When I met my surgeon he stared at my stomach and made the statement I would probably need some plastic surgery after I lost my weight. I do look ready to deliver, but I can't afford a plastic surgeon. Does anyone know of a good way to loose these basketballs with no impact to very low impact exercise? He acted like surgery was the only answer:sad_smile: Thanks in advance

Firstly, i find it very disturbing that your surgeon would look at you in any way but compassionate and helpful! You have made a very difficult and wonderful decision and no one should be telling you such things....don't worry about plastic surgery or post op exercise right now...1st things 1st! Your beautiful on the way to being a healthier...you. good luck.

I didn't take his look or comment as being anything but honest, hes a very straight forward person, which is the kind I respond to best since I'm that way myself. Believe me I would never want a surgeon who looked down at me. I really think he sees this as a future problem for me though. I've seen a lot of the before and after pic on here and I don't mean to be nosey but I'd like to think not everyone had surgery to remove saggy skin. My biggest problem is that I'm limited with exercise and I am assuming thats why he made the comment. I'm looking for anyone who got rid of the big belly without surgery. Thank you for your kind reply/

You can pretty much tell before you even lose the weight whether or not you'll need some plastic work. If you look at the skin, you can see whether or not the skin fibers have been torn, or just simply stretched. If you gain weight, your skin grows with you. When we gain too much, or too quickly, the skin isn't capable of stretching too far, or to quickly and the elastin fibers tear. At that point when you lose the weight, the skin is not capable of shrinking back to the original size. The damage is done before you lose weight, and despite common belief, losing weight slowly doesn't really impact your skins ability to "shrink" back. Exercising does not impact your skin, it impacts the underlying muscle. A strong toned abdominal muscle will hold in more abdominal fat, and help things appear flatter. But if you have lots of loose skin, that will continue to hang. Keep things in perspective though. Did you want to lose weight to run around in a bikini on the beach? or did you just want to become more fit & healthy? If you are left with a huge pannus, or hanging skin flap on your tummy, it can cause rashes, and become very disfiguring & annoying. I am close to goal and can see I'll have a very small amount of lose skin, probably more from my 3 pregnancies. I'm 40, have no desire to run around in a bikini and with clothes on, you'd never see it. I'll live with it. :cursing:

Due to the pannus causing infections, odor ect, a panniculectomy <sp?> is often covered by insurance with documentation. You could start a file with a dermatologist to establish history while you lose weight.

ok I'm confused, I'm looking at my belly and don't seem to see fibers looking streched or anything, maybe I am looking for the wrong thing. I have no stretch marks on my stomach anywhere. I'm assuming I don't know what I'm looking for here.