Loose skin

[Guest guest]

I cannot say that I have a miracle solution. I lost rapidly at one

point and was so disappointed that I looked great in clothes, but

dreaded looking at myself without them because of the loose skin. I

bought that skin firming lotion and used it faithfully. I also

increased my water and I have to say over time it has improved. I

really credit it to the excercise. I will never have it all back

since I still have stretchmarks from pregnancy and being heavy. But

it's better. I did consider surgery to remove it and tighten things

up. I was fortunate enough to meet Carnie after she had her

surgery to do the same and I asked her opinions on it. She didn't

regret it, but it did leave her with scars. She encouraged me to

really look at what I felt was important to me because she thought I

looked good as I was. I guess I was more concerned with what my

husband saw - not that he has complained at all. SHe said I needed

to show him my before pictures and realize how lucky he was and how

far I came. Our conversation was encouraging and more around our

battles of self acceptance. I really walked away feeling more ok

with how I was now. Guess I am on a soap box...more info that you

wanted - lol.

[Guest guest]

Marie,

All I can say is give time, time, and more time. It may never go

away completely, but it should get smaller.

Becky

> What can be done about loose skin after weight loss? I'm 51 years

> old and while I've reached my goal weight and BF%, I still have

> loose, fluffy skin on my belly. Any ideas?

>

> Marie

[Guest guest]

> > What can be done about loose skin after weight loss?

It depends on how much skin there is. If it's not too much, give it

some time. Skin looses elasticity as we age so it may simply just

take it longer.

If it's quite a bit and forms an " apron " hanging down, the only way

to remove it may be surgery.

HTH

Astrophe

[Guest guest]

> Does the skin sag after the DS because of the rapid weight loss?

Would it be

> less droopy if the weight loss was slower?

I think it is genetic. Some people, mostly young people, have skin

that pops right back into position. Other people and again, it is

age related and depends on your genetics, have skin that has lost

much of its elasticity and cannot tighten back up. There are changes

occuring for a couple years after the weight loss, though, from what

I have read online, so I have hope!

I don't thing dependent areas ever can really firm back up. By

dependent, I mean " hanging " areas. ie breasts, and in my case, the

belly.

Marta

[Guest guest]

I've been there, baby! That layer under the skin may look and feel

and act like fat, but it isn't. It's tissue. At 12% bf, I had a huge

pannicula (apron of extra abdominal skin) that the doc estimated to

weigh about 15 pounds. On a woman who's 5'3 " on her better days, 15

pounds right on her belly is significant.

I think there is a lot more going on just under the few layers of what

we see as skin... There's all thoses fat cells (now empty of their

fatty contents, but the " house " remains) that will never go away

without surgical cohersion. There's all the tissue that connects

those cells, plus the veins and such that used to be necessary to feed

them (isn't it something like an additional mile of circulatory

pathways for each additional 5 pounds of flab?).

There's no amount of exercise or starvation or whatever that's going

to get rid of excess tissue that results from significant weight

reduction. Body fat % in the mid-teens is considered very lean (and

healthy). Plus, I don't know how long I could sustain single digit

bf%.

By the way, I'm not necessarily recommending abdominoplasty (tummy

tuck surgery) here. Personally, I think that's what I'm going to do,

but I certainly recognized that it's not the answer for everyone.

Best of luck!

DeDe

> How low do you need to go to lose as much of it as possible? I'm

> already in the mid teens for BF%, but have lost a huge amount of

> weight before BFL and have gobs of loose skin with what looks like a

> thick layer of fat beneath. I've been told losing the layer of fat

> beneath wil do the trick, but I really don't want to go to single

> digits. Especially if it won't work.

[Guest guest]

Thanks DeDe! I don't know whether to be relieved or discouraged. At least now

I know

that the nice grad student who weighed me underwater at the local university

probably

*wasn't* smoking anything after all.

I really hate the idea of abdominoplasty. If I had cancer that would be one

thing, but to

have pieces of my body--even ugly ones which have outlived their usefulnes--cut

off. . .

well. I guess I'll just suck it up. I promised hubby I won't go below 12% &

will stick with

that.

It hardly seems fair though, don't you think? Here we've worked so hard, come

so far.

Don't we deserve our six packs?

Eve

shad to have been smoking something illegal

> > How low do you need to go to lose as much of it as possible? I'm

> > already in the mid teens for BF%, but have lost a huge amount of

> > weight before BFL and have gobs of loose skin with what looks like a

> > thick layer of fat beneath. I've been told losing the layer of fat

> > beneath wil do the trick, but I really don't want to go to single

> > digits. Especially if it won't work.

[Guest guest]

I've done a lot of reading on this. Apparently, if you lose enough body fat the

skin will retract or go away. That and time.

I have this issue in my thighs. I'm very interested to put this theory to

test to see if it does retract. I do think I'll have to get to at a maximum 18%

bodyfat to see changes in my legs, and probably lower to address the hanging

skin. It may take me longer than 1 challenge to accomplish this, but that's

fine.

I did notice that when I had my first baby, my stomach was very squishy and

droopy until I lost that last 5 lbs, then it was smooth and flat again.

Miracle! But it was a certain weight (and I'm guessing body fat %) that caused

the hanging on fat to go away (you know that fat that's stuck to the skin and

makes it hang or poof out).

I needed your note today. I had a free day yesterday and it's been hard to

pull up that motivation again. This just reminds me that I am so close to

seeing those results, I have to just keep pressing on.

Today is my free day from working out and I feel kind of lost! I think I'll

do a walk and just enjoy the sunshine today.

Have a great day!

Message: 24

Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 17:59:36 -0000

From: " Kathy " <kathy942@...>

Subject: Loose skin

Has anyone seen any resources about how to prevent or reduce loose skin

with major weight loss?

---------------------------------

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[Guest guest]

I am 64 with a BMI of 42. I am going to be banded by Dr. Aceves pretty

soon. The one thing that worries me about losing weight is the loose

skin. I can probably handle the loose skin on my body but I don't want

to look like I am 90 years old. Have any other 60+ women lost a lot of

weight and if so, did your skin remold or just hang there? (I should

have done this 30 years ago, when I was younger.) I doubt if I can

afford a facelift or surgery to remove the excess skin.

Teta

[Guest guest]

Hi Teta

I'm 68 years old and had lapband surgery 2 1/2 years ago. I have lost

85 lbs. Yes, I have loose skin but, especially in the face, it seems

to tighten up and my family says I don't look 90 years old. I do have

loose skin in my arms and of course my " apron " . I really don't think

I want a face lift or tummy tuck either unless I would inherit a lot

of money and that isn't likely! I guess I should add a current

picture to my photo album to show how " old " I do look, huh? I still

believe that getting the lapband at 66 years old was the best thing I

ever did and only wish I had known about it sooner!

Best wishes to you on your weight loss journey!

Penny in Colorado

>

> I am 64 with a BMI of 42. I am going to be banded by Dr. Aceves pretty

> soon. The one thing that worries me about losing weight is the loose

> skin. I can probably handle the loose skin on my body but I don't want

> to look like I am 90 years old. Have any other 60+ women lost a lot of

> weight and if so, did your skin remold or just hang there? (I should

> have done this 30 years ago, when I was younger.) I doubt if I can

> afford a facelift or surgery to remove the excess skin.

>

> Teta

>