After I lose a lot of my weight, I want to finally look good in clothes. How can I keep my skin from sagging and my face from looking haggard?

I started the program at 238, was 226 day of surgery (June 28, 2010) and after 5 days 221.

:tt1:

Looking good in the clothes is great! It's the parts that sag when not in clothes that are a problem....lol.

The skin does not snap back at my age. After a loss of 95 lbs. I feel like I am wearing someone else's skin. My arms drive me crazy! Looking at some after pics of someone that had the excess skin removed from her arms freaked me out, so I may just live with the skin of a 100 year old on the under side of my arms.

There is little that will help with the skin issues.

Looking good in the clothes is great! It's the parts that sag when not in clothes that are a problem....lol.

The skin does not snap back at my age. After a loss of 95 lbs. I feel like I am wearing someone else's skin. My arms drive me crazy! Looking at some after pics of someone that had the excess skin removed from her arms freaked me out, so I may just live with the skin of a 100 year old on the under side of my arms.

There is little that will help with the skin issues.

Someone suggested spandex body suits while you lose the weight... or more exercise. I'm 66 so a bit afraid of my skin condition. I only have about 80 to lose, but I dread the excess skin and do not want anymore surgery... ugh!

I really don't think a spandex body suit would have done a thing for me. Let's face it, the skin of a 264 pound woman does not fit a 169 pound woman tight. My goal is 150 pounds and I will still be wearing the skin of that 264 pound woman. No amount of exercise will shrink skin. It will make nice defined muscles under the hanging skin.

I accept all that and am just happy to get rid of that extra person I was hauling around.

I guess the best advice I can give is use free weights or some strength machines to try and tone your muscles. Also, give your skin up to a year to see if some of it shapes up. But short of hanging upside down, I'm not sure what else you could do except surgery.

My upper legs look terrible - no shorts for me. My arms are kind of like crepe paper on the underside, but not too much of a bother that I won't wear sleeveless. And the stomach, well that's a lost cause. In clothes I look good, just not great without. Don't think I'll get any work done though. The possibility of dying from a cosmetic procedure or having complications is enough for me to say no. At 45 I'm not interested in looking like Barbie. I'm satisfied with how things turned out - it could have been much worse. I just look at my imperfections as battle scars - a battle I won.

I love the attitudes and I'm going to remember them so I'll feel the same way. Thanks. :tt1:

Looking good in the clothes is great! It's the parts that sag when not in clothes that are a problem....lol.

The skin does not snap back at my age. After a loss of 95 lbs. I feel like I am wearing someone else's skin. My arms drive me crazy! Looking at some after pics of someone that had the excess skin removed from her arms freaked me out, so I may just live with the skin of a 100 year old on the under side of my arms.

There is little that will help with the skin issues.

I had been thinking about having the skin removed after I've lost the weight. What have you seen that has turned you off on that idea?:tt1:

Anxious to hear hummingbird's answer, but mine is NO MORE SURGERIES.

LOL I've had tonsilectomy, hysterectomy, gallbladder, breast reduction, and now this.... I hate how I feel after surgery... I hate the drugs. Everytime I had surgery, they tried to get me up the first day and I passed out... happens everytime. I think it's more the drugs then the surgery but I'll let the skin hang also. But I will try the body suit because gravity does have a tendency to pull so we'll try it. Can't hurt.

I had been thinking about having the skin removed after I've lost the weight. What have you seen that has turned you off on that idea?:tt1:

I think its the scars that are a bit scary when it comes to getting your arm skin removed. The pics I've seen show that you end up w/a big scar that goes down the whole inside of your upper arm... not very attractive. So, I guess it depends on just how bad the saggy skin is there.

The best defense is to exercise and build as much muscle as possible. No, you will not fill out the skin w/muscle. But, from what I understand, the physiology involved in building muscle also helps w/skin elasticity. I think it has something to do w/collagen. I read an article a long time ago, but I don't remember the source now. I just remember coming to the conclusion that it was time to embrace exercise! LOL

The pics on post #15 & #25 & #39 of this thread : http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f12/super-excited-about-my-plastic-surgery-77591/index2.html

Edited July 2, 201016 yr by Humming Bird

The pics on post #15 & #25 & #39 of this thread : http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f12/super-excited-about-my-plastic-surgery-77591/index2.html

omg this is grosss!

Wow... looked gross at first but turned out great! However, I don't think I could put myself through that unless I was very young or had to look good to make a living.

Wow... looked gross at first but turned out great! However, I don't think I could put myself through that unless I was very young or had to look good to make a living.

im 22 and idk if I could put myself threw that.... omg after seeing that Im pretty sure any thoughts of had about it are gone.

thats nothing like nip tuck! lol

omg this is grosss!

Hi Nean,

I started soft food this wed.:tt1:!!!! I'm going real slow cause I'm scared I'll throwup. I lost 10 since surg and 30 total so far. I actually felt like a human this week!! We've had some cool dry refreshing air the last couple days, so I got to work in my garden!! It felt good!!

We are expecting a long heat wave for the next week. Yuk, I'll have to hide in the air conditioned house. I don't do the 90's and humid. I postponed my ocean vacation until Sept. cause my original date was July 7th. I live about 40 min ride to Cape Cod so I'll do some day trips to the beach.

I hope you are doing well. I'd love to hear how you're doing.

I have been doing a 45 min of toning exercises in my pool after I get home from walking my 3 miles every night. I can already see a big difference in the skin on my arms and legs so I am hoping that lots of toning while losing the weight will stop some of the saggy skin issues.

The only part that sucks about the exercise is that your scale does not budge much while you are building muscle which is discouraging.