Questions about stretchmark and skin hanging down

Hi, I would like to know if obese people that have lost a lot of weight, have ever experienced skin problems like belly or arms skin hanging down?  Because someone has told me that when the skin is stretched, it can’t come back like before, but I don’t really believe this person, because I have lost almost 70 pounds and I got nothing like this, not even a new red stretchmark, (I already got that in my first diet and it had become white after a few months).

 I often heard on TV that people who had a major surgery for weight lost, have to get another surgery in order to remove the exceeding skin. I believe that’s because these people have lost too much weight too rapidly, but if someone lose weight slower, the stretch skin can retake its original form. Is it right?

 What are your knowledge and your experiences about that? What is possible to do to firm up the skin? For the stretchmark, is it possible to avoid that, what can we do to reduce the appearance of that?

 Thanks

I don't think it's entirely possible to avoid stretchmarks. Lotions and creams are available off the shelf but they aren't exactly 100% effective too. Surgery seems like the best option, really.

It has to do with speed.  Rapid weight loss that comes with gastric bypass is more likely to leave excess skin.  Many people who loose slowly do not have excessive skin.  It also has to do with the individual and the elasticity of their skin.

Stretch marks come with the gain and not the loss.  They are also more likely to occur with rapid gain (like pregnancy). With loss, already existing stretch marks may be less visible, but dont usually disappear completely. 

As far as what to do about it- well I guess it can be a deterent to rapid weight loss.  But honestly I say be happy with yourself for loosing weight in the first place. 

Otherwise the option is cosmetic surgery.

How did you loose 70 pounds???? Please tell!

I agree with many of the posts above. The development of loose skin is caused by several factors:

Age (younger skin tends to be more elastic)

Weight lost (The amount of excess skin will vary- but in general more pounds
lost = more skin).

Time taken to lose weight (The quicker the loss- the more skin).

Exercise taken while losing (More exercise- better tone)

Yo-Yo dieting or pregnancy- If the skin has been repeatedly shrunk and stretched in the past through dieting/weight gain or pregnancy it will lose elasticity.

Obviously the appearance and severity of excess skin will vary from person to person. Despite all the precautions I have taken ( am 25, never had a child, have lost 111 pounds so far over 2 years with exercise) I will be having a tummy tuck when I reach goal.

This is very normal for those who have a lot of weight to lose. I have always suggested my clients use CLA to help re-distribute fats and thus better body composition. 4000mg daily is sufficient, 1 cap at each meal and one before bed. CLA tends to help tighten the skin and aids in ridding of cellulite!! Give it a try, most health food stores carry it, and is very reasonably priced.

Well, I've lost about 55 lbs in my life.  I lost it in 2 clumps.  35 lbs, then maintained for like 5 years, then I lost another 15 lbs.  Each weight loss occurred over a period of 3 months.  I have some stretch marks, but they have faded a lot since loosing weight and going to the gym.  If you rapidly loose weight they're not going to shrink back as nicely.  The key is to be steady with your weight loss AND your exercise.

If you have lost a significant amount of weight, you may have that saggy skin!  My mother had a gastric bypass.  The DR told her to weight 2 years after the initial weight loss before she decided if she needed to remove any of the excess skin.  He said that it could take up to 2 years for the skin to shrink.  What ever is left after that, may never go away.  If it is a hinderance, then it can be removed.  Hope this helps!

I think a lot is genetics too.  I'm 39, one child and lost 48 pounds since last Feb.  (The last 5 were over 4-5 months)  I have sagging skin, more wrinkles and I have to lotion a lot.  My breasts are also gone and when I lean over, they look like they are just loose skin too. 

I have had stretch marks since I was a child.  I "developed" early, despite being underweight (ladies bra at age 9) and have had stretch marks there since.  I developed stretch marks on my thighs at 13, even though I was fairly thin.  Rapid weight gain at 27 (marriage, 30+pounds in a year) led to stretch marks on my stomach.  Slow weight loss, however hasn't helped me in the skin dept. 

My girlfriend, on the other hand, is 49, 2 kids, lost 50+ pounds (same time frame) and has fewer wrinkles and no sagging skin or stretch marks.  She claims she puts hair conditioner on her skin. go figure

If I'm in a financial circumstance to do so, I may consider skin tucks in a few years myself.  It's just gross to look at, grosser than the fat. 

Original Post by laurabow:

I agree with many of the posts above. The development of loose skin is caused by several factors:

Age (younger skin tends to be more elastic)

Weight lost (The amount of excess skin will vary- but in general more pounds
lost = more skin).

Time taken to lose weight (The quicker the loss- the more skin).

Exercise taken while losing (More exercise- better tone)

Yo-Yo dieting or pregnancy- If the skin has been repeatedly shrunk and stretched in the past through dieting/weight gain or pregnancy it will lose elasticity.

Obviously the appearance and severity of excess skin will vary from person to person. Despite all the precautions I have taken ( am 25, never had a child, have lost 111 pounds so far over 2 years with exercise) I will be having a tummy tuck when I reach goal.

 

This is pretty darn accurate!  Take it from someone who lost more then 200 pounds losing it slowly through diet and exercise.  I workout at the gym 5-7 days per week doing 1 hour of weight training and 30 minutes of cardio.  I have great muscle tone but the excess skin is horrendous!

I carried my excess weight for more then 15 years and I'm in the 'older' category so my skin elasticity is pretty well gone.  My doctor and my plastic surgeon both guesstimate that I'm carrying around 15-20 pounds of excess, hanging skin that will NOT go back into place. 

All the things that Laurabow mentioned are factors in whether or not you'll have excess skin.

As for stretchmarks, my plastic surgeon scoffs at the expensive creams.  He said creams don't make stretch marks disappear.  All they do is make the skin more supple, which helps the appearance a little.  He also said inexpensive creams from the drug store that contain some form of petroleum jelly are just as effective, if not more so, as the expensive creams.

Not the news we all want to hear -- Just a sad fact and repercussion of being obese.

Everyone mentioned a lot of great points.  Unless I missed it, there is one thing you CAN to to help with the saggy skin issue.  While losing weight, you need to do some resistance training or strenght training.  If you are doing that as well as diet and cardio  you are more likely to see the muscle and skin balancing out than with diet and/or cardio only. 

But if you lose way to fast, you still may see some of the saggy skin. 

Like everyone else said, Stretch marks are there for good.  A doctor told me that petrolium jelly is the best skin care product there is.  People just don't like it because it is greasy.  And keeping the stretch marks moisturized while losing weight and changing shape will help a bit.  But nothing makes them go away.

I have read stories of people losing a lot of weight, then tightening up their skin by jumping on a mini-trampoline (rebounder?) 20+ min. a day.  They explain that the friction created by your skin going up and down helps work it and tighten it up.

Back in the day...Weight Watchers required 3-5 fish meals per week. The reason was that there is something in fish that helps skin elasticity.  Now they don't push that as much anymore, but they do talk about 3 healthy oils per day. Oil is essential to skin elasticity as well as those mentioned, genetics and exercise/toning. Another fundemental helper is WATER.  So, drink those 6-8 glasses or water, eat fish at least three times per week, and exercise, tone, while losing slowly. It will help and I guarantee that is one of the reasons the Biggest Loser people don't have so much excess skin!!!! 

Original Post by katiebkh:

It will help and I guarantee that is one of the reasons the Biggest Loser people don't have so much excess skin!!!! 

Actually, the Biggest Loser contestants DO have a problem with excess skin.  It's just better TV if they show the amazing, beautiful results as opposed to the reality.

Yesterday, it was revealed that Biggest Loser winner, Erik Chopin, had body lift surgery to remove 10 pounds of excess skin.  Sadly, he has since gained back 122 pounds of fat (http://www.nowpublic.com/health/erik-chopin-b iggest-loser-season-3-winner-gains-back-122-p ounds).

You don't notice the excess skin as much when someone is wearing the right clothes or posing the right way.  If you look at the Before/After pic in my profile, it's not all that noticeable that I have 20 pounds of excess skin to be removed from my arms and lower body (the pouchy looking tummy in my swimsuit pic is a giveaway). 

I'm trying to get up enough nerve to post a pic of my arms.  I have great muscle definition (guns!) on my upper arms from dedicated strenght training, but unfortunately I have about 4" of loose skin hanging from the bottom of my upper arms.  Ick!

Good point about the water.  Not only is it just plain good for you, it also helps with skin health and gives you a nice glow.

i saw an advert recently that reckons it is possible to lose the saggy skin. their theory is that there is still fat in the loose skin that needs to be lost, so you have to get rid of that last bit. Which may be hard as your body tries to keep on to the last bits of fat.

i had really bad strechmars when i was fatter; i lost 20 kgs and now they are hardly noticable although the skin's density/elactstiy is diffrent to that of normal skin, its not that bigger deal.

I know both of my grandparents had gastric bypass surgery about 15-18 years ago. They both used to weigh between 400 and 500 pounds each.

It isn't as noticeable on my grandfather, because he's about 6'3", but he's only in his 60s and has a lot of excess skin on his face.

My grandmother, on the other hand, had a bit more trouble with it. She's about 5'1". She often complains about how she looks like she's in her 90s or 100s, she has so much extra skin on her face and other parts of her body.

So I definitely agree that a rapid weight loss can do it, being a bit older (maybe mid-forties and up?) can do it, and lack of exercise otherwise can do it (neither of them were very active when they started losing weight, to my knowledge).

As for stretch marks, I haven't exactly gained or lost a lot of weight ever, or yet, but the stretch marks I got on my arms, breasts and thighs have faded a lot just with time. I think what helped the ones on my arms was sun exposure? I', very pale and burn like crazy, so being out in the sun with a tank top on at all makes me burn-tan.

Hope that helped at least a little.

YOGA!! tones up everything.  I am down 101.5 in 12 ish months and i have yet to see skin sag.  Yoga once a week feels like I am toning everything.  At some point I will do more Yoga and exercise to tone up a bit but I am just taking it one small step at a time.

Adro Sarnelli from Australia's Biggest Loser also had issues with sagging skin. I really do believe this is why they switch mid-season to having the losers switch to wearing shirts during the weigh-in - the weight loss is nigh miraculous, but the reality is that there's skin left behind.

Toning replaces some of the empty area with muscle.  But skin has no muscle or ability to tone.  Exercise and yoga are great just because they are, but skin has to recede naturally or surgically.  Your body will reabsorb the some of the cells, elasticity comes into play, but contrary to what Oil of Olay tells us, we cant tone it the way you can a bicep or hamstring.

Coatesuwyo- I am guessing lack of sagging skin is because you lost a reasonable amount over a year.  (Totally awsome BTW)   :)

Hi,

Regarding stretchmarks, I have always found that the best indicator of getting them is ask your family members.  If your Mom, your sisters or other family members have them, you most likely will too.  During pregnancy I had enough of cocoa butter and other creams on my tummy my pants could have slipped off by themselves!  I still ended up with stretch marks.  I am afraid it is in the genes.  If there were really some way to rid ourselves of those unsightly marks,  I think we would have seen it on Oprah by now. lol