by not looking good. Now that I've had plastics I feel a lot better.. I don't feel like a freak under my clothes and even IN my clothes I still had a huge roll around my middle that all the girdles in the world could not hide.

To a degree I don't think the expectations for appearance are as pressured as they are for women. Everything in the media is designed to make women feel inadequate. Our lashes are not long enough.. buy mascara or potions. Our skin isn't clear enough.. buy make-up from a peddler.

Why else would we kill ourselves (as many do) in painful sky high heels, uncomfortable or painful cosmetic procedures, waxing and plucking, ad nauseum. Is it any surprise that we lament the extra skin, when there are men out there that are perfectly happy with our excess weight and find it attractive? And to a degree that makes a difference, especially when it is your husband that loves you big.

Or how difficult is to fight and lose weight, only to STILL feel incomplete.. that things didn't get better in your life or you didn't get the fantasy land you wanted. I'm going through this right now.

I may have a body that I am much happier about and get to do so much more in life like race cars and ride horses, but I lost my marriage and most of my friends over this. All the happiness of losing weight is shadowed by the mourning of friends and marriage that is lost.

I can no longer relate to the food addicted sedentary habits of all of my old friends. That used to be me. My relationships were built around common interests and I'm not that person anymore. I'm sad about it and trying to pick up the pieces and find new relationships.

As the previous poster said, I always kind of let myself go to a degree, more than basic hygiene. Fixing myself up seemed like putting lipstick on a pig.. why bother since I look like crap anyway? So when I finally dealt with the obesity quite a bit I cared much more about feeling complete!

Anyways I got off on a tangent here because of the skin thing.. just some food for thought. Love you Frisco and thanks as always for bringing up interesting topics.

Start weight: 388, Current Weight: 185, Goal Weight: 180, Weight Lost: 203 lbs
Certified Nutritionist VSG FAQsublimate: To elevate or uplift.
3/2012 Plastics: LBL, 3 Hernias Fixed, BL/BA, Rhinoplasty & Septum Fix. 6/2013 Plastics: Arm and thigh lift

tripmom02
on 4/27/12 4:59 am - NJ
 I had skin issues even before I started losing weight, so it was no surprise to me and honestly I don't have any real issues with it. I will take wearing a size 7 (yeah, I said JUNIORS size 7!) jeans and some wrinkly belly skin over being 300 lbs any day. 

Courtney - Lap band to VSG revision
      

    
diane S.
on 4/27/12 11:28 am
Interesting topic. Yeah, I did realize I could end up with saggy skin. But saggy skin is preferable to 125 pounds of excess fat. Even so, buying a new small sized bathing suit was still traumatic like in the fat days because now its saggy skin which looks especially terrible in dressing room light. Oh well, I will take the skin over the fat any day. Don't go swimming that much anyway.

But here's the thing. The only thing I regret in life, being now 60 years old, is having wasted so much time and energy feeling bad about my weight and looks as a younger person. Looking back, I was fat most of that time but I shouldn't have let it get me down and stop me from doing some things as it did. So I am not going to let the saggy skin stop me from anything. I may get a facelift since I see it as routine maintenance at my age but the rest  of it will just have to be.

Anyway, to those of you who are younger, please don't beat yourselves up over saggy skin. You have won a lot by dealing with your weight issue and other people with perfect skin and bodies have other problems in their lives that you probably wouldn't want.

Old and saggy Diane

      
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                  http://www.obesityhelp.com/group/VSGM/discussion/
  
ib40
on 4/27/12 2:48 pm
It's weird that you posted this, because I have been thinking quite a bit about this very thing. I've called my 8yo daughter in and I've showed her all of my loose skin because I want her to understand that this is the end result of overeating. This is what you are left with when you finally take back control of your body after years of obesity.

Every day now for months, I have considered if I would have ever abused my body so badly if I had realized the permanent effect it would have. If I would have seen someone's loose skin, would I have taken it as an omen of what could happen if I strayed from the straight and narrow? Yeah, I actually think that it may have made a difference.

I would have had the sleeve done regardless because my health is more important at this point. But if I am reading your post correctly, you are wondering if knowing about loose skin would have kept me from getting fat. Honestly, I believe it would have made an impact on me. I lost and gained the same 25 lbs or so multiple times with no visible consequences. It stupidly never dawned on me that gaining more would stretch out my skin to such an extent, and I never saw photos of extra skin anywhere to jog my thought process in that direction. Food is actually my only vice--I don't drink, smoke, take drugs, etc., and I never have. I grew up thinking that, as vices go, food was pretty tame and any weight I gained could always be lost with little consequence. I was wrong.

I hate my extra skin. I have appearance hang-ups anyway (I always have). Honestly, the majority of my extra skin is a result of pregnancies, but my bat wings also bother me, as does the sagging skin I notice on my 40yo face. I wish I could view my extra skin as a momento of winning my war against fat, but it bothers me. A lot. I don't cry about it (yet), but I have begun to obsess about it and I hate myself for ruining my God given form in such a manner. My overriding feelings are ones of self-anger.



 



 

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