Has anyone lost a lot of weight and NOT had loose skin?

[Wasted Ink]

Just out of curiosity - there are so many threads on here about loose skin, ways of preventing it, emotional problems linked to it. I’m one of those that still worries about it (often daily) and have spent quite a lot of money trying to prevent it happening. You name it, I do it. Creams, body bruising, tons of exercise and toning, slow weight loss etc. By the time I finish losing weight, I’ll probably have lost at least 86lb. Having loose, granny-like skin at eighteen is my absolute worst fear. I’ve often seen programs where people have lost weight and their skin hangs like curtains - it looks like an eighty-year-olds skin on 30-year-olds.

Anyway, I was wondering whether anyone on here has lost a lot of weight (60lb or more) and had very little or no loose skin. I know this is largely a genetic thing - probably combined with pot luck! So are there any success stories out there - all I ever seem to read is how people have SO much skin following weight loss. I have read it can shrink, however, if you get your body fat percentage below 20% (although that would be very difficult, I imagine.)

 

[giblet]

Hi - I lost about 7 stone a few years ago and although I do have stretch marks / loose skin it really isn't that much, and I'm told I notice it a lot more than others.
I think the advice is to lose no more than 1-2lb per week and exercise a lot (I did the latter but lost quicker).
My weight has gone up and down a few stone since then but I'm hopeful that with everything you're doing it shouldn't be so bad.
Good luck x

 

[breadbin]

hiya, i'm hoping to lose 70+ lbs and don't plan on having the loose skin, i alwayes heard it was from losing weight too fast which is understandable really. there are people dropping 6-7lbs a week on here if not more which i personally think is too much but i'm hoping to do it bout a 1-2 lbs a week like the last poster suggested. but each to their own! hope it works anyway

 

[Blue Butterfly]

My sister went from a size 26 down to a size 8 in about a year. She wasn't on a diet as such,she just stopped eating properly so the weight came off really really quickly.
She only has a little bit of a 'jelly belly' It just looks like a not toned tummy,you wouldn't be able to look at her body and tell she has lost so much weight.
So yeah,there you go,not everyone ends up with loose skin

Claire x

 

[Wasted Ink]

Hey all! Thanks for the replies. I have lost almost 3 stone and don't have any so far. My arms are sort of flabby, which is depressing, but I think that's due to chubbiness more than loose skin. Hopefully genes/age/luck is on my side with this one! I did some research into this the other night and came across Philip McCuskey. I’d forgotten about this guy - but his story is amazing. He lost almost 16 stone on a raw food diet. I have seen him on TV. Anyway, what is amazing is that he doesn’t have very much loose skin. They didn’t show his stomach. His arms have a little loose skin, but it’s still tightening up and doesn’t look bad considering how much he’s lost. He credits this to MSM powder - it’s for your skin, nails and hair. I was going to start taking this anyway for my hair and nails. But given how well he’s done on it - I think I’ll start taking it soon. There are also several other people who seemed to have taken MSM and have managed to avoid the loose skin issue.

So here’s hoping. I’ll try it out and see how I get along.

 

[breadbin]

good stuff, long may it continue i remember seeing this guy who lost a huge amount of weight and i felt so sorry for him cos he had all the loose skin, he was depressed as hell cos of it, after all the effort he put into losing the weight

just saw this and thought it might be helpful. check out the pose on your man though

http://www.bodyfatguide.com/LooseSkin.htm

 

[mrsessex]

lol i bet the never showed his stomach either

Ive lost 7 stone and YES do have a hurrendous tummy (tummy tuck next year) and loose thigh skin at the top.
I lost weight at around 2-3 pounds a week...so not excessive.

Im 33.... 2 kids and 2 c-sections so that doesnt help...but from exp the ONLY real way to keep skin firm regardless of age is to tone....tone...tone

Good luck xx

 

[Wasted Ink]

Did you tone/exercise during weightloss?

Well I'm hoping my age (17) combined with the fact I've obviously never had kiddies may help my skin's elasticity at least a little. I do tone quite a bit - three hours of weight training a week, with 100 press-ups/100 situps and crunches a day. I do yoga, too, and am planning on taking up swimming in the next few months.

I hope it works.

 

[sweetpeas]

Hi everyone! I've just lost 6 stones in 6 months. I lost around a stone a month. My skins fine. What I did was used a body salt scrub on my stomach, thighs, bum and bust. The ones that have oil in you don't need to use a body lotion afterwards. But the salt scrubs that are not suspended in oil - just rub body lotion into these parts liberally to keep skin in the best condition possible. Keep renewing that skin and you'll have skin like a baby. I'm 43 and it's never looked better. I have another 3 stone to lose yet. Here is a clip on sagging skin which I found interesting YouTube - Sagging Skin

 

[Wasted Ink]

good stuff, long may it continue i remember seeing this guy who lost a huge amount of weight and i felt so sorry for him cos he had all the loose skin, he was depressed as hell cos of it, after all the effort he put into losing the weight

just saw this and thought it might be helpful. check out the pose on your man though

The Myth of Loose Skin

Thanks - I have seen that before and it is interesting and makes sense. I remember someone posting on here a while ago saying that a Dr they knew from Cambridge Univ also advocated this approach. One thing that is interesting is that when you see loose, crepy skin removed during surgery on TV, it always looks like they're removing quite substantial amounts of body fat as well.

 

[Desperate For Chocolate]

I have lost four stone and have about 10lbs left to shift and I have no loose skin.

I didn't exercise, didn't body brush or moisturise. I have never lost any more than 2lbs a week so it might be down to that.

Oh and I am more than twice your age:jelous:

They say give yourself a year after you reach your ideal weight before you do anything drastic like surgery. Skin adheres to muscle not fat and it can take a while for the skin to "re-connect".

EDIT Read your link and I think it makes a lot of sense. I still have a huge stomach (or it seems huge), when I mentioned this to a friend she immediately assumed it was loose skin. It isn't. Skin is paper thin. What I have is excess fat.

 

[RapidlyshrinkingSusan]

I'm really worried about this too. I'm 29 and already have loose skin on my stomach from having my two children. I'm just one of the unlucky ones in that my skin just didn't bounce back. I'm saving for a tummy tuck which I'm planning to have early next year after I've lost all my weight. I'm going to exercise daily too to make sure my arms and legs don't go all hangy! haha

 

[wendy59]

Hi sweetpeas, congrats on your weight loss...which diet did you follow? To lose all that in six months is fantastic

 

[Wasted Ink]

Thanks for all the great responses. I do agree that the info in the link makes a lot of sense.

sweetpeas - wow. Amazing achievement. I would like to lose around 4 stone within the next 12 months. I think that is quite achievable and will allow my skin to shrink at the correct rate. I'm going to try the salt scrub. Do you any particular recommendations or do they all do the same job? The link you posted is interesting - I agree with it. I'm going to start more serious weight training soon and hope that helps my slightly flabby arms.

Desperate For Chocolate - well done. I'm hoping with my military skin regime it should be ok. Also, I haven't lost the weight particularly fast; 1-2 lb a week if I'm lucky.

 

[RavenMoon]

ive lost 170lbs+ at the mo , and have loose skin yes.. but its better then fat for sure.... im still loosing weight.. will be able to have a operation to remove the excess if i maintain my goal weight.

 

[Chillimango]

Thanks for creating this thread! I am 22 years old and I was just looking in the mirror and I just hate what I see. I have so many stretch marks, which are all silvery which is good I guess? Have some really deep ones on my love handles I was getting really upset that I will look hideous when I have lost all the weight. I also have 42G boobs and they aren't very perky to begin with so god knows whats going to happen 10 stone down .

I'm just going to lose weight slowly and start some toning exercises! Take it from there. Its just so depressing, I feel like a prisoner in my own body. I have been fat since age 10 and I get really upset when I see 20 year olds on TV with perfectly flat tummies etc. So depressing. :sigh:

 

[Maynie]

Chillimango, when I was your age I lost 5 stone and had no loose skin at all. My boobs also perked up and didn't sag. I think at your age your skin has enough elasticity to recover.

 

[MayfairE]

This is something I've worried about for years, hell it was something I used as an excuse NOT to lose weight with once or twice and yes, I do know that's crazy.

When I started losing weight this year I was 24st and at only 5'7" believe me that's not a pretty sight. It was pretty much all carried on my tummy, (apparently common for PCOS sufferers?), so I'll admit I have that "apron of fat". That's the part that worries me, I don't think any amount of slow weight loss or toning will work on that, I'll just be left with a lose, flappy bit :|

The other bits that really make me think I'm gonna be left with a lot is the whole "back fat" thing not to mention the tops of my thighs. Maybe if I could get someone to chop me in half in the middle and pull my legs up and my top down they'd meet up rofl!

I think some people get lucky, some carry their weight in different ways which helps dramatically with how your skin is affected...not everyone's stomach flops over the top, some carry their weight in a more 'all round' kinda way and the skin isn't really stretched out as far as it could be. Some of us just aren't quite so lucky but as one person said... rather the loose skin than the fat right?

 

[sylviebea]

My mum lost A LOT of weight when she was young and had no loose skin at all.