Hello! I am prepping for my surgery date, Aug. 17th, and just thinking about things that i worry about. I have seen so many people complain and have regrets due to their skin after, how did you handle that? How did it effect you?

I am still losing, but already have a good bit of lose skin/squish. I will tell you without reservation, that I would rather have a little extra skin jiggle than be fat and miserable and unhealthy and on the fast track to early death. Do I wish things were super toned and tight? Sure, don't we all? But the reality is, I've carried around over 100lbs of extra weight my entire adult life, I'm not ever going to have the body of a person who was always thin. But what I do have is my life back, a healthy relationship with food, a body that I've learned to love and be grateful for, and YEARS of my life given back. For me, the skin is a reminder of how far I've come and what I've done for myself as an act of love.

I would suggest to anyone considering surgery, that they focus on their mental and emotional health first and foremost. You have to be in a good place INSIDE before you are ready to make the OUTSIDE changes. Truly, this is a life long journey and you will only be as successful as you're willing to be, which starts with the head work. I think having done a ton of therapy and getting myself into a good headspace before surgery is what has allowed me to accept the less desirable parts of the process and not get hung up.

Skin can be dealt with too. Check out the plastic/reconstructive surgery forum. Lots of us on here had a variety of skin removal surgeries (myself included). I agree with @Sleeve_Me_Alone though, even if I hadn’t had the extra skin removed I’d still trade be thrilled to be happy & healthy.

I'd take the loose skin any day of the week over weighing 373 lbs again. ANY FRICKIN' DAY!! However, mine did drive me nuts after awhile (it was easy to hide, but *I* knew it was there...), so I had it removed. Poof! Gone.

Edited June 23, 20224 yr by catwoman7

I’m looking into skin removal now… I’m 15 months out from surgery and went from 330 pounds to 158 pounds. My loose skin isn’t as bad as some I’ve seen, but it’s still uncomfortable.
i thought I could live with it but then summer hit with temps above 80 degrees and me constantly wet from the pool or the beach lol. ??‍♀️
My insurance has very strict criteria for covering skin removal and I don’t know if I will qualify. I sent the doc some pics and now I am just waiting for a referral or a “no you won’t be covered”. If it is covered I was thinking about getting it done over Christmas break, but if it’s not I will have to save up and possibly do it next Christmas break (I’m a teacher and don’t want to take time off or do it during the summer).

P.S. old timers on this forum are probably sick of seeing this photo, but this is me BEFORE I had plastic surgery. I lost over 200 lbs, so I had TONS of loose skin. See it there? No - I didn't think so. It's pretty easy to hide. And easy to get rid of if you want to pursue plastic surgery.

4 minutes ago, catwoman7 said:

P.S. old timers on this forum are probably sick of seeing this photo, but this is me BEFORE I had plastic surgery. I lost over 200 lbs, so I had TONS of loose skin. See it there? No - I didn't think so. It's pretty easy to hide. And easy to get rid of if you want to pursue plastic surgery.

I love it when you show this photo. In this case a picture really is worth a thousand words. ❤️

At (very very) close to 69, I see the loose skin after weight loss too. Do I like it? NO! But I like the way I look in clothes, and I would not go back for all the tea in China... Besides, one hurdle at a time. Face next, then a little nip and tuck for the body... maybe.

I live in the north of England where its mostly wet and cold so my loose skin is not really an issue but at the moment I am in Spain. Its hot. In the evening I can cover my arms but during the day in a swimsuit my arms are out for all to see and it does bother me. I have a 2 inch dangle on my bingo wings. As soon as I am at my set point these ugly things are coming off asap

8 hours ago, SuziDavis said:

I have seen so many people complain and have regrets due to their skin after, how did you handle that?

I have lots of baggy skin, but I don't complain about it, much less have regrets. I think of it as battle scars. As long as I win the battles (and the war), I'm thrilled to wear the results.

On 06/23/2022 at 15:29, summerseeker said:

I live in the north of England where its mostly wet and cold so my loose skin is not really an issue but at the moment I am in Spain. Its hot. In the evening I can cover my arms but during the day in a swimsuit my arms are out for all to see and it does bother me. I have a 2 inch dangle on my bingo wings. As soon as I am at my set point these ugly things are coming off asap

Me too! Mine were awful. I had an arm lift and am so happy. I now feel comfortable in short sleeves, spaghetti straps, and even strapless dresses.

Everyone gets some loose skin but how much you end up with depends on many factors like age, gender, how much weight you lost, how long you were at your higher weights, genetics, etc.

I don’t have a lot & haven’t gone down the surgery path because it doesn’t hinder me in any way & I can hide it easily under clothes. I can wear body con pants & dresses without any issue or need for ‘suck it in’ underwear. The loose skin I have doesn’t bother me much. In a way I earned my loose skin after losing my weight. And like the others, I’d rather have some loose bits than the fat. And since some of us are posting pxts … There’s a little overhang at my waist but my slouch makes it looks worse then it is. ?

I have lost 205 pounds since my surgery. I'm 2 years post op on July 23rd. I am still hoping to lose 15 or 20 more and I do have a lot of loose skin, especially on my stomach and legs. I don't have a ton on my arms because they've never been that big. I do have loose skin just about everywhere but it's the worst from the waist down, especially my lower stomach. I paid for my wls so I really don't have it in the budget to have loose skin removal unless I can get insurance to cover a panniculectomy, so for now I have to live with it and I am OK with that. I really thought it would bother me a lot. The biggest issue I have is that my legs are thinner than they ever been, especially in proportion to my body, and shorts and pants are often too big in the legs when they fit in the waist and that drives me nuts.
I'd take all this loose skin in heartbeat over weighing almost 400 pounds again though! I'm gonna include a pic of me in clothes and me in a two piece swimsuit. I have never worn a two piece, but the way I see it I lost all that weight and I REFUSE to be ashamed of my body ever again, no matter how it looks. It may be that I'm old now, but I just don't care what anyone thinks anymore. I'm including the swimsuit pic so you can actually see some of my loose skin, and also you can see in clothes that it's really not visible, even though I don't care too much about hiding it anyway. I know not everyone feels this way, but I struggled with self esteem issues most of my life, and in the last 10 years ago I worked on that a lot and refuse to hate my body anymore.

I'll never be able to afford the plastic surgery to remove my excess skin, but I came into this determined to manage my expectations. Eat yourself into morbid obesity, and you cannot expect a tight thin body at the end. Loose skin is the consequence. But as others have said, I will take my loose skin over being 130kg again any day. There is simply NO comparison to my quality of life now that I'm a normal size.

Of course I'd love to have the funds to surgically remove the loose skin, but I can absolutely live with it. It's not extreme, and with clothes on, no one can tell. I've never been a bikini person anyway!

7 hours ago, STLoser said:

I'd take all this loose skin in heartbeat over weighing almost 400 pounds again though! I'm gonna include a pic of me in clothes and me in a two piece swimsuit. I have never worn a two piece, but the way I see it I lost all that weight and I REFUSE to be ashamed of my body ever again, no matter how it looks. It may be that I'm old now, but I just don't care what anyone thinks anymore. I'm including the swimsuit pic so you can actually see some of my loose skin, and also you can see in clothes that it's really not visible, even though I don't care too much about hiding it anyway. I know not everyone feels this way, but I struggled with self esteem issues most of my life, and in the last 10 years ago I worked on that a lot and refuse to hate my body anymore.

You look great, and I love your attitude about your body and refusing to be ashamed by it.

17 hours ago, catwoman7 said:

P.S. old timers on this forum are probably sick of seeing this photo, but this is me BEFORE I had plastic surgery. I lost over 200 lbs, so I had TONS of loose skin. See it there? No - I didn't think so. It's pretty easy to hide. And easy to get rid of if you want to pursue plastic surgery.

My mindset right now is that it's all worth it. I'm glad to see more people not feeling regret like others I have seen.