Wonder how much weight is carried as excess skin

I am 5'5" and have lost 165 pounds from my highest recorded weight of 317. Of course, I have a lot of excess skin - mostly in my arms and legs. My torso is relatively lean. I'm happy with where I am at and feel if that I losing more weight at this point would only exasperate the loose skin issues. I'm still "overweight", but I wonder how much of that really just is excess skin. I wonder how much all that skin weighs. :D

Anyone have excess skin removed and care to share what the difference was?

I answered on the RNY forum, but will answer here, too. I'm 5'7" tall. My highest weight was 339 and I maintain around 140. I had a lower body lift and had 2 square feet of skin removed. It weighed 5 pounds. And I did not go down a single size in clothes. Still thankful for my plastic surgery. I feel "whole" again.

I've been active on the plastics forum for a while now. Most people seem to lose 5-10 pounds max, especially those of us at a normal BMI. People with excess weight usually have more removed because there is fat attached to the excess skin.

Congrats on your success :)

skin doesn't weight much, it's the fat that does.  Most people stay the same size of clothing and barely lose any weight but then some lose 10lbs cuz they had fat removed as well....so basically, only you can tell by your own condition, do you have only skin to remove or there's a bit of fat?  By the time I go for my PS (getting everything done from neck to knees) I will have 270lbs gone and I am not expecting to be lighter after surgery as it will be all skin (maybe 5lbs less but doubt it)

Hope that helps!

Nathalie

Thank you for the feedback! I'm not going to have plastics done, but I was curious about how much weight the skin caries to help me decide how much more I should endeavor to lose. The last 10 pounds that I have lost hasn't made much difference in my size, but has definitely contributed to more sag. I'm trying to decide whether I want to continue losing or maintain where I am at.

I think that there is definitely more fat under the skin, I'm just not sure whether I want to lose it. My torso is surprisingly lean. The extra skin is in my legs and arms.

I had my full body done after 230 lbs lost - I never saw a loss on the scale because of swelling. 3 weeks after I was back to my pre-PS weight but then put on a few lbs while dealing with post op blues. I wouldn't recommend counting on PS reducing your weight by much- maybe a few lbs or so. 

I think it is entirely dependent on the individual and the body type you are. I was super morbidly obese (325 lb) and tended to carry my weight in my abdomen. I had a lower body lift, booty lift, along with hernia repair. My surgeon said it was the most he had ever taken off one person at one time. He took around 20 lbs. I have hovered between 5 lbs difference than that I was after surgery. That weight loss was maintained (in other words i was 20 lbs lighter than I was before surgery). I then continued to lose again and today I am 10 lbs lighter than I was after surgery. Everybody is different!

B