Freaked Out

so ive been in the main chat tonight for a while, and a few were telling me about all this extra skin youll have once you loose weight. and i've been freaking out! i never thought about it like what they said. how youll have a belly 'apron' and 'bat wings'. oh my gosh. what have yall done about this? they were telling me surgery is the only way to fix this. i thought toning could help some, plus being young. any thoughts would be appreciated!

I just had surgery about a month ago and the excess skin did cross my mind.  I've been told that because of our age we have a better change of having less excess skin, we still can have it and have to have surgery to get it removed but it would be less then if we were in our 40's.  Also i know that drinking milk and water and eating protien is good to help rejunviate skin cells and using good moistureizer and spf helps with that too.  So right now I wouldn't focus on the excess skin as a major issue but trying to keep your self hydrated and keep your skin mositruized so that if you wanted to have surgery in the end it is less to remove.  Hope this helps!

I've heard it depends on how long your skin has been stretched and how much you lose. How fast you lose also makes a difference (so there is such a thing as losing too fast for the skin.) Being young definitely does help, but sometimes even young people need to have extra skin removed. I think exercising does help but only to a certain extent. One can become totally fit and still have excess skin just because they were once so overweight. Hope this helps.

Yes, you will have loose skin.  It is an unavoidable truth.  You cannot lose 100+ pounds and have your skin tighten back up all the way.  Stretch marks show that your skin is damaged at the cellular level - it cannot fix itself anymore.  Your age and exercise and getting good nutrition (protien, water, vitamins) will help, but your body will not look like someone who has never been significantly overweight.  The only way to get rid of excess skin next-to-completely is to have plastic surgery. But here is where you need to look at the big picture, which is worse, being 100+ pounds overweight, unhealthy, and immobile, or being healthy at a normal weight, mobile, but with some jiggly skin? This should be an easy choice.  You can dress to cover skin, you cannot dress to cover 100+ extra pounds.  Only a select group of people ever need to see you naked.  And at the end of the day, if it REALLY bugs you that much, you can get the excess skin removed surgically.

Erica,  if you don't mind me asking, do you have a lot to lose, or are you more of a "lightweight"?  Lightweights are around a BMI of 40 starting out (or 35-40 if co-morbidities and all that). Also, do you carry your weight proportionally right now?  I can relate to your fear.  I'm a lightweight and carry  proportionally (mostly).  My doc wants me to lose 125 but I'll be happy with 100.  I'm also more uh, muscley than a lot of girls and that of course weighs more than fat. Anyway, the point is, I'm banking on A) being young B) carrying proportionally and C) doing lots of toning and resistance training in the gym once cleared.  I know my skin will never be taut as a supermodel's, but I am hoping to be happy with myself without needing plastics.  That being said, I'm still setting some money aside just in case I really can't stand it lol.  Some surgeons are great at convincing insurance that your PS is medically necessary and you *may* even get them to cover it.  Rare, but I do know it's possible.

Let me tell you the truth - no matter how young you are, or if you are a lightweight you WILL have wiggle, jiggle, excess skin and flab. While the younger and less overweight you are the 'bounceback' is better than those older/larger do NOT expect miracles. Yes surgery is the only way to fix it. You cannot exercise loose skin away. Staying hydrated, proper nutrition and exercise will help - but again, no miracles.  I personally have the bat wings, saggy deflated breasts, belly apron and loose inner thighs. I have been working out and improving what I can but I have already looked into plastic surgery. Being young its harder to accept our post-WLS body...  we just want to look like other people our age and that just doesnt happen. Either way... dealing with the excess skin is MUCH better than dealing with all the fat. I can hide most of my flaws under clothing - just a matter of finding what flatters my body best.