Excess skin?

My trainer asked me today if I had excess skin left over after I lost what I am looking to lose would I have surgery to correct it.

I was shocked and a bit offended. First, my trainer is approximately a size 0. But more importantly, I've never thought of this. Is excess skin a huge issue? If so is there ways to prevent it?

Thu. Jun 28, 9:02pm

It depends on how much of it you have. Recently a local couple was featured in the paper because they had both lost over 100 pounds together. She had almost 15 pounds of excess skin. She unflinchingly bared it for the newspaper and let them take pics (before and after), and quite frankly it looked like someone had dressed her in a suit of skin that was several sizes too big. She had surgery performed on her upper arms, stomach (where she had the most skin - a literal flap she had to lift out of the way when she dressed or needed to wash there or even on the toilet) buttocks, breasts and thighs. The reason she had surgery was because no amount of diet or exercise was going to change that extra skin. It had simply lost its elasticity and had no ability to 'snap back' as she lost weight. It was depressing to her to feel so good and then look in the mirror and see all that skin sagging around her. The after pics were smashing. The plastic surgeon even made it so she could wear a not-too-revealing bikini if she so chose. You could really see the difference in her smile, posture and the way she presented herself.

It was a really touching story, and I could totally empathize with her. I would absolutely make the same decision if I even find myself in those shoes. The only way I know of to try to prevent this is to lose the weight slowly so your body has time to adjust and exercise is supposed to help by ensuring blood flow and the removal of toxins from the skin.

Thursday, June 28, 2007, 10:29 PM

there was a thread a few days ago titled, "access skin"- you'll find out all the details there. The OP just spelled "excess" incorrectly

Thursday, June 28, 2007, 10:30 PM

I always thought that when you exercised, it got rid of of it so you wouldn't have the extra "flab".. am I in the ball park or do I know nothing at all?

Thursday, June 28, 2007, 10:32 PM

10:32 poster

You are in the ball park - exercise will help, but the only thing that will actually guarantee that you don't have a big problem with excess skin is losing the weight SLOWLY. If you lose it too fast (like with gastric bypass or on a really strict or crash diet), your skin does not have time to contract. You need to take it slow, at a healthy rate of about 0.5 to 2 pounds a week.

Thursday, June 28, 2007, 10:41 PM

How much you lose.

I lost my weight in a timely sort of way, with diet and exercise only, over 100 pounds of it. That seems to be the clincher really. How MUCH you lose makes a big difference. If it's 30 pounds, you're likely golden. Anything in the 3 digit range just seems to leave MOST people I've talked to with excess skin. I ended up going with the tummy tuck in the end, after waiting about 3 years at a stable weight to see how much improvement I would see.

Thursday, June 28, 2007, 11:57 PM

thanks for the info everyone!

Saturday, June 30, 2007, 4:00 PM

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