I was wondering if anyone wore ankle weights after surgery and did it help prevent loose skin? I also bought hand weights to start doing a workout with those, I'm five weeks post-op, I'm trying to start with weights early, thanks!

Ankle weight won't prevent excess skin.

I wear ankle weights to work. I wear MBT shoes and do lots of walking. Between the shoes and the weights, it's a good way to just burn extra calories.

The only thing that can help your skin be in the best shape possible is to do a lot of cardio and weight training. Lots of squats and lunges with heavy weights. Keep your Protein intake up, stay hydrated with Water, take your Vitamins, and keep your skin mouisturized. Builiding lots of lean muscle will help saggy skin look better.

Also, losing weight slower gives your skin a chance to rebound better. As much as we want massive weight loss and we want it to happen quick, that drastic kind of change usually equates to hanging skin.

I wouldn't think of using ankle weights because all that extra weight I lost is what caused me so much pain in my joints. Using ankle weights won't help loose skin.

I have skin hanging on my legs that actually comes from my butt! according to the nurse at the medical aesthetics business I go to for my fillers, Botox and Venus Freeze treatments.

I'm 49, so IMHO, too old for exercise to help my sagging skin. I'm getting treatments on my arms and when I'm finished with them, I'll get treatments on my legs. I'm NOT attempting to advocate or advertise the Venus Freeze---I just want to say that is what I am doing. It's $200.00 per hour treatment, so I'm paying $1,000.00 for 5 treatments. Less than plastic surgery would cost but for many people that kind of thing is too expensive. I'm hoping it will be effective enough to avoid having plastic surgery.

Kathleen

@Katcloudsheperd, we'd love to see before and after pics of your Venus Freeze treatments. It's something I've considered doing myself.

From what I've read, ankle weights in general are a bad idea for anyone, not just WLS patients. Here's a helpful article:

http://www.sparkpeople.com/blog/blog.asp?post=you_asked_is_it_safe_to_wear_wrist_or_ankle_weights_while_walking_or_exercising

If you want to try to build muscle to help fill out or prevent excess skin, you should be doing specific weight training exercises.

Thanks everybody, I don't think I can do squats because of my back but I have hand held weights that I planned on using while doing lunges.

Back in the day, I used to use ankle weights with some of my Firm videos. But only on lying leg work. Never during cardio.

From what I can tell the only thing that is going to prevent saggy skin is good genetics.

Back in the day, I used to use ankle weights with some of my Firm videos. But only on lying leg work. Never during cardio.

From what I can tell the only thing that is going to prevent saggy skin is good genetics.

This is an excellent article about a few ways to reduce excess skin. By no means are you guaranteed to have no excess skin if you follow this, but it is helpful and effective.

http://www.muscleforlife.com/how-to-get-rid-of-loose-skin-after-weight-loss/

My advice is to stay very well hydrate, moisturize at least twice daily, and do toning exercises at least twice a week on all of your problem areas. You can also try a few different supplements that *might* help. That article mentions Vitamin C and Beef Gelatin.