Summermoose

I went to see a plastic surgeon about getting an arm lift and I am feeling so conflicted.

On the one hand, I am so unhappy about my upper arms and armpits and I never wear anything without sleeves (anything I wear is at least t-shirt length). I feel very self conscious about that area.. It just makes me sad. I’ve worked so hard to get where I am right now and I still can’t wear what I want, and fashion is one of my main hobbies and ways of expressing myself.

On the other hand, I am scared. It’s a huge operation, you end up with two big wounds that you need help with for weeks and I am struggling with the idea that it’s elective surgery.

My husband also is not really on board because he thinks I’m perfect the way I am, and he’s scared it’ll snowball into me wanting to get procedure after procedure because according to him I’m never happy with how I look. Next to that he hates seeing me in pain and he’s also not very keen on the idea because it’ll add to his load temporarily but he realises that’s a selfish reason..

I feel so conflicted. I have done a lot of soul searching and have already made peace with my nonexistent breasts, my jiggly thighs and butt, and my tummy doesn’t bother me anymore either. It’s because I can hide those things in whatever outfit I wear, except when I go for shorts.. But I never liked to wear those a lot anyway.

I am just so sick of still covering up and hiding, but I wish it wasn’t such a radical procedure.. I feel very selfish for inconveniencing others so much for something that is elective.

Would love to hear your thoughts and opinions, any advice you have or if you’ve been in the same situation!

Hi, @Summermoose. I am having the same issues as you. My arms are awful and the wobble goes on after my elbow. I am happy with them until holidays come around and then I wish they were done. My dilemma is - is it worth the pain, cost and trouble for 11 each months a year ? My scars are always hypertrophic, so they would look worse than most. I am a member of a few Facebook Brachioplasty groups and TBH it does put me off.

...further to above, figured i'd add a more current pic.
this one was taken just now (4 yrs, 3 months AFTER the arm lift).
you can see i'm not as defined as i used to be (i don't do as much strength training as i used to), but i'm still not flappy.
in this position, you can see the end of my scar near the elbow, and a sliver of a much darker/redder scar at my armpit. like i mentioned, i historically scar terribly, so my results are worse than normal, scar-wise. alot of folks here have virtually invisible ones at the same point as me.

i had an arm lift (and breast lift, and tummy tuck...all in one shot in Dec 2019).
i always disliked my upper arms. when i was thin (and thought i was fat) i was self conscious of what i thought was the size of them and rarely wore sleeveless tops. then when i actually got fat i NEVER wore them. if i had to go to an event the warranted (an arm-baring) dress, i always wore a shawl.
fast forward to the weight loss and i was left with some saggy jiggly upper arms. while they looked okay when my arms were at my sides, i really did not like the look of them flapping in the wind when i raised them, lol. and i raise them alot, ha...i'm one of those raise-your-arms-in-the-air-and-wave-them-like-you-just-don't-care kinda gals, lolololzzz.
so i had them done about a year post op (6-ish months after i reached goal). LOVE EM. while i did wear sleeveless again after the weight loss, i feel a lot less self-conscious about them after the arm lift. and really, it makes all the difference :).. now i do have very prominent scars on my arms (i scar very badly, and knew this going in), but for some reason the scars dont bother me as much as the flapping did. Go figure.
recovery is no joke though, i'll be honest. had i not done too much too soon, i would probably have been good to go by 6 weeks...but i didn't, so my recovery was more like 3+ months.
that was over 5 years ago now, and i've been wearing tank tops and other sleeveless tops all year round since, hahaha.
it really all boils down to what YOU are comfortable with...i was told by countless of people that i didn't need to/shouldn't get it done. but i got it anyway, because the only person who can say i need it is ME. if you have the means and the desire, the option is yours.
Good luck! ❤️
some pics:
1st link: 6 months BEFORE the arm lift
2nd link: Day before VS 3 weeks after arm lift
3rd link: 6 months AFTER the arm lift

I've had a lower body lift, breast lift, arm lift, torsoplasty, face lift, and neck lift. It's expensive and some of the recovery was painful (esp the lower body lift), but I'm still glad I did it. It's been several years, but I don't remember the arm lift as being particularly painful (well, at least not compared to the lower body lift!), but I do remember it being pretty inconvenient not being able to reach for things for while I was healing. Also, scarring tends to be worse on arm lifts than on other procedures, I think because the skin is thinner there than in some other areas and there's a lot of tension there because we use our arms so much, and they move in so many directions. I do have visible scars there, whereas I can't even see my scars anymore on my breast lift (you can on my Lower body lift, but it's below my underwear line). However, I'd have to hold my arms up in the air for anyone else to see them, like if I was doing that "YMCA" dance, and how often do I do that? Not often. So it's not a huge issue.
anyway, yes, I do understand your feelings. For me it was more the money issue that bothered me. Plastic surgery is really expensive. But I now have a normal-looking body, which I didn't before, so there's that..

I genuinely think that you sometimes just have to be selfish and do what you need to do for yourself. This is still your weight loss journey, and you know what is right for you.
Sounds like you do have support around you (even with the reservations), and you are a strong person!
As it seems like you already have, just make sure you are informed with your decision, look at the pros and cons - maybe write out a physical list so you can visualise it?
Either way, I really wish you the best of luck ❤️

I went to see a plastic surgeon about getting an arm lift and I am feeling so conflicted.

On the one hand, I am so unhappy about my upper arms and armpits and I never wear anything without sleeves (anything I wear is at least t-shirt length). I feel very self conscious about that area.. It just makes me sad. I’ve worked so hard to get where I am right now and I still can’t wear what I want, and fashion is one of my main hobbies and ways of expressing myself.

On the other hand, I am scared. It’s a huge operation, you end up with two big wounds that you need help with for weeks and I am struggling with the idea that it’s elective surgery.

My husband also is not really on board because he thinks I’m perfect the way I am, and he’s scared it’ll snowball into me wanting to get procedure after procedure because according to him I’m never happy with how I look. Next to that he hates seeing me in pain and he’s also not very keen on the idea because it’ll add to his load temporarily but he realises that’s a selfish reason..

I feel so conflicted. I have done a lot of soul searching and have already made peace with my nonexistent breasts, my jiggly thighs and butt, and my tummy doesn’t bother me anymore either. It’s because I can hide those things in whatever outfit I wear, except when I go for shorts.. But I never liked to wear those a lot anyway.

I am just so sick of still covering up and hiding, but I wish it wasn’t such a radical procedure.. I feel very selfish for inconveniencing others so much for something that is elective.

Would love to hear your thoughts and opinions, any advice you have or if you’ve been in the same situation!

I went to see a plastic surgeon about getting an arm lift and I am feeling so conflicted.

On the one hand, I am so unhappy about my upper arms and armpits and I never wear anything without sleeves (anything I wear is at least t-shirt length). I feel very self conscious about that area.. It just makes me sad. I’ve worked so hard to get where I am right now and I still can’t wear what I want, and fashion is one of my main hobbies and ways of expressing myself.

On the other hand, I am scared. It’s a huge operation, you end up with two big wounds that you need help with for weeks and I am struggling with the idea that it’s elective surgery.

My husband also is not really on board because he thinks I’m perfect the way I am, and he’s scared it’ll snowball into me wanting to get procedure after procedure because according to him I’m never happy with how I look. Next to that he hates seeing me in pain and he’s also not very keen on the idea because it’ll add to his load temporarily but he realises that’s a selfish reason..

I feel so conflicted. I have done a lot of soul searching and have already made peace with my nonexistent breasts, my jiggly thighs and butt, and my tummy doesn’t bother me anymore either. It’s because I can hide those things in whatever outfit I wear, except when I go for shorts.. But I never liked to wear those a lot anyway.

I am just so sick of still covering up and hiding, but I wish it wasn’t such a radical procedure.. I feel very selfish for inconveniencing others so much for something that is elective.

Would love to hear your thoughts and opinions, any advice you have or if you’ve been in the same situation!

Congratulations!! 🥳

I know I have been active on here for a while now, and probably made far too many posts for someone who hasn't even had surgery yet, but today I put down my deposit payment for my gastric bypass surgery with Spire Gatwick in the UK, for the 14/05/24.
It officially feels real! Until now, I had so many anxieties as to whether or not it would happen in case I couldn't find the money, or get approved for a loan etc, so it just feels like so much relief now that it is all finalised and I know it is gonna happen.
I have my 1st dietetic consultation & my pre-op assessment on 05/04/24, and then my 2nd lot of pre-op bloods on 13/05/24.
I am trying to log it all in my bariatric surgery journal which I am finding really useful!
I guess I just wanted to post to just express how happy I feel right now, to people who I know will understand ❤️

I just spent the past six days on business half way across the country. Flying didn't require a seat belt extension - and on the return flight, I was in a middle seat without issue.
The best though, was a couple of days ago when I got into an Uber and asked the driver if he could move the front seat forward. He apologized and said, "I'm sorry. I had a heavy person and he had to put the seat all the way back." He could never have known that 6 months and 85lbs ago it's very likely that I would have been that guy in the front seat.

Victory? I don't know if this technically qualifies as a victory but, my butt and tailbone hurts from lack of fat padding to sit on!
Ahhh and horror of horrors I had an xray..and could see the outline shadow of all my loose skin.. Not a pretty victory..but one the less. Add to those two..sitting lower in the car...I feel like a kid driving my parents car! 😜

Even almost 5 years out, there are still things that surprise me. Walking around cars in a car park & realised my short cut progress was halted by a post & a dirty car. I thought no way will I squeeze through that tiny gap of maybe 10 inches & thought I’d have to walk back around. Took a breath & decided to edge sideways a little to test it. Slipped through that gap like butter. Didn’t touch the post or the dirty car. I was wearing white too & not a mark. Couldn’t believe it.

I have just realised that the skin over my knuckles doesn't dimple anymore. When I make a fist I can see my knuckles. I treated myself to new rings too. The original ones I got married in were stolen in 1986. Rings looked awful on my short fat fingers so I wore none

I agree this one is great! Not having to worry that a chair offered is one you'll be able to comfortably fit in! People who haven't gone through all this don't understand the whole host of negativity - self conversations that goes through obese peoples heads constantly, from fitting in chairs, fitting in booths, people judging your grocery cart (personally had people make comments to me), hearing comments, seeing cute fashion trends but not being able to participate, people doing the butt shuffle away from you when on bench seating or aircraft seats out of fear of being touched by your fat (as if its contagious) etc... So being able to sit with extra room comfortably is a huge victory! Congrats!!

lol! I did the reverse the larger I got in the before time: moved my rings down my hand to the smaller fingers so I could still wear them. 😂

In the interim, if all you want is something that sits on your left ring finger and says, "Back off, I'm taken," Amazon has super cheap sterling silver with CZ wedding ring sets that are surprisingly convincing. I stopped wearing my real ring after I began the divorce process (go figure, right?) but sometimes it's convenient to have a ring on, like when you're traveling alone, so that's what I got. I would never in a million years have chosen the ones I did for real, but they do the job and look pretty real.

Yes, that's what happened, my hands were cold and they just came off and I was like "Ummm...well then." 😂
Yes, I might do that with the stones, good suggestion! The ring set is relatively new, I had been holding out on buying a new set for when I lost weight (you know how that goes) but after the whole cancer thing I decided to stop holding off on things I really want. So we bought the rings. Then a year later I decided to do bariatric surgery. LOL Go figure... But I adore the stone, it is a lovely aquamarine solitaire and the rings were custom made. So I'll be thinking on what to do with it all...
If your rings are loose by themselves you may be able to use the ring snuggies that wrap around the band to make them fit better on your hand until you resize them. They worked great for me until the size difference became too big!

I quit wearing rings a long time ago for the same reasons and had one cut off by a local jeweler after it started cutting off circulation.
Recently started wearing them again. I like wearing rings on all my fingers. Sometimes even on my thumb. If a ring doesn't fit on one finger, try putting it on another. Although a wedding ring on your thumb may look a bit odd @ChunkCat. LOL

My face on my weight loss journey, from 421 pounds to 213 pounds (18 more pounds to go!!!)

i had 3 procedures done: arm lift, Tummy Tuck & breast lift.
if i was told i could only choose 1, i'd pick arm lift every time. like u said, other areas are easily camouflaged by clothes/undergarments...but u cant hide ur arms in tank tops/short sleeves.
ask ur surgeon what his thoughts are on ur results if you were to lose an additional 20-25 lbs AFTER an arm lift...it *may* be negligible?
good luck! ❤️

I'll definitely try to do a before and after - Especially after things have stabilized. May be 3 months, 6 months and a year after progress so others can see the process as well! 😁
Thank you Spinoza - Hoping all goes well. Just dreading the recovery phase of 6 to 8 weeks before things normalize especially the very first or two weeks post-Op!

Me!! I'm more than 4 years post op LBL & BA performed by Dr. Capella. I love my results and the care I received!

Today is surgery day. I didn’t end up losing much, but I realized my desire to lose was motivated by fear that my surgery wouldn’t be “enough” and I would still feel fat.
I decided to let go and trust the process but I did start walking 10,000 steps a day to prepare.
I’m nervous, can’t sleep. Such a big change coming, it is just so unpredictable.
I will say, as I was losing and seeing my skin hang and wrinkle, I didn’t think it was gross or ugly, I was more curious and observant. I’m hoping that translates after surgery, during the long recovery.

Attaching before pics to track progress.

Sorry just seen this now. Yes they were happy with the weight gain. Month 9 I did gain another 8 pounds (my appetite went crazy) so 15 pounds total. Baby was 7 pounds healthy and perfect! By 2 weeks post partum my weight went back to pre pregnancy weight. But then the holidays came and I did gain about 10 pounds, so I would just say be careful after you give birth and try to continue healthy eating habits.