Loose skin vs fat!

[CRS94]

Hiya, Hope everyone is well 😊 so I am 31lbs down since February and feeling sooo much better for it. I just had a question regarding loose skin. I have an overhang on my tummy and I don’t know if it will go if I lose more weight, or whether it is just loose skin! I have had two children and obviously gained a lot of weight after that, so I’m not sure if the overhang is there to stay or not 🥲 How do we tell the difference between fat and loose skin? Any tips? Thank you in advance xx ☺️

I don’t know yet, as I still have about 3.5 stone to lose, having lost 8st or so already, but my thoughts on it are that the less body fat you have the less the overhang will hang down. So eventually it will just be whatever loose skin is left, and be less noticeable. I also think it will take a while for skin to shrink back, so it will also improve over time too.

Ive had two children too, both c sections, so it’s not going to be what it was/might have been even without all the weight gain and then weight loss.

How heavy are you now. How tall are you?
it could be skin ir a combo of fat and skin.

Thanks both for your responses!
I am 5 ft 1 and down to 9 stone 2. As I’m short I know I can get away with losing more weight so maybe then the overhang will lessen!!

has it got stretch marks? Anything of mine with stretch marks was loose skin but building muscle helped with the appearance of mine.

Yeah my tummy is covered in stretch marks after having my two children 🤣

It's skin you can pinch on the back of your hand - if it's thicker to pinch than that then it's subcutaneous fat and skin. (I know this because everywhere I can pinch is far far thicker than the back of my hand!)

I thought the old saying went ‘if you can pinch more than an inch it’s fat? ‘
my calves are fairly solid and definitely less than an inch there but my stomach is about 4 inches . Plenty of fat there!

Thank you for your responses 😊 there is definitely more than an inch there so that’s my answer! 😊

I know we are all different but I’m 5’2 and 8st 8lb and I’m definitely still carrying extra fat.

I think you’ll be a combination of both skin and fat. Also if you’ve lost weight rapidly you’ll find the skin hasn’t shrunk back as much as when you lose slowly. Give it 6 months and you might find it improves. Especially if you are not yet menopausal

I am similar proportions to you; 5’7” and lost 45lbs over 6 months.

My overhang (3c sections) is vastly improved. I swiftly lost my protruding belly (as I ate less carbs) but the overhang persisted. It has improved with time. It will always be a saggy area (and has stretch marks), but it looks a lot better than it did, under clothes and naked.

I also got saggy skin on my arms and thighs. Arms have already improved a lot, and I think my thighs are improving too.

There is always scope for improvement with saggy skin (ultimately surgery, I guess). There are always health risks with obesity. I’d take the saggy skin any day.

I lost just under 5 stone on weight loss jabs. I had loose skin and it was worse on my stomach.
last week I had a tummy tuck, muscle repair and lipo.
The results so far are amazing.

I’ve had some recent surprising success with reducing my overhang by lying on my back, arms flat on floor towards my feet, and then raising my legs up and over my head, kinda rolling backwards. I do 20 a day as Jillian Michaels said it was good for pooch reduction and she wasn’t wrong 🤣

Wow well done! Um can I ask how much it all roughly cost? And how you are recovering? Don't answer if that's too all too personal!

I am losing A Lot of weight and can't afford it now but kids will leave home and I was wondering how much to save...

@ToAutismOrNotToAutismThatIsTheQuestion. I am recovering well. I am 12 days post op. I had my op in a private hospital in York. The care was amazing. I had all the loose skin removed, lipo and muscle repair. I was given excellent pain relief and I think that is the key. Codeine, paracetamol and liquid morphine. Also 14 days of heparin injections, a week of antibiotics and compression socks. Also 2 compression garments that I wear for 6 weeks. The cost was £10,500. A FDL tummy tuck is more expensive than a standard one. They did offer financing but I was fortunate that I had planned this for years and saved up. I am so impressed with the results. They are amazing. I have no regrets

@uggmum
Was yours a FDL?
It doesn't sound too expensive for not going abroad.
I may get one next year.
I would go abroad but have a feeling that my family will beg me to have it done here due to the horror stories in the media

@Redlightbulb yes. It was a FDL with muscle repair and lipo. I did shop around and it was about average for Leeds/York.
I did a lot of research on my surgeon. His reviews were excellent and he works under Ramsay Healthcare.
It would have been a lot cheaper abroad but that made me nervous and I was concerned about aftercare.

Thankyou. It's nowhere near something we could afford now but it is worth knowing in case we ever inherit/win the lottery as it would be the first thing I do. I will be going from 22 stone to 10 stone 7 hopefully and as I'm nearly 50 imagine I will have a lot of skin. I've lost 3.5 stone so far...

That is a great achievement so far. Honestly, this has been life changing for me.

you can save a considerable amount by going abroad. I know someone who went to Lithuania (Nord clinic I think) her procedure was less than half the price of mine and she is also really happy with her results

@uggmum- just wanted to say thank you for sharing your experience. I’ll be looking to have a similar procedure once I reach goal weight, and it’s nice to have an idea of price and recovery. Not many people share their experience (outside paid for reviews) so it’s great that you did.

It didn’t go away for me, I got a tummy tuck. My weightloss was pre mounjaro but I don’t suppose the method makes much difference to loose skin

What's it like having the loose skin? Does it kind of pool? Can it be hid in pants? Does it look like a spare tyre?

I still have a lot of fat but I can see the way the skin rolls over the fat and trying to imagine how it will be longer term

Realistically I can't afford the ops so will need to come to terms with it so wondering if I can visualise and accept!

(I'm worried about sex too but given we're having sex while I'm fat I guess we'll manage!)

@ToAutismOrNotToAutismThatIsTheQuestionm&s have some excellent shape wear. So definitely worth checking that out. There are also non surgical treatments for skin tightening that seem to be successful.