"JMA" wrote in message
...
BTW for anyone considering the surgery to remove excess skin, a good
surgeon
will insist that you keep your weight stable for *at least* a year before
performing the surgery. Mine recommended 2 or 3 years, but would do the
surgery after 1 year if there were other problems associated with the
skin.

That's good advice... Statistics say that the average rate of success of
diets is around 15% when you study them at the 5 years point. Not being a
success doesn't mean being an utter failure, it just means gaining back a
significant part of the original weight, it doesn't have to be all the
weight.
The problem is that if you have surgery to remove skin too soon *and* gain
back a large amount of weight, the remaining skin will get stretched so hard
and fast (weight regain can be explosive) that it is likely to be ruined
beyong repair if you ever re-lose that weight again. Even worse if you
regain weight right after the surgery while the tissues are still healing...
Likewise if you keep losing weight after the surgery, you might need a
second operation.
So, responsible surgeons prefer to play it safe and make sure your weight is
indeed stable.