[sara5214]

I know we are all different but about much extra skin will be removed if someone looses 150 pounds? I have not been to a plastic surgeon yet my Dr. said it was better to wait 18 months after I stop loosing weight to have tucks done. That the skin will draw up some on its own sometimes. I don't see that happening too much!

The reason I am asking is my daughter and husband are telling me I am getting too skinny that my bones are showing, my eyes are starting to look weak, and my head is starting to look too big for my body, my rear end is getting too flat .... yada, yada, yada. I don't think they are just telling me this to hurt my feelings they are not that way. I still weigh 178 pounds. And by my height (5'5) that still puts me at being overweight. But they think I should try to stop loosing that I look great except the extra skin and needing to tone up some mussels. I am in a size 10-12 now I was a 24-28. I was wanting to get to a size 8 but not if I really do look as bad as they say I am starting to look. So how do I know if this is the right weight for me once tha skin is removed? How do we know when enought is enought? And when to listen to others and not ourselves? I know a lot of questions!

[DocSanae]

About 10-15lbs at least, probably.
About your bones, showing. Your bones are supposed to show!!!
Your collar bones, your wrist and ankle bones, your elbows, your knees, you should be able to feel your hip bones under your clothes. You should be able to see the lowest of your 12 ribs as well, even if you can't see the outline of the rest of your ribs. Too thin is there being a valley between each of your rib bones and your butt hollow below the outlines of your hip bones, looking as if only a thin layer of skin covers a skeleton. At 5'5" and 178lbs, I'm sure you have more than a thin layer of skin over your skeleton.

As far as looking droopy and hollow, you probably are at the height of that look right now. You've lost a lot of the fat cells that filled you up and rounded you out, and your muscles haven't caught up with pulling things this way and that to make you look more balanced. You'll be surprised how different you'll look after a year even at the same weight, because it's going to take 1-2 years for your muscles that support your skin to catch up. Once the muscles are strengthened, they will be able to support the loose skin better, and will help you look better without PS. The time to get PS is after this, to remove the skin that is still flapping after your muscles have toned up. Also, getting PS too early means that the muscles that support the skin aren't strong enough yet, so the outcome may not be as you would like it to be. Better to wait until your surgeon gives you the go ahead for the best results with the least hassle.

[Tricia Igo]

thanks for the info doc!! I learned a lot

[tcgc0114]

Originally Posted by Tricia Igo

thanks for the info doc!! I learned a lot

Wow, I did too - thanks for the post, Tricia, and the follow-up, Doc!

[not quite Barbie]

Tricia,
Stop worrying about the numbers and ask yourself how you feel. Do you feel well?

We all look haggard after the first year, after all, we've just spent a year nearly starving. Yes we're going to look pretty bad, but that's why we are under doctor's supervision, to make sure we're ok while we go through this. Let me tell you that you don't want to "stop" losing the weight just because you look rough right now. Once you stop, it's real, real hard to start losing again. Make sure YOU want to stop, not because of what other people say.

You also just aren't used to seeing yourself this thin. I know what you are going through, I posted about it 3 1/2 years ago when I thought I was getting too skinny. Don't be afraid, keep working it. You're going to see a major slow down in the weight loss soon anyway; everybody starts slwoing way down after the first year.

As to plastics, Doc explained it all very well. I'll only add that the skin really doesn't weigh very much considering how much there is. Don't expect the scale to go down a whole lot when you do get plastics (if you do). Another reason to wait 2 years to do plastics is back to the point that you've just been starving for a year. You need to spend the next year rebuilding your stores before you put your body through the major surgery of plastics.

Some people will find surgeons who will do it sooner, and many of those people regret it. Your body needs a lot of protein to heal and at the 1 year mark, you're still trying to get enough to sustain you, you'll need that and more to heal from plastics. You DON'T want to have healing problems when you are talking about incisions that go all the way around your body or from knees to crotch. Healing problems also result in horrible scars and sometimes even second surgeries. Get yourself as healthy as possible before you do plastics.

PS: I went from a size 24 to a 4. I had a lower body lift where they took off about 9 inches all the way around and I only lost 4 pounds from all that skin, which I regained in a year.

[Catsmeow79]

I was wondering all of this, too. This is all good information. Thanks, Ladies.

[pretty woman]

NQB
Did you have a facelift? I am not sure I can wait 2 years for that.
droopy eye lids
turkey gobble neck
and jowels?? Think that is what they are..yucko.

[sara5214]

Thanks everyone!! I think is is that they are just used to seeing me with so much fat on me that they are not used to the new me. Well they better get used to it cause I love the new me except for the extra skin. No way do I plan on going back to the ol fat, too tired to get up and do any thing, ashamed to walk into a room of people, snore all night, stop breathing when I sleep, having to sleep sitting up because of reflux, can't fine any clothes that fit, ...self! Yep after all these years I can say I am starting to LOVE ME!!

[melanie6]

This is a pretty neat post. Thank you, doc for the insight, i learned a thing or two from your post.

[loosinglynn]

pretty woman you have me cracking up. I feel ya on the turkey gobbler neck. I have one of thoses and I am 38. I am so glad to get this info. as well. I want to have this nasty inner thigh skin removed. For years my kids have called them "bull whips' it is at the upper thigh right before the WOO-WHO. I can deal with all the skin except, brest that look like a baseball in a tube sock, and the "bull whips"/