ClaudiaSunshine

Hi all! I am still an infant bandster- only 6 months out- but I'm starting to hear much about excess skin and it's freaking me out! I'm thinking that as the popularity of band and bypass surgery exponentially increases, so is the rush towards cosmetic surgery. It's going so far where people (bandsters included!) are willing to give themselves rashes and other potentially harmful conditions in order to "qualify" for the procedures!!! Are we going nuts? I understand that there are 2 schools of thought on the subject of why excess skin develops: There are those who believe that by being obese and carrying excess weight, you have irrevocably damaged your skin and the only way to combat sag, flab, droop, drop, etc... is through plastic surgery. Plastic surgeons, I'm sure, LOVE this, since they're getting a TON of business. I mean, at my Bariatric center, they have Plastic Surgeons' cards and fliers on the waiting tables!!! Then there's the other school of thought that skin is incredibly resilient and takes time to heal. Moreover, that the sag, flab, droop, drop we're experiencing isn't actually excess skin at all, but rather still excess fat! Skin is only so thick- half an inch or so- at it's thickest. So, when we're losing weight, yes, we're losing some fat, but it's also Water and muscle. That is why believers in this school of thought insist not on gauging loss by your weight on a scale, but rather percentage of body fat. After being totally terrified by what I read on the PS boards where folks were coming up with ways to give themselves rashes or otherwise "scam" the insurance companies... I figured that we need to discuss this and see what the scoop is. Maybe do a little research. (By the way, I work for an insurance company- not medical- and always have to hear about how people have to "scam" us and then wonder why everyone's premiums are so high) Maybe we don't need to have the additional surgeries at all! I think that having cosmetic or plastic surgery should be a last resort, just like our band surgery was. There are so many people who are trying to use both surgeries as a quick fix for things that might correct themselves with some time and discipline. Don't get me wrong, lack of discipline is what brought me to the band in the first place! These people try to gain weight to qualify for the band procedure, or give themselves rashes to qualify for the cosmetic surgery... These are very dangerous undertakings!!! Heart attack or stroke, cellulitis, necrotizing fasciitis... bad, bad, bad!!! So what do youse guys think? ClaudiaSunshine

So, the issue then becomes building and keeping lean muscle and losing fat. What do we know about ways to measure body fat. No traditional scale is going to do that...