Solutions for loose skin short of plastic surgery?

I'm have my surgery in 5 days.  Is there anything I can do to firm the skin as I lose weight?  Has anyone tried firming creams and excercise?  I'm having RNY, what can I expect the pain to be after surgery?  How did you all feel after 2 weeks?  Ready to go back to work? Thanks for any help.

Pain was not bad for me, but I have a high pain threshold. If your skin is really stretched it won't go back into shape.  But if it's just been "mildly inflated" for a while it might bounce back very nicely.  I doubt that firming creams will help and exercise will help your muscles so they might fill out your skin nicely, but it won't do anything for the skin itself.

Skin: The horrible answer is...nothing is going to make your excess skin fit better to your new body except cutting off the excess and stitching the left overs into place aka plastic surgery. Some people's skin pops back nicely...some people's skin is really quite bad. Excercising will help if there is just a bit of loose skin...especially on the arms and legs...but most of us it's not really going to help alot. Creams and ointments will always have someone to say it worked for them...but they probably would have had the same result without the creams. Same thing goes for hair loss.  Pain: Some people are only down a few days in the hospital and by the time they are going home they don't have any pain and just take it easy for awhile with almost no pain. Other people are in utter agony for more than a month. It truly varies quite alot from person to person. A good indicator is if you had other surgeries and how you tolerated them. I had a previous c-section...and it was horribly painful and it took me almost a month to be able to walk somewhat normally and not take pain medication. The same was for the gastric bypass. I was literally couch bound and could barely make it to the bathroom for over 3 weeks...it took me a month and a half to be able to walk some what normally for a short distance. At about 3 months I was good to go. I am an extreme case for pain. I have met many people who have had a great experience with almost no pain. I have also met people who had a tough time. Your best bet is to anticipate something in the middle if you haven't had surgery before. Make sure you have help while your in the hospital and when your home. Can't really run after kids if your stuck with pain on the couch! You might also need help with your own care while at home. But then again you might not. I always think it's best to be over prepared and have help and not need it. I would like to make it very clear that even though I had alot of pain after surgery...I would do it again and I am very happy with my results and experience. After 2 weeks? Going back to work?: Answered this a bit before. Some feel fine after 2 weeks...some still feel awful. I think 2 weeks of recovery may not be enough. It's a big life style change and alot of people at that point are still on just liquids which doesnt' give you alot of energy. You are still healing alot at that point. I am sure there are plenty of people who would say they did it and it was fine. I would just suggest caution and try and set it up so that if you still need time after 2 weeks you can take it off. I know of several folks who tried to go back to work full time too early ... one lady was able to drop back down to full time until she was ready...I am not sure how long until she was back full time. I also know someone who shopped at Wal-Mart the day after they were released at the hospital. So it just goes to show that you can't really tell how people heal after the surgery. I truly hope you are one of the lucky ones who heals wonderfully and quickly with little to no pain and no complications. Just remember that this is major surgery and it entails all that a surgery implies. Talking to other patients who had the same surgeon may also give you a more accurate picture of what to anticipate. Good luck.