Hi - I hope it’s ok to ask but I would like to see what kind of excess skin people have after the sleeve? I have 70 lbs to loose (haven’t had the surgery yet) and I’m curious what others have gone through. Did you have it removed? Did it eventually sort of get better? I know it doesn’t go away but I’m curious to know other people’s experiences. Thanks!

I'm in my 60's so don't expect my skin to bounce back to when I was 40. I'm planning on surgery at some point for some part of my body. My face and neck are what I'm worried about.

I lost over 200 lbs, so I had a lot of it. Your weight sort of shifts around and redistributes at some point, though, so I looked better in year 3 than I did year 2 - not as "drawn" looking. But I still had a lot of excess skin. I ended up having it surgically removed. You probably won't have it as bad with a 70 lb loss - but you still may have some. Mine was pretty easy to hide, though. Here's a picture of me before I had skin removal surgery. I was "apple-shaped", so most of my weight - and later, my excess skin - was in my torso and arms. My butt, hips, and thighs were never that awful, even at my highest weight. But I had a TON of excess skin on my abs. Plus my boobs looked like I was 90 years old (I'm 60), and I had bat wing arms. I just tucked the ab skin into my jeans or "tummy control" leggings and wore slightly oversized, long-ish tops with 3/4 length sleeves to hide it. Ta da! Gone!

I have lost 100 pounds and have very little visible loose skin while wearing clothes. My stomach, breasts and bum are the worst affected areas which I plan to rectify with surgery. I have been doing bodypump (weights) classes consistently since March and it has made a massive difference. It really helped tighten my skin and I now have visible muscle in my arms and back. If not for the belly skin I'd have visible abs!!!!! I know they are in there lol.

I think it is the luck of the draw as to how much loose skin you end up with, I think genetics and age play a big part. I've also had three breastfed babies so some of the damage to my breasts and stomach stem from that.

I am 18 months out and even though my weight has stayed the same, it has shifted around a bit. My boobs and hollow thighs don't look as bad as they used to. My bat wing arms tightened up a lot in the past 6 months. I was really thinking about plastics after I lost my weight, but now I would not consider it at all. I have gotten used to my new and different body that doesn't sag nearly as much as it did right after I reached goal. Time does make a difference and I personally think people should wait a year after reaching goal to make that decision. There is a lot of mental and physical changes that take place. I was 62 years old at time of surgery, so it took a while to look better. My face and neck are still saggy, but not as much as a year ago.

Edited September 8, 20205 yr by AZhiker

Yep, age, amount of weight lost & genetics will influence how much loose skin you end up with.

I’ve lost 90lbs and am 55. For me, the last 20lbs was when the loose skin really made its appearance. I have bat wings (but I did before - they’re just empty wings now), a bit of a saggy belly pooch (a good pinch), a small pinch above my calf muscles behind my knees & a butt that’s more drop than pop. The worst are my breasts (not droopier just empty) and the skin that’s slipping down my inner thighs. The most unexpected is the loosish skin on my hands & fingers. My face looked gaunt with some deepish grooves initially but looks much better now.

I’m not intending to go down the surgery path. The healing time & as I tend to scar are negatives for me. Wish I knew they could top up your upper breasts with your own fat before I lost the weight - I would have had some lipo back then & stored it for use now. Lol!

I just dress around my arms & thighs. I’d never wear shorty shorts so no loss there & I can get away with sleeveless, but not strappy, as long as I don’t wave my arms about too much. ?

I lost 80 lbs. at 50. The only skin that bothers me is under my arms and my lower abdomen. I looked at my stomach and some pictures of stomachs of women who had babies and decided it looked fine, so no surgery for me. My arms, though... I would imagine weightlifting would help.

My problem areas are my breasts and tummy, followed by arms and thighs. All of which can be hidden under clothes. I’m having PS in January to address the boobs and tummy just for my own vanity and I want to wear bikinis! I’ll take the loose skin over fat any day though!!

Here is a look at my journey. the bottom pic is most recent. once i got down to my goal weight, i started focusing on putting on muscle for my extra skin. it has definitely helped in some areas, but i think no matter how much i workout ill always have the belly skin. my arms have tightened up a lot from the working out. my legs as well. the only real bad extra skin i have is again, at the bottom of my stomach. but ive accepted it and dont think im going to do surgery. Life is good. ill take the extra skin any day over being bigger and unhappy.

Thanks everyone for helping me! I have family members that had the sleeve done years ago. Both had tummy tucks and other stuff done. I doubt I will be able to afford any of that. I’m a mom to 2 kiddos, the youngest is 2 and I have the mom tum. So I have all the stretch marks and I know I’ll have the excess skin. I’m trying to get myself mentally prepared for it though. I would really hate to lose the weight and then be unhappy because I have extra skin. I don’t think it will bother me but sometimes life surprises you!

I gained all of my weight with pregnancies and I was always thin my entire life until then. It took me about 5 years to actually not only recognize myself in the mirror but accept that was who I am now. I’m having the surgery because I am in pain with the extra weight and I need to be healthy for my kids. Like everyone I’ve tried for years to lose it on my own but I’m 40 years old now and it’s just getting harder and harder. I’m trying to sort of brace myself for things as best I can. I know I won’t know or have answers until I have the surgery but I guess this sort of helps to read.

1 minute ago, fishey said:

I would really hate to lose the weight and then be unhappy because I have extra skin.

personally, I don't know ANYONE who would take being morbidly obese over having some excess skin. Excess skin isn't fun - but it is INFINITELY better than being obese! I did eventually have mine removed, but I would have taken it ANY DAY over weighing over 300 lbs again!

3 minutes ago, catwoman7 said:

personally, I don't know ANYONE who would take being morbidly obese over having some excess skin. Excess skin isn't fun - but it is INFINITELY better than being obese! I did eventually have mine removed, but I would have taken it ANY DAY over weighing over 300 lbs again!

I don’t doubt that - I do t want to be obese anymore. But I’ve known people that have lost weight (sleeve or not) and then obsessed over their new body not being perfect. I know someone who had the skin removed and is still critical of their body but infinitely happier that they aren’t obese anymore. If that makes sense. Perfectionist, I guess.

I don’t see that for myself. I am proud of my body that gave me my babies. It worked hard, lol. I’m just trying to get a hold on issues that might pop up. I sew my own clothes - but have stopped so I can save my fabric for when I lose weight - but I wonder sometimes if I wear a dress - will I need spanx? Can you just tuck the extra skin in your drawers? Lol. Is it noticeable to the rest of the world? Things like this. I also worry about hair loss but I know I won’t be able to do much about that should that time come.

The other thing I wonder about is what happens after surgery the first few months when your caloric intake is like 500 calories? Do you get that low blood sugar feeling all the time? If go too long without eating I get really shaky and dizzy. Does that happen or does your body somehow adjust? I’m wondering because I will have kids to keep up with after surgery and if I constantly feel shaky that’s not going to work well.

10 minutes ago, fishey said:

I don’t doubt that - I do t want to be obese anymore. But I’ve known people that have lost weight (sleeve or not) and then obsessed over their new body not being perfect. I know someone who had the skin removed and is still critical of their body but infinitely happier that they aren’t obese anymore. If that makes sense. Perfectionist, I guess.

I don’t see that for myself. I am proud of my body that gave me my babies. It worked hard, lol. I’m just trying to get a hold on issues that might pop up. I sew my own clothes - but have stopped so I can save my fabric for when I lose weight - but I wonder sometimes if I wear a dress - will I need Spanx? Can you just tuck the extra skin in your drawers? Lol. Is it noticeable to the rest of the world? Things like this. I also worry about Hair loss but I know I won’t be able to do much about that should that time come.

The other thing I wonder about is what happens after surgery the first few months when your caloric intake is like 500 calories? Do you get that low blood sugar feeling all the time? If go too long without eating I get really shaky and dizzy. Does that happen or does your body somehow adjust? I’m wondering because I will have kids to keep up with after surgery and if I constantly feel shaky that’s not going to work well.

hair loss is another thing that most (maybe all?) of us vets, in retrospect, wonder why we worried so much about. It's temporary - and for many of us, we're the only ones who notice the loss (I know some people lose a lot - a very noticeable amount - but most of us don't). It's a minor annoyance in the grand scheme of things.

whether or not you need Spanx depends on where your loose skin is - and how much you have. I was apple-shaped, so I don't/didn't have much on my hips, butt, and thighs. Mine was almost all in my gut. And yes - I just tucked it into jeans or "tummy control" leggings, and always wore a slightly oversized, long-ish top. Ta da! Excess skin gone. I'm sure I was the only one who noticed it. Spanx would work, too, if you're not wearing something that it can be tucked into.

as far as 500 calories, that's really just the first month or so. From about that point until maybe a year out, I was eating 600-800 calories a day, usually closer to 800. At around the year mark, I was at around 1000-1200. Now, in maintenance, I eat 1500-1700 a day. I did develop what we think was reactive hypoglycemia at about two years out, but I was told to eat something every 3-4 hours and, if I eat a carb, to be sure to pair it with a protein. That seemed to take care of it...

3 hours ago, fishey said:

The other thing I wonder about is what happens after surgery the first few months when your caloric intake is like 500 calories? Do you get that low blood sugar feeling all the time? If go too long without eating I get really shaky and dizzy. Does that happen or does your body somehow adjust? I’m wondering because I will have kids to keep up with after surgery and if I constantly feel shaky that’s not going to work well.

I used to get that a lot before I got the sleeve. It's disappeared! One of the extra bonuses. I think I generally ate more calories than a lot of people though, more like 1,000 a day after a few months.

Before surgery I had a tendency towards low pressure, would have energy drops & took longer to get over viruses, infections, etc. After surgery the energy drops did get worse but now it’s much like it used to be. My blood pressure is always low now. So not a lot of change bug picture. We did discover I have Gilbert’s Syndrome which explains a lot about my energy drops & long recovery times.

I tend to eat every 2-3hrs, but can go longer, & that helps with the energy drops. (Also, because I’m still in that golden time of a fast metabolism, if I skip a meal or snack a day or two in a row, I can drop weight quickly which I try to avoid.)

The hair loss, while challenging to accept at the time it happens, is sort of nothing now. I’d suffered hair loss after a particularly stressful time at work a few years back & it grew back then so I knew it would again this time.

I think I’m pretty fortunate about the amount of loose tummy skin I have. I tend to wear waisted skirts & pants & don’t have any concerns with skin pooching. Might be different in hipsters though. I also have a very fitted fine knit dress I wear with ordinary full briefs & tights without any noticeable issue but that is me. My friend swears by spanx & clothing of denser spandex fabric to control her sagginess.

8 hours ago, JessLess said:

I used to get that a lot before I got the sleeve. It's disappeared! One of the extra bonuses. I think I generally ate more calories than a lot of people though, more like 1,000 a day after a few months.

I think a slower weight loss would be better for me. 500 seems so very low. I know it takes a few months but people say their energy level goes way up after surgery. That’s what I’m looking forward to the most.