Yes you can strech it out. You have to watch what you eat and make good food choices.......... I know a few people that have gained the wieght back and then some......... becasue they made the wrong food choices. Just keep focused, even though that is hard to do sometimes........ but I know I do not want to go backwards!

Mellisia, I could not believe how easy this surgery was. For the first few days I literally had no pain! I am a week out and at the end of the day I notice that my arms will feel like the incision is pulling somewhat and a little achey. Nothing major. It truly was a breeze. My only thing was having to change the dressing and looking at the ugly scars. They are pretty hideous so be prepared. I was like you, my arms were so bad I could not wear short sleeves either and I live in Arizona! So, I decided that this would be the surgery I would pay for. I am thrilled. I had gone out and bought a ton of new summer clothes for my cruise in June and all of them are sleeveless. Sadly, my thighs are a mess too. If there is any way I can swing it I would like to have them done too. I will not wear shorts now. The skin is literally hanging down and I know people would just gawk at me. When I was overweight my legs were at least filled out and really didn't look so bad, now with the weight loss they look horrible! I guess we're never happy are we? Sigh... You are so fortunate that your insurance will pay for surgery. I have Cigna and we all know they pay for nothing! Good luck and keep us posted! Kim R/az

Hi Dawn, I just had my arms done last Wednesday. I am 2 lbs from goal and 15 mos out so my surgeon had no problem performing the surgery. I am anxious to see how my arms look after they heal and the swelling goes down. Already, I can see a huge difference. I would love to have a thigh lift, boobs done and gut removed but seeing how I have to pay out of pocket, it's not likely that will happen. I'd wait till you were closer to goal to start talking to a surgeon. I suspect they will tell you the same thing to optimize your best results. Good luck! Kim R/az 233/132/130

My PCP and I duscussed plastic surgery. He suggested I start visiting plastic surgeons and get the process started. I had my initial consultation last month with the ps. He told me if I still wanted to lose 30 more pounds to come back and see him when I had lost all the weight I wanted to lose, or when I absolutely could not lose any more. He explained that we needed to be stable a month or so after we finished losing before having ps. He said the time between the next office visit and surgery would give me that time of stability. He expects to take off 30-35 lbs of skin/fat when he does my around the world. If I went on to have the other surgeries he suggested I'd lose another 15-20 lbs (thigh lift, arm lift, breast lift, upper body lift, face). I think I will stop with the around the world for a lot of reasons, time off work, MONEY, pain and suffering. At 59 and being overweight all my life this body is never going to be perfect but clothes do a good job of hiding the problems other than the hanging stomach. I won't feel my journey is complete until I do the around the world. I might even consider doing my eyes and neck at some point down the line because some lift in those areas would make me look younger and less drawn. Time will tell, but I can assure you I'm not having all the surgeries this body would need to look half way normal in the nude. Best of luck to you on your continued success. Pat 410/352/224/195 After plastic surgery at 195 I would end up around 160-165.

Thanks for your thoughts and comments about my problem. I have decided to start drinking a protein shake or Isopure drink for breakfast each morning which will start my day off with sufficient protein. The rest of the day I am cuttiung my meat back to 3 oz per meal and adding a few bites of low carb. veggies. If I need extra protein I will add 2 oz. cheese or 10 almonds as a snack. As long as my blood work is fine I don't see why it should matter to my surgeon how I get there. I do understand his thinking about eating rather than drinking protein. His thoughts are food fills us up more than drinks but my pouch is so tiny I just can't eat enough food to fill my protein needs. I am going to make this change for my mental health. You guys are great to give me your input.