Anyone age 45+, 100+ lb weight loss, athletic, but not get cosmetic surgery?

I was wondering if there's anyone out there that did the bariatric surgery at an older age, lost around 100 pounds or more, but decided to not get cosmetic surgery?

If so, why did you decided not to get it; didn't need it, didn't want it, didn't want to spend the money, couldn't afford it, didn't want to go through another suregery, or what?

Has anyone had the experience of losing a lot of weight and getting back or into athletics with excess skin? Could you share any issues, solutions, or thoughts you have concerning your athletics, weight loss, and excess skin?

I'm in the pre-bariatric surgery phase, but pretty sure it will get approved (have really good insurance and I qualify). I want my health back, but just as importantly to me, I want to be able to long distance hike, bike, ski, etc. again. I suspect I will lose close to 100 lbs because once the weight starts coming off, it'll make it so much easier to get back to doing the outdoorsy things I love. I will likely also get back into strength training because it goes hand in hand with preventing myself from getting injurred during athletics; so I'd like to refill some of the excess skin with muscle. I have been nearly this heavy once before and lost 83 pounds through exercise and proper nutrition, but I've had several injuries since then and can't do all of the high intensity exercise I used to do.

I don't want to spend the vacation time or money on cosmetic surgery, and I'm at the point in my life I don't care what anyone thinks about how I look. I wish to goddess I had that point of view when I was in my 20s and 30s. That's one of the good things about getting older: I'm free from the things I worried about in my youth. But maybe the excess skin will be so bad that it will make me change my mind; so who knows. But I'd still rather spend the money on a new kayak and a Thule Hullevator. :rolleyes:

Thanks,
Gelsomina

Lost about 90 pounds almost 6 years ago. I'm now 62. Never wanted plastic surgery. I look fine in clothes and am too old for a bikini anyways! Not to mention it wouldn't be covered by insurance and I didn't want to risk being cut hip to hip. My extra skin isn't bad at all, I still wear sleeveless tops and shorts in the summer and feel good. Probably my exercise is the biggest reason it's not that bad.

I hike, ski, snowshoe, kayak, bike, do it all. I also LOVE everything outdoorsy. The only thing I had to quit about 3 years ago was running under the advice of a doctor because of bad knees. Just climbed Kilimanjaro, and my only issues were my knees on the quick trip down. Super steep and not knee friendly.

Best of luck to you. You'll do great, love how you're researching already!

I had bariatric surgery when I was in my 50's and lost about 85 pounds. I definitely have loose skin and saw a plastic surgeon. I did not have surgery, nor do I think that I will. In the last six months I have started taking a weight training class 3xs a week as well as a high intensity cardio class. My skin is not affected by either of these exercises because of my gym kit. I think once you've lost the weight you can determine if the skin will affect your activities. Who knows, you may not have as much skin as you think you might have.

I've lost a bit over a 100 from my highest weight and honestly have not done much in the way of exercise since about 6 months before the surgery. I am 67 turning 68, and 65 at the time of the procedure. Like sraebaer, self-pay.

What I've found re: loose skin. My face, neck, and legs are great -- my upper arms are, well if I had a flag tattoo I could wave it for a while. My stomach is probably the biggest "challenge", except after 4 c-secs and 3 major abdominal surgeries related to cancer, I don't really think about how it "might" look if a plastic surgeon fixed it. I just don't want any more surgeries.

I can wear, without being self conscious, a one-piece bathing suit. And look pretty darn good. With the exception of my husband, physicians, the ortician or my kids walking in on me, I doubt any one else particularly notices.

I am doing light weights for the arm tone, but more because I need the upper body strength.

Everyone is different -- one of my best learns, so to speak, has been that I am NOT my size, weight or outward appearance. That said, I do my best with hair & makeup because how I look matters to me!

Best of luck! Wouldnt change a thing about my journey, except to do it sooner :)

Good to know; I'll have just turned 55 at the time of surgery, and I'd be happy with a 90 pound loss assuming I put muscle mass back on. I was happiest at 160 lbs with heavy muscle mass even though I'm only 5'3".

How tall are you sraebaer? It looks like you probably have a different body shape than mine (more ectomorph)?
I'm an endomorph and overly curvy even when my weight was low.

You said your exercise was probably the biggest reason it's not so bad; what do you mean? Did the exercise somehow cause skin shrinkage? Or did you fill it up with muscle? I'm worried about my abdomen skin interfering with sports, right now it is awful and interferes with biking, hiking, even little things like stretching or tieing my shoes. Do you wear any kind of compression sportwear to help keep things out of the way and cut down on sweating/friction?

Take it easy on those mountains, you only have one set of joints and when they go it changes everything. I used to trail run about 20 miles/week in mountainous terrain. I had a traumatic injury on the side of a mountain during a 16 miles training run with a team I was training with for Mount Whitney run but was already having issues with my hips and joints before that (early onset arthritis, Ehlers-Danlos, other previous injuries). It didn't help that I was pushing myself too hard because I was the only female on the team and the guys were all ultramarathon trail runners; I didn't want to be the weakest link. I ended up sitting in a surgeons office bawling my eyes out because he said I needed a hip replacement, could never run again, and I if I ever ran again I'd end up in a wheel chair because I was so young to be getting a hip replacement. That was one of the worst days of my life; it changed everything for me: all the things I loved to do, my friends, my social life, my mental health, my weight, then my health. At least I've discovered my love of slow hiking now; "pole, pole" as they say on Kili! That descent shouldn't be killing your joints, they took you down too fast. Same thing happened to me on Mount Fuji in my youth, the climb was fine but the descent was brutal on my joints because we came down too fast.

Good to know there are other active outdoorsy people here!

Sraebaer,

Good to know; I'll have just turned 55 at the time of surgery, and I'd be happy with a 90 pound loss assuming I put muscle mass back on. I was happiest at 160 lbs with heavy muscle mass even though I'm only 5'3".

How tall are you sraebaer? It looks like you probably have a different body shape than mine (more ectomorph)?
I'm an endomorph and overly curvy even when my weight was low.

You said your exercise was probably the biggest reason it's not so bad; what do you mean? Did the exercise somehow cause skin shrinkage? Or did you fill it up with muscle? I'm worried about my abdomen skin interfering with sports, right now it is awful and interferes with biking, hiking, even little things like stretching or tieing my shoes. Do you wear any kind of compression sportwear to help keep things out of the way and cut down on sweating/friction?

Take it easy on those mountains, you only have one set of joints and when they go it changes everything. I used to trail run about 20 miles/week in mountainous terrain. I had a traumatic injury on the side of a mountain during a 16 miles training run with a team I was training with for Mount Whitney run but was already having issues with my hips and joints before that (early onset arthritis, Ehlers-Danlos, other previous injuries). It didn't help that I was pushing myself too hard because I was the only female on the team and the guys were all ultramarathon trail runners; I didn't want to be the weakest link. I ended up sitting in a surgeons office bawling my eyes out because he said I needed a hip replacement, could never run again, and I if I ever ran again I'd end up in a wheel chair because I was so young to be getting a hip replacement. That was one of the worst days of my life; it changed everything for me: all the things I loved to do, my friends, my social life, my mental health, my weight, then my health. At least I've discovered my love of slow hiking now; "pole, pole" as they say on Kili! That descent shouldn't be killing your joints, they took you down too fast. Same thing happened to me on Mount Fuji in my youth, the climb was fine but the descent was brutal on my joints because we came down too fast.

Good to know there are other active outdoorsy people here!

Thanks Kenson,

What kind of gym kit do you wear? Do you use compression pants (the ones that are for athletics but super strong and tight)? I used to wear compression pants trail running, but I'm wondering if they might actually cause more problems than help?

Hi Annie,

I don't want to have any more surgeries than absolutely necessary ever again. I worry that every time I go under the knife I might not wake up, or I might not be so lucky this time with complications. I've had 7 surgeries. The last one was my hip replacement which itself is awesome and I had a great surgeon, but they had a hard time keeping me breathing during the surgery so they kept having to temporarily stop the procedure which resulted in heavy blood loss. They had to put me in ISU post-op, which was a real eye opener. I was in excellent physical condition (besides the hip), which the doctor said is why everything came out okay. I think it takes a scare like that to make you realize that things can really go badly during a surgery.

I'm very apprehensive about getting the sleeve surgery because I'm in less than fair condition right now. One of the reasons I decided to get this surgery is because I need to have a rotator cuff surgery done one my right shoulder. It's difficult to recover from that surgery even when you're in good shaped because your arm must be completely immobile for 3 weeks. I just couldn't risk getting it done when I can barely move around right now at my current weight, and I'm worried about the breathing. My plan is to get the sleeve surgery done first, lose a bunch of weight so that I can get back into physical fitness and rebuild my health, then have the shoulder surgery.

I likely have other surgeries in my future as I age because I have a connective tissue disorder (Ehlers-Danlos) that results in joint, ligament, tendon damage. At this point I'm likely at much worse risk NOT having the sleeve surgery because my weight is making the damage much worse.

I totally get it on the size, weight, outward appearance. In the weakness of my youth I used to beat myself up about those things, and 2 of those surgeries I had were cosmetic. It makes me so sad for my younger self to think I had those surgeries to make me feel better about my looks. I wish I could go back in time and hug my younger self so tight and say "stop it, this is bullpoop, you don't need this." I'm so happy that I've gained the wisdom that appearance means nothing. It's one thing to want to do your hair, wear nice clothes, be healthy, but it's absolutely tragic that people feel they need to do things like cosmetic surgery in order to be acceptable or like themselves. That's my personal experience, FWIW.

And my favorite swimsuit of all time is the one I have now, my big lady one! Like it much better than any bikini I ever had!

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Originally Posted by Gelsomina

Thanks Kenson,

What kind of gym kit do you wear? Do you use compression pants (the ones that are for athletics but super strong and tight)? I used to wear compression pants trail running, but I'm wondering if they might actually cause more problems than help?

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I don't wear any type of compression garment when I work out, just regular Adidas or Reebok pants.

I'm 5'3" (maybe and a half) and am working on maintaining at 130. That's typically a size 8 or small. Not super skinny but just right for me.

I think exercise helps tone the skin and build muscle to make body parts look better. But who knows. I think everyone has different results in the extra skin game. I've never worn compression wear. So uncomfortable in my opinion.

Yep we went up Kili pole, pole, but down fast. In fact one guide and one guest ran the whole way. That actually may have been easier, who knows. My knees have recovered and my big toes are no longer numb. I thought I was going to lose 2 small toenails but not so far. Progress!

Women will never get so much muscle mass it will fill up your skin, that is just not in our genes.
Maybe you will have a lot of loose skin, maybe not so much, there is no way to tell in advance.
I have loose skin, but I decided not to let it bother me.
I am proud of my loose skin, because it shows the results of my wls.
I did loose those pounds and I am still working on maintaining.

I would say: just loose the excess weight first, then see what the result is.
That will take you the better part of two years after the surgery.

I will be 46 on Monday. I am only 4'11" and lost 99 lbs. I work out regularly. Weight lifting, running. My loose skin is minimal. Most of it is on my butt and legs. I decided not to get skin removal. The reasons were because I looked at before and after for leg/thigh lift surgeries and the improvement was not that great. I also read that thigh lift surgery is extremely painful. So based on the before and afters I saw and the amount of pain people reported it did not seem worth it. I have also learned to embrace my loose skin. I know that my skin looks better than most due to a variety of factors. Mainly because I work out regularly, stay hydrated, eat enough protein and eat healthy most of the time, and have genetics on my side. For a while I wanted a small breast job but now I don't even think that is worth wasting the money. :) I have attached two pics of my legs. I think the pictures are better than they look in person.

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Attachment 28491

Christie,

I think your legs looks awesome and look like "just normal person" legs; if they were mine I'd never consider getting surgery on them. Thanks for the info on your research on leg surgery, I would come to the same conclusion based on your findings. I suppose I keep envisioning that skin will be hanging off of me so badly that it will interfere with hiking and biking; it sounds like that probably won't happen. Speaking of genetics, I've had issues with my breasts since I was 15 years old wearing a D cup then, DDD cup at my thinnest as an adult, but a J cup when I'm at my athletic weight. I was lucky that even at a young age I knew and accepted that the "girls" were not going to age well. I don't care because I can wear a bra that just holds all the saggy in. But I can't wear a bra on my legs or abdomen. At my current weight though my shoulders are screaming by the end of the day carrying them around. I'm hoping that pain goes away after weight loss and isn't exacerbated by aging, otherwise I'm going to have to consider a reduction.

Anche sono una ragazza italiana! :D

Gotta share with you an experience in Italy involving weight/body issues. My best friend and I were traveling around Italy back when we were in our twenties and junior naval officers. I'm Italian, and she used to say "I'm Italian because I want to be Italian!" which is pretty endearing. Both of us were fashion-obsessed back then; learned to sew as kids, designed and made clothes, got all of the fashion magazines. It's a fun hobby, but tends to cause body dysmorphia issues for your women.

We were sitting in Piazza Umberto in Capri, drinking espresso, people watching, looking and feeling beautiful, perfect weather, perfect September day. We saw a commotion of people walking across the piazza. That "oooh! what's going on?" feeling. As the the glob of people moved along, it split apart enough and we saw what was going on. It was apparent that they had finished a photo shoot with a very famous supermodel and they appeared to be heading off to wherever they came from. The model was still wearing an absolutely spectacular dress from the photo shoot; complete with the clothespins along the back conforming the dress to her body. Both of us gasped, very exciting for us to see her, the dress, the whole fashion experience.

But then our excitement turned into confusion as we watched the model walk. She was so painfully thin, her gait was like a wounded giraffe, as if her bones were barely able to hold it all together, and it almost seemed that her handlers were protecting her from herself or the reality that she wasn't capable of walking across the piazza under her own power. I can still see her walking in my head, her head bobbing as if something was very wrong, and it still breaks my heart.

It was such a stark experience, completely out of sorts from the bella vita of Piazza Umberto. We knew the reality of models needing to be ultra thin for fashion photography, but seeing this in person left us so shocked, and saddened for this woman. Of course we didn't know if she was a happy person or not, or if she was happy with her body or not. But she did not look healthy or happy, and we felt so badly for her. It was an epiphany for me that I better be damn appreciative of my I-just-need-to-lose-20-pounds body that never fit into the styles I wanted to wear, because it could be much worse. I never envied supermodels for their ability to wear everything and everything ever again. I still feel so much empathy for them, their reality is likely just as painful as young women struggling with their weight. We saw the photos in Vogue magazine, they were beautiful. But it changed everything for us.

On a side note, decided to never go back to Capri unless it was only to swim in the blue grotto; Iscia is what Capri should be.

Hi Gelsomina,
I'd try to not worry too much about skin at this point. Getting your health back is a much bigger deal. As for me, I'm 61 and also 5'3". I was sleeved at the end of June. At my heaviest last October I was 234 and am currently at 163.5 with a loss of 71 pounds in 11 months. I'm hoping to lose another 38 pounds and get to 125.
Like you, I had a pretty big abdomen that got in the way of shoe tying, toenail clipping, being active etc. The good news is that as I've lost weight my belly and overhang has gotten considerably smaller and really doesn't give me any problems now.
I do resistance work in my swimming pool which I think has helped my upper arms and they're not bad. My chest is deflated, but a good bra takes care of that. My biggest issue is with my upper thighs which are quite saggy. I doubt that I'll have surgery, but will burn that bridge when I get to it (goal weight).
Overall I'm so very thankful I was able to get sleeved. Best of luck to you!

My co-worker suffered from obesity and it was very difficult for her, she also had problems with hormones, and she decided to have bariatric surgery. After the operation, her life has become easier and she feels very well now. She maintains a healthy lifestyle, she sleeps enough, she quit smoking, and goes for a run twice a week. She is 47 years old but she looks thirty-five. She also goes for a visit to a dermatologist at a private skincare clinic at least twice a year. She advised me to go to a dermatologist and try hydro dermabrasion skin treatments which she also does. After trying that treatment my skin looks healthy and younger. I'm so happy with the result.