I had the surgery on Halloween 2006. I love the results. Im 27 years old with 3 children of my own and one that I am trying to adopt. The surgery has made all the difference in the world to me and my family. I have lost almost 100 pounds and expect to reach that goal this week. I went from a size 24 to a size 12/10. I love my new figure. It truely was a gift from god. I got my life back. I have never had people be so nice to me in my life. I always struggled to get by. The problem that comes in now is that when I look in the mirror I see all of the skin. I look like Im 77 not 27 under the cloths. I hide my skin with cloths. I cant wear a swin suit, because of the skin hangs and looks awful. My childrend are so disapointed because that was always our favorite thing to do together. Swimming was one of my largest pleasures in life. I thank god everday for the gift I was given and I dont have a shred or regret. I just want to get help to look on the outside the way I feel on the inside. Please HELP!!!

Dear Marcella, Congratulations on your weight loss and all the wonderful things that you now have in your life because of it. I am MUCH older than you (LOL) and only beginning on my journey to a size 10 - from a 24.

I am not sure what to do about actually ridding yourself of the excess skin. Insurance companies will pay at least part of the cost if the excess skin is causing health problems...i.e. rashes etc. You might want to begin to document those - especially in the heat of summer.

In the mean time - I'm sure you have seen the body slimmer underwear - How about wearing one of those under shorts and t-shirt to go swimming. Not exactly a fashion statement, I know, but it would allow you to have fun with your children.

The other thing to think about is....at a size 24 (I can say this because that is where I am now) it isn't all that pretty in a bathing suit - and you swam then!! Just go ahead and have fun!!!

Again, congratulations. I think it is wonderful that you are a "normal" size for your kids and for yourself. You GO girl!!!

Penny

Marcella,

As Penny stated above, congratulations on your weight loss! You certainly have a lot to be thankful for!

I, too, have had bariatric surgery. I had my surgery in March of 2003. I was 24 years old and I weighed 263 pounds. I currently weigh in at 145. I went from a size 26 to a 10, and I am so overjoyed. It's amazing how weight loss can change your life!

It sounds to me like you and I are in the same boat on the extra skin issue. I am very self-conscious of all the skin that hangs around my belly. I also deal with extra skin hanging under my arms, on my thighs and my butt. I am in terrible need of breast augmentation as well. When I look in the mirror, I see the body of an 80 year old woman, not a woman of 29.

I get compliments all the time about how great I look, and I just laugh and say 'Well, you haven't seen me naked!'. I guess laughing it off is the only way I know to cope with the low self-esteem issues I feel over the extra skin.

Swimming is one of my very favorite past times. I love the sun, the water, the heat ... all of it. I hated swimming when I was a size 26. I rarely ever did it, even though I wanted to. Now, I do it all the time. I spent a long time shopping for a swim suit that compliments my figure. I can't wear a typical two-piece, but I found something called a 'tankini'. It's a two-piece that is an actual skirt on the bottom (not the usual one-piece with an unflattering 'ruffle' that they think all overweight women should have to wear) and the top is a tank top shirt. It's got spaghetti straps and it's cut with lines down the sides that are very slimming. I was very nervous the first few times I wore it to the pool, but the more I went, the better I felt. I tried to simply focus on how great I felt with the sun on my skin and not what others thought of my body. I won't pretend that I don't struggle with it still ... I do. I doubt that I will ever be comfortable in my own body without a lot of plastic surgery.

The only advice I can give you is the same advice I try to live by. Live everyday like it's your last. Do not deprive your children of the joys you long to share with them simply because other people aren't happy with the way you look. At the end of the day, what will matter most to you? That your children had a rewarding experience with their mother ... a day that may stay with them for years? Or that you allowed other people to influence the way you act and feel about your life and the time you spend with your children?

Thank you for your kind words of wisdom. What you both say is the truth. Thanks again.

Hi Marcella, Congrats on your weight loss and new life. Awesome! You mentioned the loose skin that you have, I don't know where you live, but my brother who lives in Houston Texas mentioned a 'skin bank' that takes donations of skin from bariatric patients....I was inquiring about that also. I'm not sure what the name of the 'skin bank' is, maybe one of the posters might know something about it...since my dear brother didn't know anything other than hearing of the skin bank. Can anyone out there help us with this?

I have a friend that was telling me just the other day that she knows of someone that went to M.D. Anderson burn unit. I think it is in Houston and may be the "skin bank" referred to. They performed the body lift surgery at no charge to this man in exchange for his skin. I don't know first hand how much of this is true, but it wouldn't hurt to look into it. Free is almost always a good thing.