Sagging Skin? page

**Rags** · 11-08-2012, 07:14 AM

A friend of the family is considering going Primal/Paleo after seeing the weight I had taken off. However I only took off 42 pounds she wants to do 150+ pounds. Her concern is sagging skin. She had considered gastric bypass but a side effect is excess skin. A friend of hers at work who is supposed to be paleo is telling her that the skin tightens up on our type of lifestyle and she does not need to worry about the skin. She is asking me to confirm this. I honestly don't know.

Anyone with first hand experience that can help with that question? She is about 5' 3" and 280 pounds(my estimate).

**Rusty** · 11-08-2012, 07:22 AM

Everything is going to depend on her skins elasticity. Also, there is no telling how fast she will lose weight once she goes primal. I lost 130 lbs with hCG and being Paleo, and my skin is a lost cause. I am also 45 and was obese for more than 20 years.

If she can afford to do gastric bypass, then my advise is go Paleo/Primal, lose the weight, learn to eat correctly, and once her weight has been stable for a year, use the money for lifts and tucks!

Frankly, I would rather be thin and healthy with saggy skin, then fat and sick with tight fat filled skin.

**WeldingHank** · 11-08-2012, 01:45 PM

I have lost 170+ pounds, and things seem to be tightening up pretty well. but I'm only 28, so as always, you milage may vary.

**Damiana** · 11-08-2012, 01:54 PM

Yep, ymvv. I've seen people lose a lot of weight with not much sagginess whereas some will need surgery to remove excess skin. It depends on your skin's condition to start with too. Healthy, younger skin will bounce back better.

Donna* · 11-08-2012, 02:37 PM

I have lost 46 lbs and have a little bit of a tummy still (another 10 -15 lbs to go), my skin is wrinkled in the tummy area, but I much prefer it to the pendulous roll of flab that it was. I know and accept that it will never be taut and flat (unless I have surgery). I am hoping that there will be some improvement in the years to come, but honestly, I am over it. I will never be a bikini model, but I will be as strong and healthy as I can possibly coax my body into being. Your friend shouldn't worry about excess skin, my life has changed due to increased energy and feeling great all the time and that should be the focus... not a bit of loose skin.

**BearsBeetsBG** · 11-08-2012, 02:46 PM

I haven't lost the majority of my weight yet - but I don't have high hopes for the skin on my stomach shrinking. I'm expecting to have some loose saggy skin when I'm done.

But - I don't want to stay fat just to avoid saggy skin. So, I just tell myself that my first goal is lose the fat. Then, if the skin is really something that I am having a hard time living with - my next goal is to save money and lose the fat

I really don't want to volunteer for surgery, though, so it's really going to have to bother me a lot to convince me to put myself through the process of getting it removed.

**jumperdono** · 11-08-2012, 07:05 PM

younger skin will bounce back better.

**Iron Fireling** · 11-09-2012, 04:23 AM

I was left with saggy belly skin after pregnancy (and being overweight too, but not massively so), and I have read that if your body fat goes low enough, the fat that's sort of keeping the skin saggy will go away and the skin will tighten. BUT that's only if you get to 12-15% body fat (for women, and lower for men).

I have no evidence to prove this one way or another as my body fat isn't that low, but I am interested to see if that happens or not. The idea is that the saggy skin is held there by residual fat, and that even after people lose massive amounts of weight and fat, there's still some fat there which keeps the skin looking saggy, and if only that fat can be removed the skin can behave like skin and tighten up, basically.

Still, even if this doesn't happen for me, I'd still rather be slim and saggy than fat

(and there's always plastic surgery as an option... I'd definitely consider it).