ok, my surgery is finally scheduled for April 27th which is next Monday. I was so hyped up until........ I saw a girl that had WLS she was around 300 lbs which is 50 lbs heavier than me. And she doesnt look good her skin is really hanging her butt looks like she needs a serious lift and I'm not exaggerating so some people that I know was like.... is that what you want to look like?? what are your feeling about the skin issue I mean I really don't have a couple of grand hanging around for cosmetic surgery and if I can't really wear what want because my skin is hanging then what is the sense??? please give some advice even if it is harsh. I can't stop thinking of these issues.:frown:

Loose skin or not, you're going to feel better after you lose the weight. I didn't realize what carrying this weight was doing to all the load bearing joints. My knees are shot - yours will be too eventually if you don't lighten the load.

Are you doing this for health or only for looks? You have to do what's right for you.

I have notice the gastric bypass people lose much faster (at first) and have a bigger problem with the skin issues. That being said....

I am much older than you, 47. I have lost 95 pounds in 11 months (unbelievable for me). My skin is looser, for now. I can make wrinkles where there never have been wrinkles before but I don't think it looks bad to other people. I feel so much better! I fit in regular movie seats and rollercoaster seats!! I am on no medication!!! And I look much better in clothes (which is 99.999% of the time). If I am a bit saggy here and there only me and my Dr. will know about it. They say to give yourself a year before you give up on your skin tightening up.

You are probably just getting nervous and focusing on the wrong stuff. So the worse case senerio is... you lose a lot of weight and your skin sags just a bit at first and you feel great and your health dramtically improves!! It is still better place than where you are now!

Good luck! I have not regretted a moment my choice to get the band. It really works! Check out the before and after photo thread now and then (it is on general labband thread). I think it is a great motivator! Most everyone on there looks great and one day you can post there too.

Edited April 20, 200917 yr by miss meliss

Come on. You can't really think that being FAT is prettier than having some wrinkles? We all heal differently anyway. If it bothers you, have some plastic surgery done. That's better than open heart surgery because you were morbidly obese.

HI, I understand the concern. It's kind of scary to think that your going to lose weight, but maybe have hanging skin. I was worried about that too. But I have been doing toning exercises while losing. It's nothing big, I'm not trying to become a body builder or anything like that, but it's just enough to tone some. You have to take into consideration that it is possible that this person you were referring to didn't do anything to tone. Also. Trust me, when the wieght starts to come off and you start to feel so much better, the rest really isn't as important as you made it out to be in the first place.

Skin is an organ...exercise works the muscle layer underneath the skin, not the skin. It is good to be fit! It is healthy and most people prefer fit to flab! BUT some will have saggy skin anyway, and some won't even if they don't exercise a muscle. MANY things go into whether or not we have saggy skin. Our age, our genetics, our skin type, how LONG we've been fat, how FAT we were to begin with, how healthy our diet has been, etc etc. It may happen; but if so, it can be dealt with more easily than the fallout from obesity.

thanks everyone, i just got really nervous I know I have to go through with this for me to turn back now after all I've been through would be really silly. One I have gerd, polycystic cyst border line diabete and high blood pressure(no meds though) I'm 254 and 33 hopefully my age would help with snapping my body back into shape. Thanks for all your replies and future ones. the count down begins 1 week left.

thanks everyone, i just got really nervous I know I have to go through with this for me to turn back now after all I've been through would be really silly. One I have gerd, polycystic cyst border line diabete and high blood pressure(no meds though) I'm 254 and 33 hopefully my age would help with snapping my body back into shape. Thanks for all your replies and future ones. the count down begins 1 week left.

Good Luck! Keep us informed on how you are doing?

Kim, Camden Michigan

I think anyone that has achieved a major weight loss would agree with me when i say the health benefits by far outweigh the issue of loose skin. You can hide loose skin with clothing but there is no way you can hide and extra 100 pounds or so!

You say she had weight loss surgery but not whether it was lap band or gastric bypass. Gastric Bypass causes such a rapid drastic weight loss that the skin never has a chance to catch up. Lap band affords you a more normal weight loss and your skin can tighten up. I started at 284 on 1/2/09; surgery on 2/10 and today I am down 51 pounds. A lot of my weight loss is around my hips. I'm 58 years old and I will tell you that I worried about the possibility of loose skin but so far, my skin is tightening up nicely. I will not have the hard body of a 25 year old no matter how much I exercise or how much weight I lose but I feel like I will be pretty typical for my age. And, like others have said...you have two choices: stay fat and die young without POSSIBLE wrinkly loose skin, or lose the weight, live a longer and happier life and MAYBE have some wrinkly loose skin.

good morning...

i'm a BAND PATIENT (and proud of it!!!!!!!....lol) that lost weight as fast and as much as a bypass patient (haha...bypass patients...i didnt have to go through an invasive surgery....just kidding)....i've lost 122 pounds in less than 7 months...and the lower part of my stomach is a mess!!!!!! sooooo much excess skin...do i like it...no...do i like wearing a size 12....i LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!! i am having minor complacations due to the excess skin flaps and my insurance has agreed to pay for my tummy tuck (i dont know how to spell the medical term for the procedure but i know it starts with a p)....lol...i wouldnt let loose skin keep u from changing ur life....

everyones body is different and it all matters about alot of issues are you eating the right way? are you excerising? have you had kids? there are alot of reasons why people sag it will happen but you can make it less and i can tell you if you eat the right way and excerise through the process you will be much healthier and you can tone some of it up through the journey. i would rather be saggy a bit then be big again. ill prob have to get a tummy tuck but for right now im satisfied with what i have and in a year or two if i am not then i will have a tummy tuck.

I have not had the surgery going in on May 6th. No solution is going to be perfect. I know that I will have loose skin to deal with on the other side of the journey, but I would rather have to deal with the excess skin vs. the excess weight.

Hello 2 fly guys,

I have seen ur before and after pics while searching the site you do look awesome! can you find out the medical term for me regarding the tummy tuck also, which band did you opt for that is another headache realize or lap cant really decide. thanks in advance

panniculectomy....theres the "p" word...lol...i have a realize band and HAVE NEVER used the website to track my weight loss....so far thats the only difference i've heard between the realize band and lap band....the realize band has its own site for u to track ur weight loss...and ooooo i only have 1 incision...

In 2006, for the third time I tried to get approval for weight loss surgery. Again, I was denied, but I was determined I was getting this weight off or I knew I was heading for a heart attack or stroke I had started seeing signs that I was headed that way. So on my own I watched what I ate and exercise constantly and lost 180 lbs in little over a year. But didn't realize how much ugly, hanging skin I would be left with and I still needed to lose 45 more lbs to reach my goal. I was denied plastic surgery and became very unhappy because once I took off my clothes I hated the way I looked. Unfortunately, I allowed my shallowness to cause me to return to bad eating habit and I stopped working out. I've now gained back 75 pounds, my knees ache, I have a hard time sleeping at night and I'm extremely tired all the time and I'm back on high blood pressure meds. I decided once again to try and get the surgery, because hanging skin or not I felt so much better with the weight off. I no longer care about the hanging skin...if I'm given the chance to have the surgery my health is much more important than my appearance...and I'd rather spend the rest of my life working out to feel better then worrying about how I look in a swim suit.

So please think about what's important to you...and then make the decision that you can live with...

Blu