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Lucky you that you have the take home pay to save up a few thousand dollars and your employer offers and HSA. You are one of the lucky few. Many people do not have an HSA. And $3000 is 3-4 months of take home pay and they are hardly able to afford food, shelter or basic healthcare.
True, but it's still a known, upcoming expense. People have at least a full year to make plans for the skin surgery. Heck, get a part time job even. Amazon has part time evening work from home jobs as telephone customer service reps.
Don't focus on the problem or obstacles. Focus on the possible solutions.
ETA: The reason why Americans don't have basic healthcare is because Americans don't want it.
Lucky you that you have the take home pay to save up a few thousand dollars and your employer offers and HSA. You are one of the lucky few. Many people do not have an HSA. And $3000 is 3-4 months of take home pay and they are hardly able to afford food, shelter or basic healthcare.
And at the same time, it's major surgery. It's not only the money, but the person may have to take weeks if not months off of work to care for their incisions and recover.
After all that she went through with the surgery and everything she's doing to eat healthier and exercise, she still has so much excess skin and lax muscle tissue to contend with. According to the article, most (if not all) types of health insurance do NOT cover skin removal surgery because they consider it to be a "cosmetic" surgery.
Possibly correct. Cosmetic surgery is cosmetic. If there's no medical reason for it, it is cosmetic.
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But, I would think that the excess skin that almost everyone winds up with after a large amount of weight loss could hamper their overall health! What about sores, bacterial infections, etc. that occur as a result of a person having large amounts of excess hanging skin? What about someone trying to stay active and exercise but it's difficult for them because of the excess skin flapping around and hindering their progress?
Which also occur in severely obese people's rolls of fat. If those were occurring, yes, it would be covered by medical insurance. Easier to exercise with a few pounds of flappy skin than a few pounds of flappy skin stretched around a few hundred pounds of extra fat. Skin is the same, just less fat.
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Why don't insurance companies take these things into consideration?
False assumption.
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After reading this woman's story, I'm starting to wonder if this is the reason why so many people don't want to lose weight.....because this is what they're going to have to live with forever if they can't afford to have skin removal surgery...
No, they just don't want to put in the consistent effort to lose weight. I mean, I get it. I like eating whatever I want too. Exercise takes some effort so if you can find an excuse not to do it, that's pretty appealing.
And at the same time, it's major surgery. It's not only the money, but the person may have to take weeks if not months off of work to care for their incisions and recover.
Maybe it's me because I'm a planner, but a person who loses this much weight will have had at least a year to plan their recovery time. They can take sick leave, vacation, or make arrangements with their employer to take off time under FMLA.
I lost sixty pounds. I used to be obese. I'll take loose skin ANY DAY of the week over continuing to be overweight and have resultant health problems. Vanity means jack at this point in my life. For the most part my skin has returned to its pre-obese state, but I do have loose skin in my lower abs and a dimple here and there on my otherwise toned legs. Who cares, I say. I'm proud of the hard work I put in at the table and at the gym and if there are spots here and there that are aesthetically unappealing, I don't care. That's why you wear clothes that cover up certain spots (i.e. I can wear a bikini, and the bottoms usually cover up the lower ab "problem area") and improve other areas (i.e. I love my guns and shoulders). Sure surgery can get rid of things, but I really don't want to go that route. Part of the body transformation is learning to love yourself and embrace yourself. I *love* what I've done this past year and I'll always feel accomplished, whether I have a hard body or not. If anything, I like my "imperfections"...I'm human after all.
I'm dealing with this now. I've lost about 100lbs and I have a little more to go. I've got some loose skin but not much. I plan on getting my arms done since that is a visible area. I plan on paying for it myself.
What I don't understand is why people who are losing significant weight just don't save up and pay for the surgery themselves. Surely they knew this was coming when they began losing weight. Save and get one surgery. Save some more and get the next surgery. It doesn't have to be done all at one time. Getting my arms done will only cost $3,500-$5,000. That's not that much at all and I can pay for part of it using my HSA or flexible spending account from my employer.
Actually thanks to weight training, I have firm muscular arms and shoulders. Virtually no excess skin. No saggy triceps aka bat wings either. The price? A gym membership and dedication. I have no problems with people getting cosmetic surgery but really...do we need to suggest it as a matter of course? Not everyone wants surgery. I think about how fat I used to be, with excess fat everywhere. And the health problems. In nine months, with perseverance I lost that weight and now have a body that I love, and I'm going to get that caught up over some loose skin?
Actually thanks to weight training, I have firm muscular arms and shoulders. Virtually no excess skin. No saggy triceps aka bat wings either. The price? A gym membership and dedication. I have no problems with people getting cosmetic surgery but really...do we need to suggest it as a matter of course? Not everyone wants surgery. I think about how fat I used to be, with excess fat everywhere. And the health problems. In nine months, with perseverance I lost that weight and now have a body that I love, and I'm going to get that caught up over some loose skin?
I'm doing weight training also but I've had sagging bat wings for close to 20 years. They are just more pronounced because of the weight loss.
I'm doing weight training also but I've had sagging bat wings for close to 20 years. They are just more pronounced because of the weight loss.
Bat wings happen to women as we age regardless of how much we train. Unless you have very low body fat they are going to be there. Weight training can certainly add a firmness element but will not get rid of them. Unfortunately its either embrace them or get cosmetic surgery.
It's good that she took control of her health but unfortunate that she's left with so much loose skin. This seems pretty common with people who lose more than 100 pounds. That's why it's best not to become so overweight in the first place...
I'm doing weight training also but I've had sagging bat wings for close to 20 years. They are just more pronounced because of the weight loss.
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Originally Posted by Luckyd609
Bat wings happen to women as we age regardless of how much we train. Unless you have very low body fat they are going to be there. Weight training can certainly add a firmness element but will not get rid of them. Unfortunately its either embrace them or get cosmetic surgery.
Hm. Could be because I'm younger, I don't know. Everyone's weight loss is different, I suppose. My arms are pretty solid, whereas without weight training they'd be skinny and/or squishy. When I was overweight I had batwings but not anymore.
The thing I've come to embrace is the fact that I won't have rock hard abs. All the crunches and planks in the world isn't going to make much of a difference. The skin is there,probably with some fat. That's just the way the cookie crumbles. I'm not gonna stress over it.
I think the woman in the OP has a bad excess skin problem because she was overweight for much of her life and then had surgery. For some reason the excess skin is more pronounced when people have bariatric surgery than without, maybe because it is a "sudden loss" even if it is over a span of a year. IT's like when I had my baby, I immediately lost fifteen pounds and my stomach was deflated.
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