Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Sagging Skin

I'm now just over 27 pounds lost since starting back in mid-July, and one of my bigger concerns is starting to possibly show up.

Month ago, when I'd step out of the shower and grab my towel and towel off, I'd look in the mirror. All my 'stuff' stayed relatively in place. I guess my skin was pretty taught (and as I was adding a pound a month at that point, I was always stretching against it), so it kept me together. But now there's 27 pounds worth of empty space, and when I towel off, my 'stuff' starts to jiggle. And keeps jiggling. lol. It's most pronounced at the bottom of my gut, where the stomach overhangs my waistline. Not only does that area shake quite a bit, but it also seems to have what looks to be little pock marks or hail damage. Not quite cellulite (does that stuff get on your stomach?), but just... I don't know. About a month ago on my forearms (especially the right one) I noticed this kind of... divot? Sure. Divot. I noticed this divot appear on the inside of the forearm. It doesn't correspond to any missing bone or missing muscle, and I assume that as I was losing weight the divot was just one of the first areas that the fat started disappearing from. I know that there's no such thing as spot reduction (you can't do situps to lose fat around the midsection specifically, it just all starts coming off), but I do think that there's probably little spots that will just disappear a bit faster than others as my body gets used to less fat. Or burns it off.

Back on topic. I fear the sagging, loose skin. And I know that some of the people out there reading this have lost 30, 50, 100 and even more pounds. What can you tell me? I've heard rumors about milk helping to tighten the skin, but that sounds to me like a wives' tale. I've also read articles that say that if you're working out, you're filling some of the space back up with muscle and it helps to lessen the issue. I'm not down with much in the way of medical, but I think in this instance I'd opt for the skin removal surgery if it gets bad. Anyone have that? Recommendations?

307.5 btw

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

From what I hear, if you lose a whole lot of weight, the skin just cannot snap back because it's been stretched too far for too long.

Surgery becomes the only option at that point.

I bet when I get under 250 pounds that I'll be looking at a lot of loose skin, but right now, I don't really have any to speak of.

lj said...

I've heard alot of doctors say the same thing. But some of it depends on genetics and the elasticity of your skin. different people have varying degrees of this problem. If I were you I'd go see a dermatologist while I'm in the process of losing weight just to get an informed opinion and maybe some treatment options that may not totally fix the problem but help to some degree. couldn't hurt!

Anyway although sagging skin can be unsettling don't let it stop you! you're doing great! keep pushing!

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