weight Loss and Loose Skin

[mightyminx49]

Hi All,

I am not sure how to word this without offending or upsetting people but I need to know.

I am a reformed fat person, I say reformed because I have reformed my eating habits and am having a gastric bypass. All well and good but since loosing 19lbs + since I was refered I am beginning to wonder "What about my loose skin?" I don't want it hanging down and giving me a weird shape. I dont want a tummy tuck and I am hoping that excercise and a well hydrated body will help with skin toning so I dont get that sack of horrible loose skin. I know I can buy bio oil for stretch marks but if I use it am I still likely to get the baggy sack look. (I am so sorry if I offend or upset anyone) I worry about the bat wings I am going to be left with when I loose all my excess weight and wonder if I will cope with a still ugly body. Please forgive me if I am touching a raw nerve but that is how I feel.

Am I really doing the right thing with surgery if I cant cope with having the loose skin. Thank you for reading this. I would like honest opinions and veiws please. My op is fast approaching.

 

[Big an Bouncy]

Joan you are about the same size I was,my tummy has hung over since having babies,once its stretched there is not much you can do about it.You can spend money on bio oil but tbh I think any decent cheap lotion will do the same job.If you are of a certain age and Im sorry if Im wrong!Just going by your photo and name you are an older woman and we lose elasticity in our skin.
You ask if you should be doing this,hell yes if you want a healthier/longer life,more energy,better social life,nicer clothes,more confidence.If you dont want any of the above stay as you are.Saggy skin is a very small price to pay for all the benefits you will get.I have lost over 4.5st in 17weeks and feel fabulous,Im 56 and have more energy than ever before.We can disquise our flabby bits,please dont be put off surgery.Unless you want to look like Beyonce and show your body to everyone,of course then thats a different matter!Maz xI went out in 16 jeans and a tshirt today and my hubby was ogling me!

 

[mightyminx49]

Hi Maz,

Thank you for being honest, really appreciate it. I am two years younger than you at 54 and I dont want a body like beyonce just a slimmer body. My tummy hangs down like a spare tyre at the moment and I hate the way it looks but, baring in mind what you said about age I suppose I am being stupid in my thinking. I have been told I dont look my age but you rightly guessed my average age by my name no less. LOL
Being able to have that much energy will be fab so I think I should be silently chanting my mantra.
"Love is within me, without me, before me and behind me. I AM LOVE" I think asking the question is the start of accepting myself as I am and all comes after the surgery.

 

[Porpo]

Hi,

I'm sorry to say it but you have to just try to not to stress about it. Exercise and moisterisers are all you can do. I think exercise is by far the more effective but to be honest there's really isnt anything else you can do about it.

I've lost 12 stone and I've some loose skin on my tummy and a little bit on upper thighs but nothing that unduly worries me. I might get my upper arms done when I get down to my target weight as they're pretty bad but they were huge before I lost weight and I always wore long sleeved tops so its not really any worse than before and I feel so much better for having lost the weight.
x

 

[shelbell]

I have an apron, and loose skin on my thighs and bum. My arms aren't too bad, but I have post op friends with really bad bingo wings.

I found accepting the loose skin very difficult. I always thought I would rather have excess skin than be huge, but it wasn't that simple. It affects my confidence greatly and affects how I see myself. It took a long time to come to terms with it and I still struggle.

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[wizzbang]

I am expecting lots of loose skin!
I am 5 and a half stone down from my heaviest weight ever but still heavier than my lightest weight in the last ten years.
I have so much energy I cant stop being busy!!
I will save up and have my skin removed when necessary even though I think I am the oldest on the forum to have had bypass surgery I still think it will be worth it, but worth it for ME, I don't really mind what others think of my body, its not theirs, its mine lol.
Lynne x

 

[mightyminx49]

Hi all,

Thank you for your honesty. Lynn I agree, having had a good whinge about it to my daughter (bless her) Loose skin is preferable to the fat which I find repulsive any way.
I was just being really really silly and after a good nights sleep I saw the error of my ways so to speak

:thankyou:

 

[Magsy]

So agree with big and bouncy. I know i will suffer from loose skin as i have lost weight previously. My bat wings are so bad. But what the eck i will live longer be healthier and enjoy my live so much more. Fat? Skin? Skin all the way i can cover it up lol. So hard i know but I want to live and be healthy so willing to pay the price. But totally understand your feeling around this. Don't worry about being honest its only what other people are thinking but maybe not voiced x

 

[Kevin1708]

All the creams in the world (irrespective of price or advertising bumph) will not stop excess skin (how can it ?) . . . also exercise will only serve to make to muscle below ‘more taught’ which can help the appearance but only the appearance and will not / cannot reduce excess skin. I understand that 1/3 will suffer with excess skin which will require some form of surgery 1/3 will have stretch marks but not have a great deal of excess skin and finally, the remaining 1/3 will “get away with it”. Much is to do with how long one has been overweight, previous yoyo dieting (much like a balloon being blown up time and time again) and whether one smokes (smoked) as this is one of the skins greatest enemies. With all of use it a wait and see scenario (I was going to say ‘suck it and see’ but somehow that didn’t fit!!!) Yes excess skin is unsightly but beat the alternative every time . . . xx

 

[yorkiegal]

I was really hoping I'd get away with it but at over three stone lost my thighs are getting quite wrinkly already. Oh well, I can always cover up. My pct won't pay for any post WLS cosmetic procedures.

 

[Wendy1]

Try strech jeggins they pull you in great, but you will still have saggy skin when you take them of

 

[yorkiegal]

If it's not too personal, I wonder if any post oppers with loose skin would say how their partners have felt about it? I'm single and have zero confidence when it comes to finding someone, mostly because of my weight, and think I'd feel just as bad if I was skinny but with lots of excess skin.

 

[shelbell]

Mine has said all along that neither my weight nor my skin is an issue. I think it's different in a long term marriage though. Speak to Carole, HopelessCase, as she started dating after her weight loss and has significant excess skin, and has now found love and is really happy.

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