I don't think I'll ever have plastics

I'm so happy you are in school!! I remembered you posting you wanted to be a nurse. There are a lot of ways to get financial aid. Several of my cousins are nurses. It is a great career and there are so many avenues you can pursue. Just stick with it!! :)

Real quick, one more thing to add even though I've already said my 2 cents lol, there is a post on here somewhere, it was a recent post, pics of a lady's incisions on her arms, it looks gawd awful painful. I think maybe there is a forum listed plastics go look. I think her incisions have pretty much made me think I will never have my arms done yikes maybe my tummy cause thats pretty bad

You know what I love about OH? Yesterday I read this thread and I was seeing red. NOT a your posts but because of the one obviously inappropriate and condescending reply. However my aversion to conflict kicked in and I told myself to wait and if I was still as mad later to come back and post something then. Well I came back with just that in mind and found out I didn't need to :)

Now as far as your original post. Plastics or no plastics doesn't really matter in the long run. You make your decisions and change them or not as YOU see fit. What does matter is you are doing AWESOME!! Everyone always says we have surgery on our guts not our heads and it sounds to me like you are doing what you can/should to make your brain work with your surgery instead of against it. That can only help you in the long run.

What a sweetheart you are to want to take care of your grandmother. GRATITUDE. So many people haven't a clue what this is. You obviously aren't one of them.

All the best on your journey. And by the way, I started out SMO, lost 160 and my skin looks decent. I'm also 61 so less chance for bounce back.

It IS to soon for you to be thinking about plastics. You will know when you arrive at your goal-ish weight and see how things are for you. You are just too funny or you are blessed with very special genetics when it comes to skin elasticity if you think that muscle development will do very much against the amount of saggy skin that results from years (or even decades) of being very overweight. I am a weight lifter and have more muscle than 90% of women my age (ie I am very muscular) and that matters very little. Muscular development addresses only about 10% of the saggy skin issue. I do agree that the fitness piece is important and see what it does for you before you decide about plastics.

The other reality that I faced is that even after I was at goal weight of 145 and a very low body fat from the weight lifting and generally good fitness (about half of my former self) that my fat was not nicely and evenly distributed, but rather concentrated in the saddle bag thigh area and my upper arms were sad. To have Michele Obama bicepts with a curtain of empty skin draped over them was more than I could tolerate.

As for me: I say. "Cut, baby, cut. Lipo, baby, Lipo."

Good luck with your weight loss journey. It my humble recommendation to reduce any part of your budget as possible to save for plastics or travel. Wear the same pair of black yoga pants forever, etc, and start a saving fund as soon after surgery as possible. You might never have plastics, but you could do something else with that $$$.

Thank you for your post! I definitely am not in denial that I will have crazy baggy skin! If I can afford it in my future believe me I would. It is just more important to me to take care of my grandmother who adopted me and supported me my whole life.

I think that's really admirable :D

And I totally understand. Even if I had been ready for plastics during my dad's cancer battle, there would have been no way I'd have been willing to make the time for it. I couldn't have taken 2-6 weeks just to recover when I never knew when I'd need to go into caregiver mode. Making time for my VSG was challenging enough and, thankfully, that was VERY early on in his cancer battle.

From your post and your picture - you seem to be young lady. Very well raised young lady.

You have the right priority. I admire that.

As a over 50 young person - I can tell you that things change.

The was a point in my life that someone scolded me for telling them that there was something I "could not afford". That person put things in perspective for me. He told me that that set of mind is really bad for a person. Instead he asked me how important "that" thing was and what I was willing to do - give up to get that.

Guess what - that "new - better car" was on a very low priority for me since I had a drivable car.

I think often about his advice. Then when I really really want something - I start thinking about way to get what I want.

I.e. I would save even 20-50 per month to get that. 50 per month is only 600 per year - but over 10 years that would be 6,000. Getting an extra job, or helping someone when they need it and getting paid for - adds up. I.e. my friend is taking care for our cats when we are gone: even though she is a good friend - I still pay her, not as much as I would pay for the qty of care she does - but the extra is hers to "treat herself".

When I need money- I would house sit dog sit for my friends. I color my own hair, do my own nails. I use thrift stores and Goodwill to buy my clothes. That how I could justify having a face lift last year. 8 years after my RNY.

I had body lift and breast lift (no implants) because I saved for that before my RNY and after.

The boobs - I really needed that. The body lift - that was on "I want". Face lift was lower priority - and my savings we gone - so I had to wait 4 more years. Priorities. When going out with friends- I would order an appetizer and water. My bill was no more than 10-15 and I still had fun. While they paid 40-50 per evening. And complained about being broke. My nails - I cut them short, and rarely use nail polish. And so on.

You have your priorities.

But - your are young - you have time. Emergencies can happen - but planning for what you want - and making it happen - is a skill that anyone can learn.

I can see great things in your future. You can make that happen. If you make that a priority for you.

Good luck.

Muscle will also serve you with a greatly improved metabolism and help tremendously with keeping weight off.

I will go both routes, but I completely understand it being a small fortune. I may never be able to get it all done. My current insurance pays for it, but I am looking to switch jobs. I am saving what pennies I can and hope disaster doesn't strike: a tree falling on my car, a flood, the zombie apocalypse, running out of earl grey tea.

Kidding aside, it is good to find what works for you. I echo that you should not exclude possibilities! Ten years ago I was told I was permanently disabled and that I would never lose weight, and die before I hit 40. Well, guess what, I turned 40 two weeks ago and I've lost more weight than a welsh pony. While cringe-worthy, I never expected to be able to do that, or even get my degrees. Life is funny because it proves us wrong sometimes...or maybe it's just me who is stubborn and gets proven wrong a lot of the time!

I posted earlier, but I meant that life is not always what you expect it to be. You could win the lottery and take care of granny and do everything that your heart desires - whether that includes PS or not.

You appear young and your skin has a good chance of significant recovery on its own. Get a good moisturizer and use it every am and pm and give yourself the best chance for it to shrink as possible.

Good luck on your journey!