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I will be sleeved 6/5/2023. Within the last year I gained over 50lbs. I contributed this to the pandemic (working from home) and the sudden loss of a very close family member. I’m worried of course about sagging skin. Anybody care to share pics or any information on if sagging skin was really bad, or how to make it better. I weigh 250 and I’m 5”3

I went to buy new shirts for work last week because the ones I bought two months ago became baggy and loose. I started with size "M" first which was still big and finally got size "S" slim fit shirts which fit me like a glove haha. I've never thought that this would be possible 🤣. Here is me in my new size "s" shirt and 31" pants. I need to lose some more weight from my thighs.

Fab thread. People lose weight and bra sizes in really different ways, don't they? I have gone from a 40 band to a 32/34. Cup size H to DD/E. I bought 1 or 2 new bras every time the current ones became ridiculously loose. Not even sure at 18 months that I'm in my final size so I cannot buy expensive bras even now. Once I settle I will.

I ordered online a bra with no underwires. I could get them from Target or Walmart sometimes but I just ordered the next size down when I was at the smallest hook setting and still could get a finger in there easily. Everyone’s shape is different. I just knew from the past that every 2 inches lost on the band usually meant a cup size down also. I don’t know about metric sizes or others ratios. Think about how you gained, did you go from a 40 D to a 42 DD? You will go backwards the same way roughly. Extra skin and pregnancies will skew this slightly too. Underwires are so much more expensive, so that was my deciding factor. That first year I went through a lot of bras! Don’t forget to buy new underwear too. You can get away with baggy pants but the undies need to stay up!

For me loose skin is an afterthought but if we are honest, I'm guessing we all think about how much, if any loose skin we will end up with after we lose our excess weight. I never say never but not really planning to do any plastics. I am looking at more holistic methods such as autophagy, working out etc. Also, I have a family member who visited recently and offered free cryo therapy to help with loose skin as my weight goes down as opposed to waiting till the end and whatever I'm left with. I spoke with my physician and he gave me the go ahead. I'll probably wait a couple more weeks before starting. I have lost 40 pounds so far with 100+ more to lose. I also have access to a private gym and an infrared sauna. I'm excited!!! Wishing you the best OP with your surgery and your recovery.

LindsayT firstly yes I’d absolutely adore you as a friend, I need one with absolute desperation. I feel very vulnerable and alone currently so without sounding a complete desperate loopiloo yes please. (Big arms outstretched never letting go) catlady0626 - thank you so so much for replying. Yes I have fever including occasional rigours and cold parameters intermediate. Paracetamol added to my daily medicines which does seem to calm. I do have flu like symptoms to accompany and just arrived back from holiday on an aeroplane though so have not made any connection to twists tears or similar. It’s actually crossed my mind I have herniated more prolifically at my umbilical and perhaps developed a hiatal in honesty. But don’t want to sound neurotic. summerseeker - your reply is so helpful and makes a lot of sense to reassure. I cannot tell you thank you in words to warrant how grateful I am for your reply. The ‘posterise hypertension’ I am struggling with is horrendous and must be BP but I’m not a fainter. It was the icing on the cake so to speak yesterday that started my panic. I knew all this I was struggling with was not normal but seemed to be dismissed on every contact by my care team. Therefore, I’ve waited and listened and tried 6 further contacts but began to feel I was either being neurotic or impatient or a time waster. However, reading your reply and everyone I’m replying to now had made me realise - I am not right and I need to act. Janetdekker - thank you thank you to you for replying. I’d love to get probiotics down me but I am barely able to swallow some days. It’s so hard getting anything down me or should I say to even stay down at the moment. I seem to have a day or two in say 10 days I get some foods down and I think I’m through the worst but then regress back to start. But I’ll buy some probiotic yoghurt drinks and see if I can keep these down to see if they help. It’s infuriating and so frustrating. I can’t thank you enough for taking your time to reply to me. to update further information that may help any further advice, thought share that I dearly appreciate. ive actually counted the week number today and I’ll be 13 weeks post-op on Tuesday next week. (Feels a lot longer) ive lost over 4 stones in this time frame and I’m so weak currently. I kid you not, I feel breathless making a cup of tea. I feel worse than when I endured pre-eclampsia and emergency section with my son. I felt I may die at that time but it’s feeling more similar as each day passes. Im utterly exhausted / spent. im 46 years old, 3 children and am 5 ft 9 inches. Weighed 21 stone 4.5lbs on Friday 10th February and now weigh 17 stone 3lbs. I feel The weight loss is much too fast as I cannot get enough protein or nutrition into my body. The loose skin and muscle deterioration seems quite extensive (I feel very soggy all over of this makes any sense) but admit my worrying in my current situation has me feeling quite neurotic so I’m trying to prioritise my worries to keep sane! today, I have managed to get 4 small strawberries down (chewed to a purée before attempting to swallow) with around 12 bites of clean spaghetti bolognese (meat removed and chopped into pieces no larger than rice and each mouthful chewed three times) and 300ml of fluid and a small cup of tea today. However, I’ve been in bed all day with tummy pain, vomited and other end loo trips within 20 minutes of eating. No full bladder urination. Swallowing is difficult and eating the strawberries took 20 minutes. The 12 bites of spaghetti Bol took an hour to get down me. I tried a smooth yogurt prior to bed but have just been woken up by tummy cramping / vomited it back up and checked my messages to see all your kind and helpful replies. I take lansaprozol time- delay tablets x 2. 3 x baricol chewables, calcichew x 1 and have just added 12000 mm/mg tablet of biotin today. If my nails get any thinner I’ll have none covering my fingers and my hair loss is devastating! 1-3 ciclixine / odansetron a day for sickness and nausea too. I can’t go a day without at least one a day but they do come with the side effect of drowsiness so they make me literally zonk. I don’t like this so much but it’s helped me gain a few hours sleep I guess as a positive. is there any other infirbation I can provide that may help with any of your thoughts / ideas / advice / suggestions? Obviously I’m new and am unsure of what further info will help you to support me. I can’t thank you enough for your replies and I’m so sorry if I sound like some neurotic banshee in a state of panic. I honestly don’t know what thoughts I trust in myself at the moment. I just feel so very poorly. thank you again for any wisdom. 💕💕💕

Feeling Awesome! its been a week now, walking since day one and started driving last Sunday. Got to work today (I work from home at a desk so that was no issue) manage to loose 8 lbs the first 3 days and only 1 in The last 4 days. Had some nausea the first day but that went away rather quickly and now just struggling to eat enough proteins as I really do not like the protein shakes.

I think it’s possible to reset your sleeve and start to loose again. You have to go back to the regimen post surgery and drink two protein shakes and 1 meal per day. It will come off. I just lost 50 pounds over 6 month period and I had sleeve 10 years ago. If you have more questions let me know

My loose skin is still very new & I will agree with this 1000%. Loose skin is A MILLION times better than obesity. I'd pick my loose skin while wearing smalls/mediums over being a 4x & filled out ANYDAY

A lot of factors come into play in regards to how much lose skin you’ll have. Age, genetics, gender, how much weight you lose, how long you carried your weight, weight loss & gain history, etc. The lose skin you end up with is skin that has been stretched out to a point that nothing can make it bounce back and the only way to get rid of it is through surgery. I always compare it to a well used hair band that has lost it’s stretch - can’t do anything with that. Collagen, while it has its benefits, won’t stop or get rid of the amount of lose skin most of us have. Some people will suggest exercising but this only works on the supporting muscles not on the skin itself. I have lose skin. Not a lot (not handfuls but good pinches over my body). I can still wear body conscious clothing without support garments. More from good genetics I think. I chose not to have surgery to remove it. I look at it has something I earned through my efforts to lose my weight. It’s a reminder to keep me on track. I’d rather have my lose skin than be 200lbs again.

it looks like you're hoping to lose over 100 lbs. If so, you may have loose skin. I had a ton of it (I lost over 200 lbs), but it was easy to hide in clothes. I eventually had mine removed, though. Honestly, lots of pre-ops and early post-ops worry about loose skin, but I think I can speak for most of us who are 2+ years out. We would take the loose skin any day of the week over being obese again!

I watched a video of a surgeon who said 'loose skin is the price you pay for being obese' is it harsh? Yes, but its better to accept early on that it will most likley be part of the journey

If your biggest concern about this surgery is loose skin, you are not ready for bariatric surgery.

I'm 32 and had sleeve surgery 6 months ago. I've lost 90lbs since my pre-op class (2 weeks before my surgery). And I have a huge amount of loose skin on my arms, belly, butt, and thighs. My face has adjusted well. So age is not always a factor... genetics, how much u lose, how quickly, and body type factors are most important. I have about the same amount of skin as my 65 year old grandma who had the same surgery 7 years ago and lost about the same. We are close to the same size now. She took collagen and a hair/nails/skin supplements. I didn't take anything extra for my skin or any type of collagen. Just some aveeno for dry skin every now and then. Sent from my SM-S115DL using BariatricPal mobile app

The biggest thing you have going for you is your age. You still have young elastic skin. Good luck, Tek

Collagen is very healing after surgery and good for you, in general. So, even if it doesn't help with the skin, it would still be good to take after surgery.

I think loose skin comes down more to genetics than anything else. That said, I started taking a collagen supplement several months before my surgery. I still have some loose skin. But, I'm 52-years old and I'm sure that has something to do with it. Some people have it and some people don't. *shrug*

I go in for the DS surgery tomorrow 5/11. Is there anything I should be taking or things I should be doing post surgery to try and combat a little bit of loose excess skin? Anything I can do or take? I'm 26 yo.

This is my second bypass surgery. I had my 1st in 2019. Found out the end of last year that staples had come loose and I was leaking into old stomach that was still attached to pouch. This time they took out the rest of my stomach. I woke up from surgery with horrible pain on left side. This is the start of the fourth week for me and the first time I’ve had no pain. Went to family doctor and he prescribed Gabapentin for nerve pain and a muscle relaxer. I had a horrible cough for 2 weeks after surgery and he told me he was sure I had pulled the muscles on my left side. It hurt from my lower back left side all the way around to just above belly button. Talk to your surgeon to be sure there is nothing wrong. My dr. Checked for hernias. Last time it took about 4 weeks before I started feeling “normal” again. Stay strong. It is worth it. I lost 130 pounds with 1st surgery and 26 so far with this surgery.

I’m almost 9 months post op vsg. I’m not loosing as much as fast as I had hoped, but I’m consistently loosing still. I had a high starting weight and lost a good bit before surgery. My highest weight was 382 … by my surgery (Aug 2022) I was down to 325. This week I’m down to 260. So post surgery I’m down 65 pounds - with an overall loss of 122. I still have a ways to go - and I’m a little disappointed in myself for not being further along by now … but I’m hoping that I can continue to steadily loose and keep my progress going until I hit “goal”. On the plus side I’m feeling good and happy with being able to loose after years of struggling with no results. Congrats on everyone’s progress!

I have similar stats only I’ve lost less! Only 23 overall at 5 weeks post. I’m just trying to think about slow being better for skin stuff.

Hi- im 5’2’’ and started at 195. I lost 12lbs in the three weeks I had to surgery, then went into surgery at 183.6. I am currently 8 weeks and 3 days, and weigh 155.6 today. I agree- it will come and I’d prefer to lose more slowly so my skin has some chance of recovering too- even though i know that is a bit of a pipe dream. I try to keep in mind this is not a magic wand, it comes down to my choices with this tool I’ve acquired. I am still only eating 2-3 oz at a time, 2-3 small “meals” a day and a protein shake to make sure i hit my protein goals. Im hitting fluid goals at about 68-70oz fluid, so still working on that too. Also, I think my body has some memory of these weights, and I tend to get “hung” around some that i stayed at before- ie, 165, current one 155, and coming up 145… so expecting some resistance on these numbers- and more slowly as i get closer to goal. I do FEEL tons better though- less joint pain and tiredness, so that is a WIN! For me, the numbers on the scale mean less that how I feel- so im enjoying it!

Sorry to hear about the lack of support. I have hair loss, not extreme but it is noticeable. I used to loose a lot before and now its like double that, so I cut my hair 30 days post of so it wasn't as noticeable.. Biotin is supposed to help with new hair growth, but it would not stop the hair shedding/loss. My surgeon's office suggest being on top of your vitamins and proteins, taking the biotin supplement to make sure new hair growth is strong. Some from my support group swear my castor oil and other supplements but I have not tried it.

All the hair on your head eventually sheds at some time. It falls out itself onto your clothes or the floor, you wash the loose strands out or you catch it on your brush or comb. It’s just that at the moment your hair loss schedule has been sped up. Can’t stop it & you can’t really make yourself lose more than what you currently are. Just be gentle. I like the idea of putting conditioner on it before swimming, & ensure you rinse your hair out well after swimming until you can wash it properly.

My problem is age. I am 71 and usual cutoff age is 70. I was approved for WLS RNY due to complications from band surgery. I am not looking forward to sagging skin & boobs. Yea they sag a bit now and I hate it. So I have WLS on 5/15, figure 8-12 months to look into plastics. Instead of a mommy makeover it will be a granny makeover. Hahaha