Hello I am 23yrs old. I am a patient in the bariatric program and have been going through this process for little over a year now. My highest weight was 497, I was scared that I would hit 500. Having that fear I decided to start committing more and put the effort in. It's been a couple months of progress, but I am down to 440. I met the requirements and was finally approved for my surgery. I know I've been wanting this surgery for a long time so I can have a more comfortable life. Knowing that its actually coming up I have had some concerns/fears. First I have never had surgery, so I am scared to go under. I know it's a fast surgery and recovery doesnt seem that long, but still going under for first time is frightening. Then my main fear is loose skin. I know a lot of things contribute to the amount of loose skin and then ways of preventing, but I know at my size I will lose a good amount of weight. I am scared that I will have such excessive loose skin. I know I can do a skin removal surgery, but again I never had surgery. I want to lose the weight, but don't want to see myself with the loose skin. I know my goal weight is 250. I dont know If that makes a difference for it, but yeah. I just now keep looking up ways to prevent all the time. It is really scaring me.

Ok the mind games have started, very common. I use and still do Skin tightening lotions and this hand held thing that heats up and gets cold to tighten skin, However you are going to lose a ton more weight then i did. You have no choice but to lose the weight - You currently were on a path to a coffin! Glad you chose the right journey. As for the skin you can get that taken care of surgically also, There are a ton of posts here on Mommy Makeovers and plastic surgery.

Keep you mind on the journey and all will work out, You can live with some lose skin, I doubt you would live very long at 500 pounds

I agree with AJ. Keep your eye on the prize! At 23...you have youth on your side. Co centrate on getting through the surgery...making the changes necessary to get to your 250 pound goal! Loose skin with major weight loss is inevitable...don't let that be your deciding factor. You've come too far to stop now! Good luck to you and I can't wait to hear about your progress![emoji3059]

It's MY time!

so would your rather have loose skin or weigh 500 lbs? I know what my choice would be - hands down.

The decision you’re making to change your life is amazing! Moving forward through the fear is courageous. It’s good you’re not taking this lightly as it is major surgery. I believe your youth as PuddinJasper mentioned above is one of the great things you have going for you. i wish you best of luck. As far as loose skin, that’s a concern for many of us. It’s something to think of for sure, but becoming heathy is more important for me right now. Good luck!

I should add that I've been working with pre-op groups for the past three years. One of their biggest fears is the loose skin. It was mine as well, when I was a pre-op and early post-op. But I can tell you that once the vast majority of us have dropped a ton of weight after surgery, we wonder why we spent so much time and energy worrying about it. Losing all that weight FAR overrides the loose skin. I would take loose skin ANY DAY over weighing 373 lbs again. ANY FREAKING DAY!!!