Skin after loss :(

I probably won't get much of a sympathy party because I know I should be happy with the way things have turned out.

I have lost 154 lbs since my surgery (Dec 2007).  I went from a size 26 to a size 10.  From 3x to Medium.  

However, I have so much excess skin, all over.  From my arms, breasts, belly, back, inner thighs... everywhere.  It looks like I get up in the morning, put on a skin suit then put on my clothes.  I hate it, it makes me feel worse in some ways, than when I was "just" fat.  

It's uncomfortable and unflattering, yet I don't know what to do about it.  My insurance considers surgery to remove it as strictly cosmetic so I'm out of luck there.  I can't afford to pay out of pocket.  Is there ANYthing I can do to tighten it up?  

I can't explain in words just how depressed it makes me.  After all my hard work to drop all this weight and I look worse now than I did when I was heavy.  Naked anyway..haha.

You could try stuff like Spanx but that's only helpful in clothes, otherwise there truly is nothing that will help 100%. You can try building muscle to fill in the skin and it may help some.

 WOW I am in the same boat... i went from a size 28 to an 8... yeah I look fabulous with clothes on but naked... OH NO!  But here is how I see it and what I do when i wear my shorts and tank tops in the summer... I call them my battle scars.  I look at the excess skin as all the hard a** work I put into the band and how far I've come.  It does get in the way but for the most part, I don't let it bother me.  I wear my loose skin proudly I guess you can say.  I asked one of the plastic surgeons I work with about a body lift or what I call the "Barbie" and he told me that I had to have my babies first before he would even considering doing surgery.  That's the only thing to curb all the excess skin.... exercise does not help much but I do love my shake weight.  I swear by it... I really thing it has helped my bat wings be not so floppy.  

Take care and you've done great on your journey!
Jan

I know the feeling!  I have a summer place on the water and I am more self conscious  now than before.  100 degree weather doesn't help!  oh well!  I do feel 100% better now than before!

I now have a lot of loose skin, however I would much rather have that than all the fat I had previously!

I know how you feel. I have losr 94 pds . and have a lot of loose skin. I have been going to the tanning bed,and now I look like a zebra.I have stripes, from all the loose skin. I don't think , I will ever think that I  am slim, because of all that ugly skin hanging from my stomach. Ther is just not anything I can do about it. I can thought about having the surgery and just trying to pay for it, but I clean houses for a living and I can't stay out of work for 6 weeks.

Hugs! Whenever u get down about the loose skin try to change your chain of thought to all the pounds lost! 94 is quite an achievement!!!

I have been wondering/fretting about having loose, flabby skin since the day I thought about having the LB and it ha**** me hard these last couple of months when I look in the mirror. I think it is ugly even though I am happy with my weight loss so far and being able to wear "normal" sized clothing. The older you are the worse it seems to be even with walking 5-7 miles per day (in training for the walk for a cure).
Sorry, that I can only agree with you and not offer words of comfort except for the fact that we are heathlier then we used to be and that is sayin' a lot!

I feel your pain. I've lost about 80 lbs overall, but the loose skin on my stomach and upper arms does bother me.

I agree with everyone else though - better loose skin that fat-filled skin! And I also agree that Spanx and other types of foundation garments work wonders. I recently bought 2 Spanx tank tops - one black and one white - to wear underneath my summer tops. They were expensive, but a great investment! They totally smooth everything out!

If you are really interested in plastic surgery, check into local teaching hospitals.  Also go to the PS board to see how people are dealing with getting approvals, etc.

I have had 3 plastic surgeries.  Between 2005-2006 I lost 137 pounds and then over the next 5 years proceeded to gain almost all of it back. UGH.  But, before gaining it back I had a brachioplasty, LBL and a breast lift and augmentation.  I went to a teaching hospital, Mt. Sinai in NYC, and paid a total of $8,000 for all of the surgeries.   I had a remarkable resident who was supervised closely by a very popular NYC plastic surgeon.  Many people scoff at using teaching hospitals but I , and many others at the time, had a GREAT experience there.

Interestingly enough, even after gaining the weight back I didn't have a whole lot of compromise to my surgeries.  I had the lapband on March 29 and have lost 55 pounds so far, and everything is still tight.  SO FAR! LOL 

Good luck!