I will be getting the Lab Band in January. My goal is to lose 110 lbs. I'm 44 and am concerned on whether or not I will need a tummy tuck. Any thoughts, suggestions, words of advice?

I had one done two years ago and it is the best thing I have done, so far. If I would have known about the Lap band, I would have done that first. I gained eighty five pounds with both my daughters, due to toxemia. I went up to 240. I had an "apron" and even with a personal trainer for one year, the rest of me toned, but not the "apron". I found a wonderful doctor in San Bernardino, CA named Dr. Jessie Mitchell, BeautifulReflections.com If I gain weight, it is not in my stomach, it gets distributed other places. So, my stomach is completely flat and I love it. He only charged me $4000 cash.

Audree

I want one!!!! I figure I spent this much time, money, and effort to get back to a healthy weight that I want to look good too! I dont know about it actually being necessary, but I know that skin only shrinks back so much and that places that have stretch marks will shrink back the LEAST...since they have already stretched past normal elasticity. I dont think anyone can predict if you will need or want a tummy tuck at goal, but it is hard to gain and lose 100+ lbs without having some areas that dont bounce back.

It depends on your history, skin type so many things.

For what its worth I'm 39, I have had 3 10lb babies, but the most I ever gained in a pregnancy was 25lb, well within the normal range. With the other two it was about 10lb and nothing at all with the third. I am tall (5ft 10) so I never got a huge belly with pregnancy, didnt need maternity clothes till 24weeks or so, I've got plenty of room in there between ribs and pelvis. So no stretch marks at all.

I also think perhaps I just have good skin, no wrinkles or anything vaguely like that visible yet either.

All up I guess I'd like to lose 80lb (of which I've lost 65 or so) so again not the hugest of weight problems and I tend to carry it pretty evenly, more pear shaped than anything else, so again I didnt have a big belly.

So far, my skin has shrunk back well, i have nothing "hanging" and my stomach looks perfectly flat clothed. However, its far from perfect, it is blobby and doughy underneath, the skin is definitely not what it once was but I did gain a lot after each pregnancy (breastfeeding makes me get very fat very fast) and I never really got a chance to tell what damage it had done, so whether its from being overweight or pregnant or both I dont know.

I've exercised a LOT - running burns a lot of body fat.

If I wanted to wear a bikini on the beach, I'd definitely need to be fronting up for a bit of lipo, but there's not enough for a tummy tuck or a mini tuck.

So would I do it? No, because who is ever going to see it. I think the scar would be way uglier than my stomach is. But that's maybe different from how you feel about it? Do you want to show your stomach? Are you going to want to wear a bikini?

I think all you can really do is see how it goes, and if towards the end you're not happy with how it looks in whatever you personally like to wear then its a fantastic thing to do for yourself after all your hard work.

I am nowhere near the point where I need to worry about this yet, but one of the things that I have been researching a bit is thermage. I know that they usually do it on faces and necks, but I have seen some pics of results of what they are doing with the flabby 'doughy' stomachs and, if you don't have a ton of excess skin and just want to tighten it up without surgery, it looks like it might be a great option.

Oooh - off to google this!

It depends on if you will need it or not. In my case I know that I will. I am looking forward to it when the day comes.

Actually, you can't hardly see my scar at all. My stomach hanging so low it covered certain parts of me, where a lot more disfiguring, at least to me. In the end, I did it for myself. My husband was happy either way, but I did it for me.Audree