Okay, I am answering the question about saggy/extra skin inevitable as a
"No"

Unfortunately, I don't really have any hidden wisdom to share.

Am I wrong that not everyone will be left with huge
flaps--I know some people who have lost 50, 60, 70 lbs and didn't have
excess flaps (or so they say). So can it be avoided???

It must be avoidable, because... the first year I was married, my husband
lost 70 pounds.
He has absolutely NO flappy skin. The only place we noticed were his
elbows were really stretchy for a little while... if he would pull on his
elbow skin, you could stretch it wayyy out, but that somehow shrunk back
with time because he looks completely normal everywhere. And very cute.

During that year, he did NO exercise (well, as little as a newlywed can get
away with, hee hee)
He worked at a desk computer job, sitting all day, would come home and watch
tv / sit at the computer for the majority of the time left. The most
walking he did was the 4 porch steps you have to take to get up to our
house.

So maybe he was blessed with great elasticity, I don't know. I'm still a
little jealous that he was able to lose 70 lbs without any effort on his
part, although I'm happy I get to enjoy the end results.

So, my point is, obviously not everybody ends up with baggy skin.
Oh, and his stats... he was 28, his start weight was 300, after a year he
was 230. During the year after the weight loss his skin really
toned/tightened for some unknown reason. He is now (4 years later) 220, and
we are both starting Atkins to slim down.

Good luck!

Spring