New to dieting, petrified about loose skin

[Frosteh]

Hi, I'm a 27 year old male in the UK who has finally decided to lose some weight for the first time in my life.

My history is basically that as a kid I was quite active and incredibly skinny up until about college where I started to balloon, I steadily gained weight primarily in my belly increasing to where I am today, about 245 lbs which is quite a lot, but I am also 6'1" so I'm about 55-60lbs above my healty body weight.

I have aimed for straight up calorie counting. I've joined a website put in my vitals and aimed for a 2-3lb per week loss which puts my daily calorie count at about 1330 cals which for 3 weeks now I've stuck to with ease, I'm eating more fruit, more salad and more veg, smaller portions and low cal substitutes.

My first real hurdle so far has not been losing weight like I expected, it's actually become a fear of having sagging skin afterwards.

I'm 245 lbs now and I'll probably aim to reach the top end of my acceptable weight range about 190 lbs, so I'm looking to lose about 55lbs. The problem is a lot of my weight is in my belly, I feel disproportionally fat where my tummy protrudes and forces my trousers down around my hips, it's got the point of having an overhang.

I can already grab a hold of a large mass in my belly and I feel that I'll end up basically having a large pouch of loose skin there, I'm honestly not too bothered about my arms or legs I don't feel like I have rhino thighs or flabby arms I think that can largely be solved with muscle increase as well. It's just my belly I'm really concerned about.

I've read that basically baggy skin after large weight loss is inevitable that there's no real way to lose weight "properly" at least in regard to tightening your skin, creams and body lotion don't do anything, muscle gain can help fill areas a bit but generally that's minimal. At the end of the day after weight loss your options are either A) live with it or B) Plastic surgery.

Honestly this is a massive off-put for me losing weight now, I'm extremely worried about how I'll look afterwards with baggy skin. I have to say that I'm really not unhappy about my self image right now, I know I'm large and I socially I don't have a problem with it, being tall and generally quite big I feel more like a grizzly bear (that may sound stupid), I can cope right now with my body image but I'm sure I would feel like a freak with excess skin hanging off.

If I'm 100% honest I think I'd prefer to be overweight than have this bag of skin hanging off, I've been skinny before so I do actually have some perspective on this.

Currently my plan is to lose weight to reduce my size to see how it goes and if skin start to sag then probably stop weight loss, maybe I can find a happy medium where I'm more like 210lbs and overweight slightly but with a belly and no gross hanging loose skin.

The only other option is plastic surgery which is incredibly expensive and leaves scars, nothing I'm scared of to be honest, but finding the money would be very hard and take a long time, and leave me with permanent scars.

I just need some guidance and advice, I need some perspective about how I'll look after that weight loss, thanks.

 

[madgicsh]

At your age you should be able to get away with minimal sagging. As a serial dieter I have been losing, then losing the plot, then losing again since 1965. Until I was well in my forties I would just tuck back in with perfectly smooth skin. Since then - hmmm!

One thing that helps me enormously with skin condition AND hunger management is to keep my proportion of lean protein high; typically oat bran pancakes made with 98% low fat ricotta, a large egg, sweetener and vanilla for breakfast; canned tuna or salmon plus a low-fat, low-SUGAR yoghurt for lunch; steak and green vegetables for dinner. I don't limit amounts at all, but fanatically avoid sugar.

Like you my first really BIG weight loss was calorie controlled; unfortunately it was an unbalanced diet and I also lost most of my hair - no joke for a woman just hitting 50!

This time round I am staying with high (not exclusively though) protein and my skin and hair are great for my almost 64 years. Give it a go for a few days, I promise it cured my hunger to the point where I regularly forget to eat!

But EXERCISE! Nothing dramatic, just walk, a LOT!

 

[Frosteh]

Thanks for the reply, I appreciate the time taken for a thoughtful response.

I actually did have a fairly high protein diet, I eat a lot of meat for my meals, typically a large steak every 5 days, usually with smaller portions of rice/pasta with meals and more meat. I've had to cut down on that recently because I've had what I think is gout in my foot/toe which is triggered by a chemical found in a lot of red meat. This was all before I started my diet.

So far the hunger is not that bad, I don't find it hard to avoid eating snacks in between meals I guess mentally once I choose to do something I'm quite strong willed about it, It's just I've never cared enough until this point to try and lose weight.

My main concern is just my tummy really, I feel really disproportionate when I look in the mirror I have almost an hourglass figure with very broad shoulders and chest, then this huge low hanging beer belly and in between a much narrower mid section.

I see pictures of people larger than me who have lost more weight and the skin has been fine around their target weight which seems incredible to me, but I think it's because they had a more balanced body figure when they were large instead of being disproportionate, I'm just worried about having more fat than usual on my tummy and when that comes off it leaving behind lots of loose skin, I'd be OK with some, just not a large embarrassing droop.

I have stretch marks all over my tummy which I think is a bad sign, that skin had to stretch to fit fat growth and is unlikely to completely return, I think i've become a bit too worried about it all, I'm going to just continue to lose weight and see how it goes, if it's really bad I'll stop shy of my ideal weight, I'm happy being big (more so than being droopy) I just don't want the health complications of obesity is most of my motivation.

Thanks for the advice and for listening