Hi All I know this is a stupid question and I apologize. After surgery I know I'm going to have lots of hanging skin however I have a friend who is a body builder and he is going to help me work out. Is there by ANY chance that if I work out enough I won't have any flappy skin? Has anyone had any luck with this? Thank you in advance.

This is not a stupid question, but it is a common one. From the other posts I have read, the amount of loose skin you end up with depends on your age, genetics and how long you have been overweight. Exercise may be helpful, but it may not make much of a difference. But since exercise is important, it's totally worth doing.

Thank you for the response I guess only time will tell.

I think that age plays a factor in how flabby you get! All of us are going to get some hanging skin. Id say working out will help but age may set us back:(

As you know when you google loose skin remedies the professionals all say the only "real" solution is plastic surgery.

However - the only people I know who’ve had the sleeve are “real” everyday Joes who were flat out finding the funds for the sleeve – never mind plastic surgery costs on top !

I knew upfront that I was not going to have the skin surgery ($$$) so I just had to do what I could instead.

That being, I decided that I was going to do well for skin based on the power of positive thinking.

All the while I understood that some realism was required if I wanted my subconscious to accept my affirmations as true.

Weighing in at 390 pounds I did not set out with an expectation to look like Barbie but I knew I would certainly look a whole lot of % better than I did. I am now at goal having lost 230 pounds.

I have minimal loose skin (just in the usual areas a lady might have jiggle anyway ie. lower belly, under arms and thighs). I did not exercise for the first 6 months (it took 20 months).

Here’s what I did:

I researched methods, decided what sounded legitimate and affordable and went about applying the methods I believed showed value. Throughout however, I also applied positive thinking, affirmations and visualization techniques because I understand that the placebo effect is real. I encourage you to use the placebo effect to your advantage if you already know its power or to look into it if you don’t know much about it yet.

Skin Supplements:

-hair, skin and nails supplement (I take a bottle and then take a rest for a few months and then take another bottle as per the advice the chick at the pharmacy gave me).

-Sarsaparilla root supplements from the health food shop (I read about them online and thought hey, why not).

Methods:

-Dry skin body brushing (3 - 4 times a week for the last 8 months).

-Exfoliating body wash (further info: 2-3 times a week for the last 2 months. Type is apricot kernel exfoliating Body wash at the moment; I also use the left over face exfoliator scrub on my chest).

Products (Australian):

-Homemade mineral salt scrub once a week

(organic coconut oil and ground Himalayan pink salt)

and

-Used 1 or 2 at a time of the following 6 moisturizing methods (aimed for 5 times a week minimum but actuals were more like 3 times a week minimum):

1 -Bio-oil (I was going through it so started using the copy from Aldi only 7 dollars for the big bottle.)

2 -Organic coconut oil.

3 - Palmers cocoa butter formula all over body firming lotion with Q10 (recommended by chick at chemist - she said that all the pregnant women are raving about it, smells like chocolate).

4 -Home made skin firming moisturizer concoction:

- 3 Tblsp. pure organic lanolin melted in saucepan (11 dollars for round short chinese container from the health food shop - too sticky by itself).

Once cooled I stirred in:

-70 ml Bio-oil (Aldi)

-1/3 cup of the Palmers all over body firming lotion with Q10 mentioned earlier

-1/3 cup organic coconut oil

-35ml Organic Avocado oil (Mum gave it to me for Christmas and I had about 35 ml left so in it went)

5 - Nivea in-shower moisturizer for very dry skin - blue (new product – have been using 4-5 days a week for near 3 months, I don’t have dry skin I just wanted the richest one available, I stock up when it goes on special and use heaps and heaps everywhere. It rrps for about 7 dollars but you can get it on special at Big W for about 3.50 and coles for about 5 and woolies for 4.50).

6 -Palmers cocoa butter Rapid Moisture coconut rich spray lotion about 8 bucks (new product ... awesome – non staining with rapid absorption so you can get dressed after about a minute – I also spray this in my hair sometimes lol).

Behaviours:

-Increased fat in diet (avocado 5 days a week, nuts and seeds 7 days a week and coconut oil for cooking, salads and stirred into quinoa porridge)

-80 g minimum per day Protein goal to maintain muscle mass for tone to fill skin

-Water, water, water (alkalised water for the last year)

-Toning/Strength training at gym (last 8 months only - cardio only between months 7 and 12 as I had received advice from the gym staff to just do cardio to get the weight down some more first – no exercise for the first 6 months)

Being realistic:

I have a friend who was recently sleeved who was an apple shape and she was telling me that she was worrying she would have a saggy belly at goal.

I was pretty much just big all over but with a pear shape with trouble spots on my body at my belly, arms and thighs.

I told her about those trouble spots and said that honestly I suspected that I may have a little loose skin in these 3 areas due to this and I was OK with that as I wasn’t expecting to be getting around in a bikini anyway haha. She confirmed that her belly already hangs at her current weight. This suggested to me that she will likely have some at her belly however she will have great legs, arms, shoulders, neck and face and can wear spanx undies up to her bra and google how to dress to hide a tummy.

Being that you are a man I suspect you may have good legs and trouble spots at the chest and belly or maybe just big all over. Applying the above theory this would make me suspect that you could do really well for skin with perhaps a little on the chest and belly or maybe none at all .

All the best Jawaiian

Kind Regards

INT

Footnote:

RE: Second sentence comments about “real” every day people.

I mean no offense to people who do achieve plastic surgery after sleeve. I’m sure they are of course very “real” too. The reason I said that is because I find it disappointing that the internet can give the impression that we who are not in a position to fund further surgery have no hope of having good skin after significant weight loss.

Edited October 26, 201411 yr by INT125922

• INT125922 thank you so much for your input. It's very inspiring to hear that. I would love to get to the weight that you are at or even close to it.

Yes i loved the advice also and will try because a good male friend of mine lost a lot of weight and told me to use bio oil also. Good luck

Thank you and uou are welcome Jawaiian, also thank you to Jelmore.

As you make better and better choices every day you will be at goal weight in no time flat.

I was thinking, there are 2 more things that I did and have not listed above, they are:

-Home made seaweed and dead sea salt body wraps:

Method – I closed up the lounge room with a portable heater cranking I bought the dead sea salt powder from the health food shop and mixed it with filtered Water (as much water as the packet said) and I crumbled seaweed sheets that you normally use for sushi rolls into the mixture and put in organic coconut oil too. I wanted to buy bandages but they were going to cost $100 for enough (couldn’t believe how expensive they were) so I bought a cheap single bed flat sheet with stretch in it and ripped it into strips and rolled them up. I then stood in the bathtub covered myself in the mixture and wrapped the “bandages” on. I then wrapped tight with cling film and put down a cheap tarpaulin (blue plastic sheet) from the $2 shop on the floor in the heated lounge room and laid there for an hour.

-Weighted hula hoop – I use a weighted hula hoop (fithoop) that has “notches” on the inside, I am convinced that it has carved my waist and assisted with the skin in the area also. I have used it 3 – 4 times a week for 20 – 30 minutes at a time for about the last 8 months – I love it and so do my friends - it cost about $50 Au and I bought it online.

Great ideas! I have one of those hoops, but right now the only exercise I get from it is bending over to pick it up off my feet.

What do you use the hula hoop for? Hula hooping or some kind of creative something else?

Yes, I remember when I first got it. They warned not to do it more than 10 minutes at first or you would get bruising. I too spent the first 5 or so "10 minute workouts" bending over picking it up off my feet - it really was a workout still though LOL. I eventually got frustrated enough that I looked on utube for a tutorial and was able to do it after just a few tries then.

The reason I bought it in the first place was because the company had indicated that you could burn up to 800 cal an hour and said that it burned the same calories as boot camp. Sounded good to me, hoola hoop or boot camp ??

Pretty easy choice.