So, I should start by saying, I am so happy having lost all this excess weight. I feel good, I look good (in clothes anyway!) and the most important thing is I can do so many things. I am fit, I work out and I am healthy. I feel blessed.

Even so, it is hard somedays. I look down at my arms when working out and see the crinkly skin. My inner thighs are a horror - crepey. My tummy isn't as bad as many photos I have seen, but I have a nice "waist" the look being marred - even in clothes - by extra skin. My perky breasts are still fairly perky (shocking) but in some positions, I can't help but notice that they are becoming unfilled little sacks. The extra skin under my arms is probably filling my bra, keeping me from noticing it even worse.

Beyond all that, my face looks weird. Like, not ugly, but like "who the heck is that?"

So, I went for a plastics consult. Good news: I am fit, healthy, already have a waist, I am gonna have rocking results if I get a tummy tuck. My horrible thighs can be made alot better with the medial thigh lift (less extensive surgery) although they will not be a 25 year olds tight thighs even though I am very well toned under that skin. My arms can be made alot better by doing the more minor arm thing (ie not the whole underarm, but the scar is in the armpit. Again, I have good muscle definition on the top, it is the batwings that need to go. I am not seeking to have big breasts, but in the range of normal. Surgeon felt that if I went with a good size implant (say I wind up a D) then it will take up alot of excess skin under my arms and I will feel better about it.

Most importantly, a very simply procedure can put some fill in my cheeks and make me look like myself again. i didn't understand why i look so freaking weird and the surgeon brought it up - even though I didn't go in there for my face. I don't need a lift, just a little cheek fat...lol

So, in summary, I am a good candidate for all this. I saw before and after pics and felt very encouraged - and surgeon said I have realistic expectations.

Bad news: I am terrified of 8 hours of surgery. It can be broken into multiple surgeries, that scares me just as much.

So, here is the headtrip part. I weight 168 pounds. I am 5'5" tall which puts me in a 27-28 BMI range. I will lose about 4-5# of skin as a result of the TT. He said I don't have more weight to lose because of several signs (ie my ribs are already visible, what looks to me like extra fat is mostly skin and some fat cells and cellulite). He wasn't trying to tell me to stop losing weight directly, but more hinting that the thinner I get the less happy i am going to be with my looks. He basically told me to stop right here becuase I look proportioned, healthy and once I get my boobs back - hot...lol.

Somehow, I have massive weight inside me. That is sorta freaking me out. I wear a size 10 and think I should be an 8 given that I do have a pretty large body frame. He thought plastics would get me into that 8.

I have never been a "by the scale" sleever. I have an open mind, but I somehow am struggling with my body image. To me, i look fat still - not obese, but i look like i am carrying 20 extra in my mind. She measured me, I have been wearing 38 bra and really, I am a 36. I recently found out I am still buying too big of shoes.

I have friends and family telling me I shouldn't lose more - but in my mind I weigh what a guy should weigh and I want to weigh what a woman should weigh!

My PCP is a tiny little older woman. she told me that everyone will say I look skinny because they are used to seeing fat people and not be swayed. To get under 25 BMI is still the right target. She is probably more like a 18-19 BMI - she is stick thin and frankly not very attractive although I am guessing quite healthy.

Somehow, my brain is unclear on how to handle all this and I am not sure what I believe. I don't trust my own eyes.

So, I am not as messed up as this makes it sound, but my consult yesterday was both a pleasant surprise (that I am a candidate for really good results) but somehow the negative head trip is what I woke up with this morning.

I am guessing a few veterans can relate to this.

I'm going to wear my Stars and Stripes thong when I go cause when else am I going to wear it?

And I am going to miss it!

And I am going to miss it!

Yeah well....thats probably for the best.

When the assistant starting taking "before" pictures, I actually started crying. I have spent my whole life not liking my body and being embarrassed. Now, even with the weight loss, the saggy skin bothers me a lot, so it was really hard. But to tell the truth, the surgeon made me feel more comfortable than I thought I would be! But be prepared, I wasn't even allowed to wear my underwear!! I got to stand in all my buck-naked glory!!

Pictures? Oh crap!

I'm going to wear my Stars and Stripes thong when I go cause when else am I going to wear it?

BTB...I hope it's not a gorgeous plastic surgeon who you have to have evaluate your body...it might be embarrasing if the flag pole is raised up for the stars and stripes

OMG! I can't believe you said that!!! LMAO! Funny as hell though.

BTB...I hope it's not a gorgeous plastic surgeon who you have to have evaluate your body...it might be embarrasing if the flag pole is raised up for the stars and stripes

I just hope she takes it as a compliment.

OMG! Standing totally naked in front of the 3 cosmetic surgeon consults I went to for a TT was one of the worst things I have ever had to do!!!! I also had an email consult with a mexican doc and I had to email him all kinds of naked body shots! That was just as horrible! I just crumbled inside and grinned and beared it!

Actually they were very modest...partially naked and no photos. I am doing another consult in a few weeks; time to recover from the trauma.

OMG! Standing totally naked in front of the 3 cosmetic surgeon consults I went to for a TT was one of the worst things I have ever had to do!!!! I also had an email consult with a mexican doc and I had to email him all kinds of naked body shots! That was just as horrible! I just crumbled inside and grinned and beared it!

You know to them it is not a big deal, they have seen it all. But speaking for myself, my husband does not even see me naked, let alone a complete stranger!

Actually they were very modest...partially naked and no photos. I am doing another consult in a few weeks; time to recover from the trauma.

I would have felt even better if I could have just worn my underwear!

To the OP, I have just recently had a little PS in Tijuana Mexico. I totally experienced standing naked getting your pictures taken, it was the worst feeling ever. Luckily the lady taking the shots was very professional and did not make it seem out of the ordinary for her.

I too need to get more surgery, butt lift/thigh lift and my surgeon said that I don't have much fat left on my body! Well can you imagine, I am 5'10" but still weigh 190 pounds. I do see the thinness in me though the breast bone sticking out, concave stomach. He said not to lose more weight as I need the fat to move it into my flat butt.

So goal weights are very different, if I stay at this weight I will be overweight according to BMI. I think that I am okay with this. It is all about how we look and feel afterall.

cowgirl jane... why not give yourself more time to mentally adjust to your new body? i thought i'd read somewhere to wait up to two years to have plastics? is that the general "consensus" of doing something like that? i'm sorry i don't remember... i know that i have a few areas just as you described. the worst one that i worry about ... well there's two. one the boobs. i'd love to have a nice plastic rack like the porn stars or chris jenner lol. but what stops me is how my body responded to surgery for the sleeve and having them redone every 10 or so years (or so i've read). i need to do more research on that, so edjumucate me if you must (pls). but second area for me is the butt, where it meets the hamstrings/back of the leg. to me, i look like the wicked witch in the wizard of oz.... "i'm melting" ..... lol. hubs says he can tell that my body is already adjusting and tightening up but idk. i had my first gastric sleeve surgery 3/5/12. my bariatric dr. says with my not smoking, being well hydrated and young (pff why do i feel old then? lol) he says the body will come back, it just has to have time. idk how much time, but again that loops back to my prior statement (yes there is rhyme or reason in my verbosity) statement of isn't it two years to wait to have plastics done?

i totally adore cheri that posted a reply earlier in this thread. she is one lady that posts insightful and helpful tips. pls re-read what she said.

then on the other hand, i have to applaud you for at least going in for a consult though too. getting naked in front of someone and honestly telling them every piece and part of your body that you question if you like or not... and taking pictures of it... wow, that takes a lot of guts. why don't you have a couple of consults, then wait another year and see how your body's changed in those pix? reason i suggest this: i just hope that you have given your brain enough time to absorb all of these changes and that you've given your body enough time to rebound. i know it's a daily struggle looking at the creepy arm fat (i have it too), the little piece under my chin that when I hold my head a certain way looks like a tiny turkey neck, the parenthesis around my mouth where the fat of my cheeks used to hold things up... yes, I have all of it too. but i'm giving myself time to absorb the changes. i got down to a size 4 but girl, it was through 9 months of complications from my sleeve and a rather limited diet of 5 of those months (hello total liquids, bleyak). have you looked up anything on bone size and what you should weigh? for instance, http://www.ehow.com/...weight.html��is just one article that perhaps you should consider.

do whatever makes you happy. i personally am a bit scared of having so much surgery, but then again, the sleeve is supposed to be relatively easy peasy and wasn't for me. so maybe it's just a personal issue for me. i do wish you the best of luck in whatever you decide and overall, i hope you are just happy and pleased. you've come a long way .... congratulations!

oh and btw, you all have given me a new way to appreciate the flag

Stefanie, - maybe you didn't catch the details, but I plan to start plastics in Nov 2013, which would put me 23 months post op. It is my docs who say no reason to wait.

So, I am feeling better. Know what I did today - freaking trapeze!!!!!!! I went to a party where we actually climbed a tall ladder and swung on a trapeze. I somehow managed to get my knees up there so I could hang from our knees and did a a back flip as a dismount. Then, I did some crazy stuff on those silks... climbing these silk curtains which required a huge amount of upper body strength. Then, I did some work on this huge ring. That was a little painful but I felt so amazing....like, I can do this! After that, i wore my crazy pippy long stocking circus tights and a silly skirt to the barn and rode my horse. I don't normally ride my horse looking like a circus performer, but oh how fun! Pink cowboy hat too! A guy came in to check out taking lessons there, and he was really interested in me...hahaha... life is so good!

I can't describe the self esteem boost to be able to participate in something like this. sometimes we zero in on things like the excess skin but in reality, life is amazing being normal sized!!!!!

I want to have my plastics, I want to get rid of the hanging skin, but even if I never do that , the world is just a better place weighing like 140 some pounds less!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

no ma'am, i'm sorry, i didn't catch the nov 2013! so sorry!!

and dayumn girl, kudos on the trapeze!!!!!!!!! idk that i would ever have the guts, but how freak'n cool is that?!?!?!