Excess Skin....

There is a topic of conversation which of late pisses me off. See,,,,anytime i say "excess skin" people are jumping on the band wagon of telling me to have excess skin surgery...if i say its not what I want I am being told i am "crazy" or "silly" or they just try to get their point across. Now i respect everyone may have a opinion on the topic itself....but i dont respect everyone having a opinion on what i should do.

From day one of this journey i said....i will have skin surgery if it becomes a health issue. So if it caused infections etc i would talk to the appropriate specialists. Now i dont encounter any health issues associated with my skin, yep i may grumble about it at times (no different to someone grumbling they dont like the size of their nose....or the colour of their hair)....thats my right as a imperfect human being to grumble. So right at this point there is no health reason to get the surgery.

Last year when it became apparrant i would end up with some excess skin,,,,i decided to research it a lil. I firstly visited this journal http://spinnyliz.blogspot.com . To do a mini recap, she had a body lift done on 14 sept 2007, in the first 2 weeks after surgery she had very low blood pressure, internal bleeding fixed by a second visit to surgery, blood transfusions, and extreme constipation. Two months later after infections she was back at the doctors having to have fluid being removed by a needle. She had her surgery mid september and didnt return to work till early december and then only on a part time basis. Three months later part of her scar still required dressing, she still has swelling and the skin is tight limiting her movement and giving her back pain she needs to take anti flammatories for. Four and a half months later the hole in the incision which was taking longer to heal still hadnt healed. Now you can read all that and say well thats to be expected (and keep in mind she still had to have the skin on her arms, breasts and thighs done) but thats 4.5 months of her life. Three months where she was unable to work. For me as I have no health issues relating to my skin I do view it as unnecessary surgery, Ive worked for over 3 years on my fitness levels there is no way I am taking 3 months off to recover from ONE surgery knowing that it wouldnt be the only surgery if I went down that path. And yes this is just one girls story....but trust me there are others. So for those who have the surgery with lil complications and are happy with the results i say more power to them...but for me its not the path i will go down, i am more then happy with my decision as I know it is right for me, what I am not happy with is the responses I get when ever i mention the words "excess skin".

This is a you tube clip, its not all about excess skin surgery but it does show you what the consequences can be, admittedly it appears this girl didnt have the best surgeon she could have had from the closing remarks, but i also discovered she was in hospital for a year recovering (be aware its VERY GRAPHIC) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7cVGpLquD4

Not only recovery times, and time out from training....but there is a huge financial cost to take into account, as well as time off work. Financially I am not in a position to afford it and I cannot afford months off work, so they are the final reasons why I wont be having it done.

That said i dont think my excess skin is that bad ... "it is what it is"....any excess skin i have has come about from the person i was....its a reminder to me every day of how far I have come. And I may not always love it but I know it can take up to 2 years once you reach your goal weight to know how the skin will really end up at. Once at goal my intention has always been to build more muscle which will hopefully help, and hopefully my body will adapt to well.

Now that i have said my thoughts on the topic i will say anyone who tries to throw their views at me or suggest i am silly or crazy or any other negative opinion for my decision i will simply delete their comments and if on facebook remove and block them off facebook. I believe i have been very open and honest with my journey, even to the point of taking photos of my excess skin, but this is one topic thats not open to debate...its one topic that people need to let go of and respect my decision.