75lbs or more weight loss? How's your skin?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’m curious to know how different people have dealt with badly stretched skin after losing a lot of weight. Not only technically (surgery) but emotionally. How have you handled it in terms of your sex life?

I’m 53 and I’ve lost 42 pounds. I intend to continue to lose. But to be technically a “healthy” weight, I would have to lose at least another 100 pounds, and I don’t have any intention of doing that for one simple reason: my skin. Even if I could pay for the surgery I would need to get rid of the “skin drapes” I would be guranteed to have (upper arms, inner thighs, gut, breasts) I would never get it because it’s extremely painful and dangerous (huge swaths of flesh are cut away requiring hundreds of stitches and potentially leading to horrible infections - as those of you who have had the surgery know. If it worked for you I envy you, believe me…finally getting my weight under control this late in life when my skin is so trashed is really sad in this regard - I’m just trading one ugly for another).

So I am planning to get down to a weight I know I look and feel reasonably good at at, at least in clothes, and maintaining that as a compromise between thin with skin drapes (which are themselves prone to infections and other problems) and life-compromisingly obese.

And before anyone goes there: exercise does not have a meaningful impact on one’s skin, only muscle. Exercise helps in the same way exercise helps everything: it improves all aspects of health, especially circulation which is of course particularly important in skin repair. So it is certainly a positive to try and minimize the problem. But it won’t fix it.

Other things which help keep skin as healthy and elastic as possible is good hydration and losing the weight slower, rather than faster. (I’ve noticed that natural weight loss doesn’t seem to leave the newly slim person quite as skin-trashed as bariatric surgery weight loss, which can be extremely rapid.)

Thank you in advance if you choose to share your story. And may I ask that if you are willing, the following specifics really help with understanding your experience and how it might apply to my own:

  1. How long you were fat
  2. How much weight did you lose
  3. how old were you when you lost it
  4. Did you go all the way to a healthy weight, or just significantly reduce from where you were to start
  5. How many years have you maintained the loss (within say, 30 pounds)
  6. If it’s been awhile, has your skin improved with time? (assuming you didn’t have any surgery)
  7. Any positive advice
  8. the details of your surgery experience if applicable.
    9: if you’re willing, photos.

This guy kills me. I need to know his secret. Cuz he had a major gut and even though his arms are up in the last picture and I’m sure that helps his abdomen look better, it can’t be THAT much better. but he inspires me.

I’ve always dreamed of some safe, not-too-painful way to “delete” the skin I have a regrow it fresh. I think that down the road this skin gun is going to be used for cosmetic purposes like that. I think it would be amazing for jowls: cut 'em awa, spray the cells, and poof! Nice tight jaw.

I have always been fascinated Sarah Yeargain’s story, which I saw on television. She sloughed 100% of her skin as a result of an allergic reaction. She should have died, but miraculously lived. They were sure she would end up looking like a burn victim, but instead her skin was perfect, like a newborn’s. Her dermatologist told her when her conemporaries were aging she’d look 10-15 years younger.

I have wished ever since that there were some way to create that result without all the agony and danger that she went through. I think that skin gun comes pretty close.

I’m sure they’ll figure it all out 50 years from now when I’m long gone.

2

I don’t have a response for you Stoid, except to say that the video of the Skin Gun was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. It gave me goosebumps and I’m still just gobsmacked that this may be available to burn victims.

Fighting ignorance, indeed.

3

My weight has yo-yo’d all my life. I am 49. I was diagnosed with diabetes two years ago. This required some rather drastic changes in my diet. To date I have lost 141 pounds. I still have about 60 more to go to get down to the scale weight I feel I want.

All those years of yo-yoing, I never had a problem with saggy skin. But this time, because of my age, it is a factor. Of course the older you get, the more that’s a factor anyway, weight loss or not.

I have to argue with you though about exercise. Since I turned 30, my doctors have said I should do arm exercises to help with the upper arm sag when I start losing weight. It *does *help. I’m not sure it will do away entirely with it at this point, but it’s not as bad as it would have been. I use exercise bands and hand weights while I’m sitting watching TV or reading.

I can’t say yet if the evening walks and the pilates are helping much in the skin department (legs and tummy), but I *feel *better, and when I feel better I look better.

But if you find something that helps with the skin of the neck, I would really be interested in that! I really hate that, but not enough to go under the knife for it.

4

I lost 160 pounds from Jan 2008 to mid-2009 (and have kept all but 10 of it off). The excess skin on my belly pisses me off to end, but there really doesn’t seem to be anything I can do about it. Not only is it unsightly, it means I have to wear pants larger than i actually need, so the jeans I can now wear look big on me. I suppose plastic surgery would be an option for most, but having a blood clotting disorder takes that right off the plate.

Wish there was an option.

5

  1. How long you were fat
    Yoyo dieter for 20 years.

  2. How much weight did you lose
    70+lb

  3. how old were you when you lost it
    35

  4. Did you go all the way to a healthy weight, or just significantly reduce from where you were to start
    Healthy weight (205 to 130)

  5. How many years have you maintained the loss (within say, 30 pounds)
    Nearly 7 years

  6. If it’s been awhile, has your skin improved with time? (assuming you didn’t have any surgery)
    Nope not really. I have loose skin my armpits, inner thighs and belly. Everything looks great when I’m dressed and the only person who sees me naked assures me it’s a fab package.

  7. Any positive advice
    Being slender with a little loose skin beats being fat by like…150%. Shopping for clothes is great, pictures are great. I eat better so I have more energy. Overall, I’m a much happier, more confident person.

  8. the details of your surgery experience if applicable.
    N/A

9: if you’re willing, photos.
Hmmm, don’t have any before/after pictures up right now, sorry.

6

I went from 275-280 (imprecise scale) to 230 in a few months (maybe three, maybe four) and didn’t notice any skin flabbiness.

I was exercising a lot – walking at least 70 miles per week. I was also just about 30 years old. Not sure if those metrics help you, but perhaps it’s not hopeless.

I now weigh about 225 at six feet, three inches tall, and still feel too heavy, but instead of walking up steep forested hills, I tend to run up them and keep walking without stopping. Still have the double chin, though – don’t know if that will ever go away.

Sorry if that last bit of info is bad news, but it’s the way it works out for me – I may have to live without my strong jaw of days yore. The thorax seems pretty elastic on my own body, though.

7

This guy should be up for enough awards to bury him.

sometimes the most straightforward solution (spray on healthy skin) requires some advanced stuff but once its there…wow.

8

Hey hey, I’m in the midst of this now.

  1. How long you were fat

Whole life, now over 40.

  1. How much weight did you lose

101 pounds so far, 50 to go.

  1. how old were you when you lost it

Last 2 years.

  1. Did you go all the way to a healthy weight, or just significantly reduce from where you were to start

Will try to get to healthy BMI, and see what it looks like.

  1. If it’s been awhile, has your skin improved with time? (assuming you didn’t have any surgery)

So it’s only been two years, but I’ve gone through several periods where arm skin and thighs get really hangy, and then the skin catches up a bit and it starts to look some better. So I think my body is trying to absorb some of the extra, but I don’t think for a moment that I can lose the 150 and not have lots of loose skin left.

Breasts are the big problem for me. My body has taken lots of breast fat away and they hang something awful. It’s affecting my sex life, the skin gets irritated when rubbed or fondled, starting to have sex without involving them in the party. I don’t like touching them myself anymore.

{major frowny face} I don’t like it, and I am not living with it.

I’ve been saving for a breast lift. Had one consultation, will get another one soon. I prob can’t afford surgical work on other body areas, but I will try to lift/tighten these poor girls.

Other developments:
Sometimes I see a neck wattle now
Tissue is smaller in vulva area, it’s a dang strange sensation. When I pee it sounds completely different than it used to. Just odd and unanticipated.

9

  1. How long you were fat - I started putting on weight about the age of 39, and got steadily fatter over the next few years. By age 55 I was 335 pounds. I was probably that weight, or close to it, for maybe 10 years or so.

  2. How much weight did you lose - I originally lost 150 pounds, keeping off 120-130 or so.

  3. how old were you when you lost it - started just before I turned 56. Ended the process 9 months later.

  4. Did you go all the way to a healthy weight, or just significantly reduce from where you were to start - all the way to healthy.

  5. How many years have you maintained the loss (within say, 30 pounds) - 6 years (touch wood)

  6. If it’s been awhile, has your skin improved with time? (assuming you didn’t have any surgery) - I didn’t have surgery. I can’t say that the sagging has improved. I exercise a lot, but I don’t do much weight training which might possibly help. What has changed, as time has passed is my perspective. I no longer think that I will once again look like I did when I was 30. I don’t, and I never will.

  7. Any positive advice - see below.

  8. the details of your surgery experience if applicable. - NA

9: if you’re willing, photos. - Sorry, no.

My skin sags in various places - I have man boobs and turkey neck, the inside of my thighs is loose, and no matter how small my inner stomach gets, my outer layer hangs down a little over my abdomen. I could fix each of these things, I think, with separate surgeries, rather than having a full body lift. But I’m 62 and I feel fine, so who would I be doing this for? If I’m going to spend $30K (just a wild guess) I would rather have something better to show for it than a hymn to my vanity. (I might still have my chest done, but probably not).

While I was in the weight loss program, a plastic surgeon came and showed us photos of full body lifts. The main problem is that, as you said, they remove a huge amount of skin, and then you have this enormous scar (assuming all goes well, he didn’t talk much about the possibility of infection etc.) all around your body, which never goes away.

One woman in my maintenance group did get her underarms done. She was very happy with the results, but when she showed us the scars they were still pretty raw, and I didn’t see that much difference.

My advice: continue to lose enough weight to get healthy, and then do the work to keep it off. You will feel better, and the quality of your life will be much better. Don’t lose weight so you will be pretty again, because you won’t. You won’t be 25 and look great in a bikini. You will be just as old as you are now (and might look older). But you will be much better off.

Good luck,
Roddy

10

Access to the skin gun was denied, unfortunately.

I am a bit over 6’. I passed 200 lb sometime in HS and continued up to about 250 (I guess) when I had a heart attack 46 years ago at age 28. I lost to 206 in a couple years, then started gaining until about ten years ago I was 281 and was pre-diabetic. Over the next few years, I fell to 250 and then gained to 260 when I became mildly diabetic. Using metformin, I lost 20 lb to about 240 and then stalled at that weight. Till about a year ago, when I simply cut off all eating between meals and am now back to 206 (just 75 lb below my top weight). Essentially all the excess weight is in my stomach. My arms and thighs have always been relatively thin. But, oddly enough, there seems to be no sagging skin even in the gut. I suppose if I got down to 180 or so there would be some, but I still have a belly, just a smaller one.

11
  1. I’ve been fat since age 13 or so, when I started having midnight snacks instead of ignoring the hunger pangs. Wasn’t obese until 22. A homeless shelter isn’t a good place for someone raised to not let food go to waste; much of it went to waist instead. Went in at around 250, was around 310 when I finally found housing.
  2. Nearly 100 pounds since my heaviest (around 380, IIRC).
  3. Been yo-yoing since age 25 or so. Initially lost some 50 pounds, gained it back with reinforcements, lost again then lost some more.
  4. & 5. I’m 43 now and still working on it. I’d like to get down to 235, which is around what I was in high school.
  5. My thighs are loose but that’s about it.
  6. Burn more calories than you consume. That’s basically what I’ve been doing.
  7. N/A
    9: Don’t know where they are.
12
  1. How long you were fat
    15 yrs, gained it all back, plus, then lost it again abt 5 yrs later.
  2. How much weight did you lose
    120, then 185
  3. how old were you when you lost it
    20, I believe. This last and hopefully final time, well, do the math. My fingers refuse to type my current age.
  4. Did you go all the way to a healthy weight, or just significantly reduce from where you were to start
    All the way to goal weight both times
  5. How many years have you maintained the loss (within say, 30 pounds)
    First time, not more than 2 yrs. This time, maybe close to ten yrs?
  6. If it’s been awhile, has your skin improved with time? (assuming you didn’t have any surgery)
    The first time my skin sprang back so you could hardly tell. This time it didn’t budge an inch.
  7. Any positive advice
    I could write a book, but most of what I know has been covered in advice columns, books, and so on. For example: I did look better once I got into a good exercise regimen. As my surgeon says, skin drapes better over muscle than it does over bones covered in flab. If you’re in shape, surgery will be easier IMHO.
  8. the details of your surgery experience if applicable.
    The laproscopic gastric bypass wasn’t horrible. The part that hurt was sitting up and getting out of bed. Med supply places sometimes rent them, otherwise pillows are your friend. The reconstructive surgery was a snap once I got a couple of pints of blood in me (be a hero–donate blood). Yes, I was cut apart and sewn back together again. I researched and interviewed a boat load of surgeons. Then I consulted and questioned, checked with past clients, even talked with office staff and toured anything they let me. My surgeon and I liked and respected each other and we shared the same goals. I didn’t want so much skin taken off that I’d be curled like an over-cooked shrimp until things ironed out and Dr. S. agreed. The result was a pain level I could tolerate and aesthetically appealing for all involved, if that makes sense.
13

Everybody has different skin. Mine happens to be thick and elastic. So after ballooning up and then dropping 40 pounds less than 3 years ago (I’m 55), I have no sag. Not that thick skin doesn’t lead to other problems though.

I can’t say how valid this test is, but place your hand on a table palm down, fingers straight out. With your other hand, use thumb and forefinger to pinch up as much skin on the back of your hand as you can without it becoming painful. Hold it for 10 to 15 seconds and let go. My skin snaps back in just 1 second. If there’s a pile of skin standing up for very long, your skin doesn’t have much elasticity and is likely to sag.