im so afraid that when i do lose all this weight, im going to have excess skin. especially in the tummy area with having had 2 kids and a million stretchmarks. plus, i feel like im going to have webbed arms or something- like batman does. like theyll be no more fat, but i'll be left with wings or something.

i know i should weight train to get over this, but its sooooo boring

A lot of us are concerned about this! But there seems to be little we can do about how our bodies will react to loss. I've often heard that losing slowly will help. In my case, I have been weight training and have some muscle definition in my arms, but that doesn't entirely help the web/batwing problem, since that stuff isn't muscle.

I'm also very scared about hanging skin just because I'm losing so quick. I excercise a lot and I do light weight training.... however, I guess I won't know until I lose it.

Batman didn't have webbed arms did he?

What is more important to you? Having a bit of loose skin or being healthy and being able to do things with your kids and being arround for a long time for them. I have lost the weight extremely fast, and so I can tell you from experience that yes it might happen. But I would much rather have "Oprah arms" than be over 300 lbs again.

I have a little loose skin, particularly on my arms and neck, but I'll take that any day over weighing 360 pounds again! I just avoid sleeveless clothes, but I've avoided them for years anyway because of having fat arms, so this is nothing different for me.

I have read that the skin will continue to firm up for a year or so after you finish losing the weight.

I try to keep this in mind while I'm losing slowly - I tell myself that it's giving my body a chance to absorb the extra skin. The stretch marks (had big babies, 11 pounds - 2 ounces biggest) seem to be shrinking in on themselves so it's turning out better than I thought.

I have some loose skin on my upper arms and my tummy, but it's sooo much better than an extra 100 pounds.

If you have loose skin, you have loose skin. Women are constantly wearing clothing to camouflage their imperfections. Black to make them seem smaller. Vertical stripes instead of horizontal. Sleeves to cover their "bye bye arms" (picture grandma waving goodbye and the upper arm waving along with her hand).

Most people who are dieting aren't happy with their bodies--they wouldn't be dieting otherwise. Will you be any less happy with a little bit of loose skin that you are being heavy?

I don't think the original poster is saying they would rather have the weight than flabby arms, this is a valid question, in my opinion. I too wonder about that because we all want to look in the mirror and see firmer stomaches and muscler bodies, or healthier bodies.

I saw a woman on the show, I-Lost-It, who lost over 100 lbs and she won a body building competition because she switched from losing weight to building muscles and so she didn't have the flabby arms or stomach. I think once we're able to get to the point that we want to tighten up our bodies we better do it or else we'll have flab for sure.

So, once I lose 100 lbs, even though I'll be still considered heavy, I'm gonna start toning that way I can avoid the flabbiness or else that's the plan. From what I've seen toning is the key.

I personally don't want a reminder that I was ever as heavy as I was/am currently. I'm not trying to be vain but this is the goals I have for myself. I want a toned healthy body when I'm through and will work hard to get it because I've been fat for most of my life and I don't want to go into my early 30's missing out on life and being unhealthy!!!

Find something besides straight weight lifting if you want to exercise. Healthy muscle mass burns calories.
Try Curves-its a fast moving workout that you can do at any level of fitness.The music is loud and fun and you have to keep moving(its like musical chairs).

I am afraid of having too much extra skin also. When I ride my exercise bike there is a mirror that I look in constantly and worry about it. Then I pick up light hand weights and try to stop it at least a little. Who knows if it will work or not? Marty

I agree, it is a concern for me.
My step daughter is getting married in one year. The dress I have picked out to wear is sleeveless (Florida/May). I intend to be at goal by then, but I intend to use hand weights for the next year to help tone those flabby arms.

I am worried about the old tummy too. I know I can wear 'foundation' garments to help with that, but I would like to be able to look in the mirror (nekid) and not hate what I see.

So, I am hoping that loosing slowly and toning as I go will be enough. I am pretty sure surgery is going to be out of the question for me.

If you had really bad stretch marks then you will have loose skin. The loose skin is caused by weight gain, not by weight loss. The abnormal and rapid stretching breaks down collagen which is what gives skin its firmness and elasticity. Once collagen has been destroyed, it just hangs there loose like an 80 year old's skin.

That said, I can offer my own personal experience. I do have some loose skin after my loss. Most noticeably is that I have wings. Depending on how I hold my forearm when the arm is spread out, they are about 1-2 inches long. It's very strange because when I hold my arms across they look fat, but then when I look at them straight in front of me I see this thin flap of skin with very little fat in it... lol. I have 2-d arms .

I have a fold in my stomach across the navel (which comes from growing so fat in too-tight waist high pants ). There is a little puff of fat above this fold... it's kind of all deflated and saggy but still fat. That's the second worst thing about my skin, my deflated "second stomach". Does anyone else have this? Every time I look at tummy tuck pics no one has it...

Third worst thing about my skin post-loss is the lower belly. Theres a fold of redundant skin there and it is all wrinkly. It's not bad enough to constitute an apron, but bad enough to be aesthetically distressing.

Finally, the thighs. The skin on my thighs are so loose, and they contain so much fat that they are just so unshapely. When bare they jiggle like jello because there is no firmness and there's still a lot of fat in them.

So arms, stomach, thighs... all problems. If you look in my gallery you can see what I am talking about with the arms... the one where I am looking down and you can see my upper arm a bit, it looks all flabby. My arm really isn't that flabby, its just that because of the way I am holding my arm all the skin and fat is pushed into the front (making the arm appear wide and fat). That's the worst thing about having loose skin, the fat isn't packed firm so depending on how you stand you can look very fat or very thin... lol.

I laugh but really it's sad knowing that after all this work there will never be a bikini waiting for me .