How do you know how much excess skin you have?
Like in lbs.

I watch these shows and its like we cut off 25 lbs of skin.

How do I get an idea of how much weight my excess skin is so I can decide if I am truly happy here or if I want to lose a little more?

I am at the point of plateau. I have been at 157-162 for 10 months now.

I would like to end up at the 145 ish range. I just have no idea how to know if I have 15 ish lbs of skin. and I dont want to cut the skin, not be in the 140s, lose another 10 ish lbs and possibly have to go back and have more skin cut off/ have more sag that I am trying to avoid.

OK so I have no experience with this because I have no interest at all in skin removal. WLS was, for me, all about the health benefits and way less about the aesthetic benefits but I totally get people who want both (and OMG see the photos on the before and after threads for detail and inspiration)!

From what I have gleaned in my 2.5 years here people's weight loss is in the single pounds category after skin removal surgery. Unless you started off in the 60s or 70s of BMI? The point isn't the added pounds of loss but more the making their bodies feel more comfortable to them.

I am also a huge believer in the concept of a new 'set weight' after surgery. Our bodies just seem to decide where to settle. Pushing beyond that is tricky. I would have been happy 15 or 20lbs above where I am at the minute. I didn't particularly push myself to get beyond that. But it feels like my set weight was decided by my body. I know that sounds strange.

You talk about feeling happy at your current weight plus or minus the weight you might be after removal of skin and whether losing a few pounds more might cause sag that you would have to address at a later point. Honestly I don't really understand that but I guess others will be along soon who might. It might be worth discussing in detail with your surgeon what your desired end point is.

Congratulations on your loss, it's amazing.

Skin doesn’t actually weigh that much. My surgeon did not weigh the skin removed. I had a abdominoplasty, arm lift, and breast lift with implants. You’ll actually probably weigh a bit more in the few days post op due to all the fluid they give you. One week post op I was about 4 lbs below my pre-op weight, but also wasn’t eating much in that post op period.

I didn't have mine weighed after it was removed, but a lot of people claim theirs only weighed 4 or 5 lbs. I guess if you have a lot of liposuction you could lose more than that. I don't think my weight went down much. I looked about a zillion percent better, though!

you could always get a Dexascan to see how much fat, muscle, etc you have. Not the kind you get at the doctor's office - those only check for mineral (bone) density. You need the kind they have at some sports places (some university sports labs have them) or at commercial places like DexaFit. Those scans will also tell you how much fat, muscle, etc you have. I got one when I weighed 146 lbs because I wanted to see how much more weight I could lose. The technician said nope - I was done losing. I had 21% fat at that point, which is pretty lean for a woman (unfortunately, I'm not that lean anymore!). but I found it pretty helpful. I think it was around $100.

From watching my 600lb life, it seems the fat does not weight as much as you think it does.

like others have said, skin itself does not weigh alot. the stories you have heard about people losing 20-30-40 lbs after plastics, are either (A) folks who lost HUNDREDS of pounds, or (B) folks who had subcutanous fat under their skin, which was removed during plastics.). Most people fall under group B.

plastics is more about visual aesthetics (or comfort/life quality) vs actual weight loss on the scale.

My surgeon told me the "material" he removed from me weighed a grand total of 400g (less than 1 lb)....not at all significant on the scale, but VERY significant in the mirror.

getting a dexa scan is a good idea if you want to know what your physiological make up is. you could use the results of this scan to discuss with your surgeon what they anticipate your end result would be. unfortunately there is no way to know for sure what your results will be until you actually go thru it.

good luck! ❤️

On 4/22/2024 at 5:40 PM, Spinoza said:

OK so I have no experience with this because I have no interest at all in skin removal. WLS was, for me, all about the health benefits and way less about the aesthetic benefits but I totally get people who want both (and OMG see the photos on the before and after threads for detail and inspiration)!

From what I have gleaned in my 2.5 years here people's weight loss is in the single pounds category after skin removal surgery. Unless you started off in the 60s or 70s of BMI? The point isn't the added pounds of loss but more the making their bodies feel more comfortable to them.

I am also a huge believer in the concept of a new 'set weight' after surgery. Our bodies just seem to decide where to settle. Pushing beyond that is tricky. I would have been happy 15 or 20lbs above where I am at the minute. I didn't particularly push myself to get beyond that. But it feels like my set weight was decided by my body. I know that sounds strange.

You talk about feeling happy at your current weight plus or minus the weight you might be after removal of skin and whether losing a few pounds more might cause sag that you would have to address at a later point. Honestly I don't really understand that but I guess others will be along soon who might. It might be worth discussing in detail with your surgeon what your desired end point is.

Congratulations on your loss, it's amazing.

im proud of your loss too! I see you all over the forum and loosely have followed your progress! Super proud of you!

On 4/22/2024 at 11:38 PM, catwoman7 said:

you could always get a Dexascan to see how much fat, muscle, etc you have. Not the kind you get at the doctor's office - those only check for mineral (bone) density. You need the kind they have at some sports places (some university sports labs have them) or at commercial places like DexaFit. Those scans will also tell you how much fat, muscle, etc you have. I got one when I weighed 146 lbs because I wanted to see how much more weight I could lose. The technician said nope - I was done losing. I had 21% fat at that point, which is pretty lean for a woman (unfortunately, I'm not that lean anymore!). but I found it pretty helpful. I think it was around $100.

I have an appointment next month for my 18 month follow up. and I have asked them to put me in on the dietary side to for a scan. They have a machine that I think is similar to the Dex ones, you stand on it in a certain position, and wait like 2 minutes and it prints out body fat and bone density and such

20 hours ago, ms.sss said:

like others have said, skin itself does not weigh alot. the stories you have heard about people losing 20-30-40 lbs after plastics, are either (A) folks who lost HUNDREDS of pounds, or (B) folks who had subcutanous fat under their skin, which was removed during plastics.). Most people fall under group B.

plastics is more about visual aesthetics (or comfort/life quality) vs actual weight loss on the scale.

My surgeon told me the "material" he removed from me weighed a grand total of 400g (less than 1 lb)....not at all significant on the scale, but VERY significant in the mirror.

getting a dexa scan is a good idea if you want to know what your physiological make up is. you could use the results of this scan to discuss with your surgeon what they anticipate your end result would be. unfortunately there is no way to know for sure what your results will be until you actually go thru it.

good luck! ❤️

I do think a scan will help as it will tell me if there is anything else really to lose or if my body settling here truly is what it is.