Let me first explain that my mother was on Atkins and lost 110lbs in a year. She had major problems with extra skin. My sister also did Atkins lost 50lbs in 8 months and she too had extra skin. I do get questioned on why I've only lost 70lbs in 2 years, but my skin isn't sagging or is loose. I am losing slower and I also use a bath brush.

Has anyone who is near goal, who lost alot of weight, not have extra skin? I hope to not have any or not as much, is this a realistic expectation? Thanks

Well, I don't know if I can exactly help you, cause I only lost about 45 pounds or so (and pretty quickly) but I know that for me, I don't necessarily have loose skin, but it's not exactly as tight I know it would be if I had never been 180 pounds. I've been this weight for almost a year and nothing has really changed. My arms bounced back nicely, it's my "back fat" that bothers me. I look okay in shirts, but there are these loose deposits of fat right on both sides of my back where my bra sits that I don't think are every going to go away. I've tried sitting rows with weights, etc and it never really improves much. It really isn't as gross as I am making it sound LOL, but it bothers me. I feel that I am already a little too skinny at 135 pounds and 5'9" so fat loss is not an option to get rid of it.

From your description, it sounds like you are doing everything right. By the time you get to your goal, you may have to accept that you will never look like a supermodel in a bikini, but you can still wear, oh maybe a tankini and look great. I think it may depend too on previous patterns of weight gain. I think that large weight gains tend to damage the fibers (or whatever, sorry, science is not my subject) of your skin and make it harder for it to bounce back in times of weight loss.

over at www.LeanandStrong.com this topic comes up alot. I remember one guy talking about how he could probably take his extra skin and knit another human (gag)

The conventional wisdom over there is that you can do a few things to help:

water, water, water
exercise aplenty
skin brush daily
firming lotion daily

Also they say that you should wait about 2 years after losing the weight before you panic. As in, wait that long before you consider plastic surgery or something drastric like that. It just takes some time.

Hope that helps!

AmyRose