I am in a very similar situation. I just crossed over from being obese to just being overweight. I would have to be a small skinny man to ever achieve "normal"! But I have the same pockets of flab and loose skin that you describe. I don't know if it ever will go away, I still have 17 lbs to lose to hit my goal. I too had thought that being young (though I'm in my forties) would mean my skin would snap taught like a rubber band, but that was just wishful thinking. But hey - we look good in clothes now!