Help! I had Gastric Bypass Feb 2016... I've lost 144lbs and I feel great. My current struggle is the lose skin, particularly in my stomach and thighs. It's not enough for skin removal surgery to be covered by insurance and I can't afford to pay out of pocket. I go to the gym at least 5 days a week. I try to focus on lifting weights and building muscle all over. Does anyone have any tips that they found helped them with tightening up the problem areas without surgery? Thank you.

You can not tone or tighten true loose skin and you can't build enough muscle to fill it.

I wish i had an answer. Just keep trying to build muscle. But im worried about that too. Im down 149lbs

I worry about this too for my future. I think it comes down to wearing minimizing clothing. Compression and shapewear.

Good luck!

Reality: you cannot tighten lose skin. Once the elasticity is gone, it's gone. I'm almost 8 years out lost over 215lbs. I know a thing or two about lose skin. I worked my tail off in the gym. Built the muscle but the skin was still hanging. Had surgery on my arms, tummy and boobs and life is grand. I refuse to touch my thighs.

Sadly it's there to stay, or until you have it removed. I have plenty of extra in my belly, arms, and thighs. I don;t wear shapewear, instead I deal with it. I use it as a reminder of who I do not want to become again. I wear compression shorts when I run but my thighs, calves, and arms still flap in the breeze. I cringe over the look of my melting thighs and "pull up" the skin to get a mental image of how nice they'd look if the excess skin was gone. But no way do I want to spend the money or deal with the pain of cutting it away.

If you do not plan to have surgery then you'll want to invest in shapewear or come to terms and accept it. Use it as its own tool. You mentioned that you do go to the gym so you know that there is muscle underneath.