I'm using the Bowflex, which kind of counts as weight training (I would rather have had something else, but the hubby had always wanted a bowflex, so that's what we got), while I'm eating about 1200 calories a day (my weight loss slows down if I eat less than that). It hasn't helped much with the loose skin on my arms. I have also been using a hula hoop 30 minutes a day and the elliptical 45 minutes a day. My legs definitely look better than when I started, and some of the loose skin at the top of my legs has shrunk up pretty dramatically in just the last couple of months. I don't look too saggy and baggy and horrible for having lost 175 lbs in the last year.

I've read that it can take two years for the skin to shrink up as much as it will on its own. I know that on my body the areas I feel have a lot of loose skin still have a lot of fat under that loose skin, so I'll work on getting rid of that before I consider surgery. One of my friends is planning to have excess skin removed once she gets below 200. The surgeon says he will probably be able to remove about 40 lbs from her...no way all of that is skin and I wonder how much more complicated the surgery is when there's that much fat also being removed.