Weight loss shows like The Biggest Loser are great at getting people motivated to lose weight.
But they don’t often show what happens to bodies after the weight is lost.
And while most successful weight loss stories include some kind of skin tuck after excess skin is left behind, it’s not often that a case this bad is shown.
A new show on TLC, called Skin Tight, looks at people who have lost a lot of weight, but are looking for the skin-removal surgery that they can’s afford.
One of the show’s subjects, Megan Boeh, weighed 430 pounds before she started her weight loss journey. She’s at 205 now, but a shocking 42 pounds of that weight is just skin. Without it, she'd be 163 pounds.
Megan began her weight loss journey because at 400 pounds, she knew that she would die young if she carried on the way she did.
She was so heavy that gastric bypass was her only option. Combined with diet, she dropped over 200 pounds. But her skin has left her feeling like it’s all for nothing.
“Even though I lost weight, my body is still shaped as if it was at 430 pounds,” said Megan. “I don’t feel like a woman when I look at myself in the mirror.”
“I’ve come so far, and yet I feel like nothing’s changed,” she says. “I hate my skin. It makes me feel gross and nasty. I’d get rid of the extra skin in a heartbeat if I could.”
Megan has to use talcum powder to prevent chafing on her extra skin, too. She has to tuck it into her clothes in order to wear anything.
She’s one of twelve subjects who will appear on the show, all of whom have lost over 200 pounds and are facing challenges related to their skin.
