Hi All,

I am a 39 year old male. I was banded on Sep 3 '09. I started the two week pre-op diet at 322Lbs and am now 261Lbs...I am just a hair over 6'. I was obese for about 8 years (30-38) and spent most of my adult life about 215-235. I even had a few years 28-30 as a health nut....working out like crazy. My goal is to get down below 200. By no means am I being a model patient. I have a hard time drinking 8-10 glasses of Water per day and I have not been exercising. Weight loss has slowed to 1-2 Lbs a week (which is GREAT)

I am concerned about saggy skin. Right now my belly is shrinking and there is less "hanging over" but, I am concerned that I will always have some amount of belly skin hanging over. I am curious as to what have been the other experiences of people here.

Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks

I am 51 and was thin all of my life until a few years ago. I had the same concerns. Obviously, getting healthy was the most important thing to me to prolong my life but I still want to look good too. In my support group last night this was discussed and it just so happened that my surgeon was at this one. She answered like this: If you are very obese and have been most of your life and have more to lose, you will most likely have more sagging skin and if it bothers you plastic surgery may be an option to consider. The way to tell is if you begin to see stretch marks as you are losing weight, you will probably have sagging skin. If you were thin at one time and were in good shape and you don't have as much to lose, it is possible that you won't have as much skin to deal with. Genetics also plays some part in it.

My personal experience has been that I have a little skin but nothing that is really bad. My biggest problem at this point (no pun intended) is my middle section. I have a small bulge there that keeps me from buying medium tops instead of large. I can wear the medium but don't like the bulge thing going on there. It isn't horrible but noticeable and I don't like that. The only other place I have it is under my arms which will more than likely not go completely away. I don't go around wearing bikinis anyway so for me it has not really been a big deal. I work out a lot and hopefully that is helping. My legs have really done well and are going back into shape. Hope this helps.

I have a little nothing really bad. But from years on yere, its my belief that virtually nobody escapes it.

Having only a little can be just as annoying as having lots, its the only thing holding me back from really having my dream body. The body under there is in great shape, but its like my skin is about 1/4 of a size too big all over. I just want to pinch an inch of it off all round.

Still, I can cope with that. It doesnt worry me unduly.