Lose skin?

[JustinFK]

I'm totally terribly terrified of lose skin from weight loss. You know those pictures of the guy who lost all the fat but kept the rolls of skin and saggy pecs, or the women who's bellies don't recover from pregnancies?
I'm just mortified at the thought... Wouldn't it be angonizing to lose all the weight and still not take off your shirt at the pool!!, to look worse than when you were fat, and then have to regain it all and start again at a much slower pace, or get surgery...

Anyway, how much loss will cause the problem, and how fast? I'm trying to cut a good 50lbs (to 7-9% fat) from a starting 200ish lbs. So far I've been burning about 13,000 extra calories of week, losing an avg of 4lbs a week. Am I risking approaching saggy skin, is 4lbs a week too much? Im not too old (early 30s, and I look like I'm early 20s, if facial elasticity plays a role, but I've also been carrying this fat for at least a decade, if that plays a role too...)

Anyway, anybody who has been down this road, or knows someone who has, I'd love some advice, or reassurance as to how best manage shrinking my skin in proportion to the rest of me

[BettyGrace]

There are a lot of factors on whether you get loose skin, including genetics, age, how much weight you lose, how fast, how long you carried it, and on and on.  As someone who's terrified about the same thing, I have done an incredible amount of research on it.

The older you are, the more weight you have to lose, the longer you've carried it, and the quicker you lose it, the higher the likelyhood of sagging skin.  If you have stretch marks, that skin is also significantly more likely to sag after significant weight loss.  Drinking water is anecdotally said to help, as good hydration makes you and your skin more resilient, but is no guarantee.  Making sure to retain muscle while losing weight is supposed to have some effect, as losing lean muscle along with fat seems to correlate with an increased likelihood of saggy skin.

The basic summary from months and months of research is that there's very little about it that's within your control, and the consensus is that none of the products people try to foist on you to help prevent it have any scientifically verifiable effect.  My approach is to just focus on being healthy, and to not borrow trouble from tomorrow worrying about it, since it's mostly beyond my control.  I'll cross that bridge if I come to it, but I'm no longer using it as an excuse to stay fat!

[WillowTheWhisp]

It bothered me at first and did discourage me from losing weight, but then I figured that my health matters more and it's more important to me not to be lugging extra weight around than it is not to be bugged by excess skin.

You can tone up muscle but unfortunately you can't tone up skin.

I'm resigned to it now, but would love to have it not be there.

[iMike]

As the first responder noted, factors like age, how much extra weight we're carrying, and how long we've carried the weight  are going to be big determining factors.  I have seen people with 100+ extra pounds lose the weight without sagging skin; they were younger (less than 40 years of age) and they participated in a wide variety of intense exercise throughout their weight loss.  While you can't escape factors like age, you can try to influence it as much as possible by drinking a lot of water and by participating in consistent, intense exercise targeting all of your muscle groups and following the "slow and consistent" rule.  If you lose weight very slowly at a consistent pace your body will more likely adjust and you'll end up with less loose skin at the end than if you lose a lot of weight very quickly.  Many people, though, depending on just how overweight they are and how quickly they lose it, have to either live with the skin or opt for surgery.

[BettyGrace]

iMike is correct. It's worth noting stretch marks do indicate skin that's
not likely to recover, as it has already been damaged and loosened. Taking
good care of your skin can't hurt, including staying hydrated and eating
well, and moisturizing with whatever quality moisturizer you already use.
Smoking and sun damage both age skin, so avoiding both is another step you
can take to feel like you're doing all you can to mitigate everything
within your control.

There are products coming out lately that claim to tighten skin or prevent
sagging, complete with miracle before and after images and testimonials.
Without exception, these have been proven repeatedly to be a scam. Lasers
and colored lights, miracle creams and pills, rollers, constructing
garments and wraps, magic goop mud treatments, all utterly bogus.

These are scams every bit as cruel as weight loss gimmicks, and I think the
majority of us are all too familiar with that game. They're trying to steal
your money. At worst save that money for surgery if loose skin becomes an
issue for you.

[Mermaid3011 · Accepted solution]

I was worried about that too when I started losing weight in January. 

I have lots of stretch marks because I have gained and lost large amounts of weight over the years, though I have never been pregnant.

After losing 58 lbs I can tell you that - while the stretchmarks stay - I DO NOT HAVE LOOSE SKIN! 

I have been dieting and working out (Pilates and Yoga), strengthening my core and with that the muscles that are keeping the belly in shape. 

Even though I still have a tummy and need to lose more weight, I am very confident that my skin will adjust and with a little bit of TLC I wont have flabs haging off me. LOL

[LocoMutant]

It's sucks but I'd rather be fit and healthy then worry about loose skin.  I'm 41 and been overweight my whole like I got up to 300lbs and my health wa bad.  Over a year ago I decided I didn't want to be fat anymore and so far I've lost 85lbs down to 215 went from wearing 3xl to xl and size 46 pants to 36.  Unfoirtunately I do have loose skin, but it is what it is.  I feel better, more energy, and eat so much better it has changed my life.  If you are worried about loose skin then you are not rady for the lifetime change needed to live a better life.

[iMike]

I don't know that I accept that.  Plenty of people make the change, with or without loose skin.  Some people can lose 100lbs at a reasonable rate and end up with no loose skin.  I've seen it happen.  Ten years ago I lost 60lbs in six months (granted I was 27 years of age and skin is very elastic at that age) and I had no sagging skin.  Unfortunately I didn't really learn the good habits I was supposed to learn and I gained 100lbs back. 

Should everyone losing a great deal of weight expect the possibility of loose skin?  Absolutely.  But not everyone is the same.  Diet, exercise, and genetics all play a role.  I'm sorry but to say that those who are worried about loose skin are not ready for the lifetime change is not a fair statement.

[sixfootroach]

I know how you feel! When I was 10 years old I started having Epilepsy. My first epileptologist put me on a medicine called Depakote. I went from a skinny twig to a huge blueberry in about a month and a half. The side effects were terrible. I gaind a little over a hundred pounds at the time.For many years I was playing baseball, football and hockey. Then after that I wasn't allowed to play any sports when I started having epilepsy. When I hit my teenage years I was 288pds. For many years, thats what my average weight was until I was 22 when I finally found a good epileptologist that put me on a medicine that had a side effect that helped me lose weight instead of gain weight. From when I was 10 to when I was 22 I was a big fat kid that everyone in school made fun off. Straight A student for several years until the Epilepsy hit me. I tried working out many times, doing situps, pushups but nothing helped me lose weight. In the end, the only bad thing when I lost all that weight was that most of my skin stayed with me. I never knew what it was called but those pills gave me Gynecomastia. I still have it today. I've done weightlifting many times over the years. Now though, I my taking 6 different medications now, I'm 6 foot 3 and 214 pds and 31 years old. I mostly eat fruit, salad and stuff that is good for you. Good luck everybody.   

[bdunlap]

I became very ill recently and went from 350 pounds to 151 pounds in less than two years and half of that within 6 months. I lost a lot of muscle, was in a wheelchair as i could not walk, could barely stand. I'm now back up to 172 and needing to continue losing fat but i have a massive amount of loose skin. Most noticeable is my upper arms and my double chin which is just a turkey neck kind of thing.

I'm 31 years old. Female. Yes I am embarrassed by my excess skin and my weight loss was not at all planned but I'm alive. Thanks to physical therapy I'm now walking independently with a cane. So if you are selfishly worried that loose skin would be your biggest worry in life then you ought to rethink your priorities. I now have permanent severe peripheral neuropathy which would tear you apart and spit you out and requires 3 and sometimes 4 potent medicines to control the pain multiple tjmes per day, and it never goes away completely. Loose skin? Death? I'll take saggy, wrinkly skin any day if it means I'm alive and able to enjoy the beauty around me. So what if I would look like an 85 year old in a bathing suit. I'm alive, walking around and getting fit. Whether I look fit or not isn't the problem. Being fit is the important factor. Screw the idiots who cringe at my saggy body. I'm alive and able to live. In pain? Yes. But i wouldn't have it any other way, now.

[JustinFK]

I'm sort of blown away by the multiple aggressive responses I've received, not all but enough... bdunlap-"Selfishly worried about lose skin... rethink your priorities". locomutant- "if you are worried about lose skin, you are not ready for the lifetime change needed for a better life." I'm not ill, I'm not morbidly obese, I'm losing weight just to look good, as are probably 95% of the people who are slimming down. That's not a big deal, and I am not "selfish" because of it. I'm sorry that you guys have such a hard time, but don't be internet bullies because of it. Shame on you. Oh and upvoting your own posts, very classy...

[bdunlap]

First, I didn't upvote mine. Apparently another Fitbit user agreed with me. That's strange...

Second, the reason to lose excess fat isn't to look good, it's for better health, feeling better about oneself, being able to move in your own body easier.

Being scared to have some loose skin after losing weight is understandable but to worry about it to the point you seem to is ridiculous. The first and only reason that you should be actively trying to lose fat is for better health, not to rock a bikini or to be more attractive to others.

It's a harsh reality to come to to understand what the purpose of life is but it's one some of us find early in life due to severe struggles we push through.

My goal to lose fat and gain muscle tone is to make it easier to survive, to get around, to be happier and to focus less on the things I struggle with, such as walking to my mailbox and back, stepping up or down from some curb, hell - standing up without falling to the floor all because of severe neuropathy, and I'm only 31 years old!

Losing weight to look good, isn't about looking good to yourself. It's about looking good to others which boosts your perceived popularity.

Sorry, but popularity contests ended early our early 20s, adults have more important things to focus on, unless they are stuck mentally in high school drama.

The reason multiple people have reacted this way to you should now be more clear.

[iMike]

It looks like this thread is on the verge of escalating.  Please everyone try and remain civil.  I think that @JustinFK's original post may have been misunderstood by many.  If you all go back and reread it, there's nothing there that suggests he's not motivated by health, he simply chose to discuss the fear of sagging skin which is a real fear and a potential health risk (in some cases excess sagging skin can add several unnecessary pounds to your body and cause sores and rashes).  His post also indicates he's a young man in his early thirties.  Wanting to be healthy and to have a body that he is happy with are not mutually exclusive goals.

Yes, great health inside and out (and we all know that great health starts on the inside) should be everyone's primary goal.  As long as one has a healthy sense of self, there's nothing wrong with wanting to like the way you look and to feel attractive to others. No one on this earth is above a little bit of vanity and if it helps get him to the physical health he needs to be in, so be it.  I freely and happily admit vanity plays a role in my own goals.  Yes, obviously, since I'm in my late thirties I want to be as healthy as I can before I enter my middle-age years, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to someday look good with my shirt off.

The purpose of these threads is not to demean others.  We are all here for support and encouragement, but we're all human.  Sometimes we say things we don't realize are hurtful to others.  Instead of being defensive about it, we should acknowledge it.  Just because he wants to look good doesn't mean he's trying to rock a bikini, win a popularity contest, or is stuck in high school drama, and it certainly doesn't mean he's any less of an adult than everyone else here.

Everyone's journey is different, everyone is motivated by different factors, and everyone's body is different.  Let's try to remember we're all human beings here.

[Piglet0403]

I have a lot of weight to lose and I 1. Want to lose for my health first being a nurse I see a lot of people who die due to illness that are preventable. I want to be healthy, I want to be more active and be able to enjoy activities that I used to enjoy. I would like to try to avoid Type II diabetes that ended my grandmothers life all to soon. 2. I would like to look good in a bathing suit. I haven't been comfortable in my own skin in a long time. I want to feel attractive, to be able to go shopping and buy clothes that I look good in. Part is vanity but I am doing this for my health. I can only imagine  the torment of neuropathy. and I am sorry that you have to endure that pain.

[bdunlap]

Thanks, Piglet0403. The neuropathy happened from lack of proper B vitamins due to a health crisis my body went through. I have multiple food allergies and intolerance now. I survived somehow and here I am working through the challenges. Had a doc appt today and my kidneys "are that of a 20 year old woman" my doc was impressed. Wow. Great news for me! The damage from malnutrition hasn't killed them. Woo hoo!

I understand how difficult it is to be so overweight for so long that you almost have a "need" to lose the weight and not have excess skin so you can be seen as attractive to others. I guess I'm at a point in my still young life that I am over the whole being attractive for others thing since my enormously wrinkled, saggy upper arms will absolutely never all shrink up. Seriously it's impossible. Going from 300 (highest was 382) to 151 pounds in 8 months, yes 8 months, and experiencing pain that only most people who die from cancer experience and actually somehow surviving everything that goes on from being incontinent and unable to walk to the emotional stress of wondering if ill survive and wondering when the arterial spurts of bags of money will stop to realizing that I am surviving and have to deal with the truly unimaginable life that has formed... Priorities change. I no longer have a need to be "attractive" or to not be ashamed of my turkey neck and what I'm now calling my "neutered scrotal armsacks" because my life on this planet isn't governed by my appearance, it's governed by how I perceive the world around me. I'm now one of the most annoying people you might ever meet but it's only because I tell it like it really is, not prettied up by false pretenses or gooey underbellies. Yes being attractive helps women and men get noticed for jobs or fundraising opportunities but it also is a reason to abandon those ideals. Nobody wants to be chosen for a career in realty if they really suck at sales but **ahem** do they look good on a poster... I seem pessimistic to many people but it's only because they are overly optimistic and probably sometimes quite shallow.

Saggy skin sucks but only if it is enough to throw off your balance when walking and moving around. If it actually does that then yes it would be wonderful to have it removed surgically. But until saggy skin does that to you, live freely, free from the superficial ideals which created the need to have unnaturally small waists or coin-bouncing abs or buttoxes.

Life is full of fake boobs and butts, what life needs is more natural and honest bodies, then people wouldn't be so ashamed of their non-plastic surgery body parts. 🙂 Be free.

[Squeeze96]

Justin,

I've lost 74 pounds with very little exercise - I'm in my mid-30's, but I'm a woman, so that will be different.  However, I was in the mid-200's.  I have a little, but nothing that I'm embarrassed by.  I think that if I exercise, I could get it to be very minimal.  If you work out, alot will bounce back.  Drink a lot of water, because that does help the elasticity.  There's no guarantees, but I would not think that you would have to worry about a substantial amount of skin.  In my 20's I lost about 100 and I did quite a bit of exercise in addition to proper diet.  I had a little tiny "lip" on my tummy.  I could wear a bikini and felt fairly good in my body.  It was not perfect, I didn't look like a model, but I looked darn good! 🙂  I don't blame you for having some apprehension.  I've thought about surgery if it got to be too much for me this time, but ultimately I heard that the surgery is quite painful - I love myself enough and my boyfriend loves me alot (and thinks I'm smokin'), so I don't think it's necessary.  But, you do what you need to.  It's important to feel comfortable.  Weight loss is physically, mentally, and emotially taxing.  You deserve to feel good when you reach your goal!

[sixfootroach]

I'm right there with ya BDunlap! I never cared about being popular since epilepsy caused every kid in middle school, high school and college including many teachers to turn on me except for my true friends when I was young. I've had epilepsy for 20+years now and it won't go away. The 6 medications I take have terrible side effects like muscle weakness all the time,drowsiness and weight gain but not as fast as it did when I was young. Also one of my pills slows down my metabolism. Many people don't understand people like us who have had something bad happen to us when we are young. I would have never been fat until taking Depakote for a month or two and quickly gaining over 100pds and weighing up to almost 300pds. 🙂

[bdunlap]

Sixfootroach, thanks for taking the time to respond. People really tend to be clueless until a major healthcare event rattles them. I was one of them. I freely admit it. I do not wish health crises on anyone though I do wish people could step into our shoes for a bit and see why it is we react the way we do to minor life inconveniences such as some saggy skin.

My bra isn't even holding my breasts up where they should be because the skin around my rib cage is too saggy. A smaller bra won't help. Surgical removal of skin would. Saggy skin is the least of my worries. Getting healthy, active and remaining so are my biggest goals. So I may never win a bikini award or look "fit" but I sure as heck am going to be fit.

[RexFeral]

I always thought that the loose skin was due to how fast the weight was lost. I lost 100+ and there was skin in the beginning but eventually, as the weight continued to drop, the skin sort of got sucked up somehow. It just took a very long time. My understanding is that the visceral fat is lost first, the fat you cant see. Then when thats done, the fat under the skin starts coming off and the skin just goes back to where its suppose to be. At least thats whats happened to me. Im in my 40s.  The only time this doesnt happen is when you loose weight unnaturally quick, like with gastric bypass. Its impossible for those people to wait that long for the skin to go away. 

[Lightsinger]

---

@JustinFK wrote:
I'm totally terribly terrified of lose skin from weight loss. You know those pictures of the guy who lost all the fat but kept the rolls of skin and saggy pecs, or the women who's bellies don't recover from pregnancies?
I'm just mortified at the thought... Wouldn't it be angonizing to lose all the weight and still not take off your shirt at the pool!!, to look worse than when you were fat, and then have to regain it all and start again at a much slower pace, or get surgery...

Anyway, how much loss will cause the problem, and how fast? I'm trying to cut a good 50lbs (to 7-9% fat) from a starting 200ish lbs. So far I've been burning about 13,000 extra calories of week, losing an avg of 4lbs a week. Am I risking approaching saggy skin, is 4lbs a week too much? Im not too old (early 30s, and I look like I'm early 20s, if facial elasticity plays a role, but I've also been carrying this fat for at least a decade, if that plays a role too...)

Anyway, anybody who has been down this road, or knows someone who has, I'd love some advice, or reassurance as to how best manage shrinking my skin in proportion to the rest of me

---

I have had the problem of loose skin, and it does suck, but I think it has a lot to do with how much weight you lose and how well your skin retains elasticity.  At 68, my skin just didn't bounce back the way it once might have done, and after losing 70 pounds, I do have some belly skin that is pooching down, because...well, gravity works.  I do look better in clothes than out.  But I feel so much better, have so much more energy that my feelings about myself are more positive, and that translates into feeling more attractive, even if I do have body imperfections.  Feeling positive can be very attractive, no matter your age, weight and physical imperfections, so concentrate on feeling great, and whatever happens -- or doesn't -- happens.