weight loss and loose skin

[VioletViolet]

Great advice from @Brunneria and @bulkbiker , aren't they just the best Mum and Dad ever?

 

[Resurgam]

Although I usually shower, I take hot baths a couple of times a week, as that seems to increase the blood flow to the skin and help to keep it in good condition.
So far I have not got any loose skin.

 

[kittypoker]

OK, I know this is probably silly but.:

I have gradually, over two year, lost just over 2 stones. Not a great deal as I have another 6 to lose. At this rate, I will be in my coffin before i get slim........

anyway, thats not my question.

I am in my 50's and some of the skin where I have lost it (all my weight seems to be on my tummy) hangs a bit. I am truly terrified of ending up like the people I see on YouTube, surrounded by hanging skirts of empty skin, with fungal infections and worse.

Out of the frying pan, into the fire, if you see what I mean.

Is this what will happen even if i lose it very slowly like I have been doing? If so, there is no way I would be able to afford a private surgery, or have the guts to go through with surgery (big phobia)

As so many here have lost vast amounts of weight, would you mind sharing what happened to your skin please? I am so upset about this that I am not sure I want to lose any more weight if i turn into a human elephant and swop obesity related issues for infected skin issue.

help!!!!

I'm 65, lost 6 stone over a year or so, and some loose skin is inevitable because of the loss of elasticity that comes with age. But I'm so overjoyed to be much slimmer and healthier, I don't really mind. It's lovely to wear size 14-16 rather than 24-26 and I'll be in shorts and vests in Summer, bingo wings flapping proudly!

I think exercise can help in improving muscle tone but not skin tone, unfortunately. Walking the pups (a Greyhound and English Pointer) does nothing for my skin but wonders for serotonin levels.

Please try not to worry too much. Loose skin can be covered up quite easily and every pound lost will help your general health and well-being.

 

[ickihun]

I went from 95 to 70 kg over about 9 months from all over, though the rubber tyres round the middle did leave some loose skin... not that pretty. Been working, as others have mentioned, on building up the muscles again, pretty slowly over the last two years and it does seem to be working. It's really a by product of shoulder/arm weight exercise for frozen shoulders... 3 kg for each arm and some core pilates, all pretty gentle, muscle and body tone.

It's some that is often not mentioned when bariatric surgery is discussed. There was an article in Guardian a couple of months back and after some digging found it.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeand...o-cut-it-off-weight-loss-patients-excess-skin

A great article @hankjam.
As the article finishes it hints on mental agility.
The biggest problem I can see is mental health struggling with the operation.
Ive been told about excess skin.

Do i die early from obesity or do i live with huge excess skin (if I'm unfortunate).
And people die everyday from obesity. Ask any coroner.

If I chose to have any excess skin removal operation I'd have to add up the risks. Some die from that op too.
Maybe that why the nhs don't do want those statistics acrued by bariatric surgery results.

Ive been told and ive decided to still go through my op but its not for everyone.

Obesity in extreme has extreme effects.

The nhs trying to prevent obesity is the answer not patching up damaged bodies from its effects. The damage is done.
The bariatric surgery saves lives.

Those going through op's now are getting stringently auditted. For such scaring. Emotional scaring.
The nhs evaluate the risk. Including the emotional one. Now.

I know in some african countries they bound the stomach of the new mother after labour to prevent stretch marks. And moisturise. Which isn't to the same extent of skin damaged as bariatric surgery thou.

Without bariatric surgery our graveyards would be full to the brim. An epidemic?

We must put risk and damage in proportion.
Die or have excess skin..... Which can be removed if it becomes soooo unbearable.
I dont like what i see in the mirror this size so drouping skin is ok if i get it. Better than facing death every winter and occasionally other times. Fear of leaving my kids without a mum.

A health condition which can kill you anytime or a cosmetic disfigurement different to an obese one.

I wonder if more loose skin sufferers started a forum like this what you would hear.
Struggles with death (suicidal thoughts) or a struggle with image? Both in extreme cases. I'd of thought.

Bariatric surgery doesnt offer a cure for all the damage obesity does but stops deaths from it.
As long as people are informed I don't have a problem with bariatric surgeries. They have their place.

 

[bulkbiker]

Also saw a video of Butter Bob Briggs where he showed his loose skin .. now considering he has lost 150 pounds in weight it didn't look too bad.

 

[shelley262]

Also saw a video of Butter Bob Briggs where he showed his loose skin .. now considering he has lost 150 pounds in weight it didn't look too bad.

Loved this clip thank you “butter makes your pants fall off”!

 

[Polgara]

@lucylocket61

Another personal experience - from a 47 year old. Last year I lost nearly 8 stones in 8 months. I was eating low carb - but nowhere near keto levels. No fasting. Lots of walking and some swimming. I went from a size 24 to a 12 (10 in some things!) My skin isn't a taunt as once it was - but there is no hanging skin or anything like that. I'm not going to show my tummy off - but it's never been smooth since first pregnancy when I was in my 20's. I'm just sort of softer now - and very happy with it. I wear a swimming costume and am happy with that for the pool Having looked at the video up thread - then my results are just as good - so fasting isn't always essential.

 

[hankjam]

@lucylocket61

Another personal experience - from a 47 year old. Last year I lost nearly 8 stones in 8 months. I was eating low carb - but nowhere near keto levels. No fasting. Lots of walking and some swimming. I went from a size 24 to a 12 (10 in some things!) My skin isn't a taunt as once it was - but there is no hanging skin or anything like that. I'm not going to show my tummy off - but it's never been smooth since first pregnancy when I was in my 20's. I'm just sort of softer now - and very happy with it. I wear a swimming costume and am happy with that for the pool Having looked at the video up thread - then my results are just as good - so fasting isn't always essential.

Nice one.

 

[LucySW]

Don’t fall for the myth that exercising will tighten the skin. The only place on the body where the skin is attached to the muscles is the face. So you can lift facial skin by increasing facial muscle volume and stopping muscles sagging. Elsewhere on the body all you can do is increase muscle definition and volume while the skin sags over it. Sometimes this can give the limited impression that the skin has tightened.

...

If anyone wants, i can provide online references to all of the above (including you tube vids of facial exercises that claim to work as well as face lifts (hmmmm!) but i will not provide links suggesting jogging and collagen to reduce saggy skin. You can find them if you like, but i won’t help you.

There’s a brilliant book called Facercise with face exx. Takes time, but just brilliant.

 

[BB8.HG]

I've lost 100lbs over the last few years. I thought because I was young (31 now) that my skin would just stretch back to where it had been...Nope.
I have dry skin so I've always moisturised diligently, perhaps not diligently enough...

I struggle to find clothes that fit me properly and buy sizes bigger than my frame because I feel so self conscious about my loose skin unless I put on tight shapewear underneath (fine on a winter's day, murder on hot one!). Top of my thighs is my biggest pet peeve, mostly because the rest of my legs are really shapely and toned after carrying around so much weight for so long!

I've almost certainly missed the boat with my previous weight loss, but i'm going to keep the suggestions in this thread in mind for my next 100.

 

[lucylocket61]

I wonder if it makes a difference how much weight one has to lose? Most of the photos I have seen have been of people with 200lbs+ weight loss, so perhaps the degree of stretch is also an issue?

I have lost 30lbs over 2 years, with another 50lbs to go.

 

[Brunneria]

I think there are a lot of factors - thickness of skin, quality of diet, amount of malnutrition, quality of fats in the diet, heredity, amount and speed of weight loss, etc.

I'm 'blessed' with thin, fair English skin. Goodness I envy people with stronger, thicker, more resilient skins. The way the skin of different ethnicities ages is fascinating - and makes me jealous.

Also, nowadays I am in my 50s, but I also have a much better quality diet than I had 20 years ago, a different schedule, and very different stresses... so I wouldn't expect my body to react/heal in the same way as I did back then.

 

[ickihun]

My girlfriend bought me something called BioOil to reduce the appearance of a scar I had (I think from Boots and some hairdressers for about £20) as she had used it for stretch marks after 2 children The stretch marks disappeared after about 6 months.
Would be worth reading up on this stuff.

Bio oil is good.