Yalena Figueroa lost 188 pounds after undergoing a vertical sleeve gastrectomy in January 2013. But while the weight was gone, pounds of excess skin remained on her now-slimmer frame — serving as a constant reminder of how much the Astoria, Queens, 28-year-old had let herself go.
For Figueroa, who is featured on Wednesday’s episode of “Skin Tight” (10 p.m. on TLC), that excess skin took an emotional toll. Her fiancé of six years had stayed with her when she ballooned to 358 pounds, and while their sex life didn’t suffer afterward, her sagging skin left her needing constant reassurance.
“I didn’t think I was attractive,” Figueroa tells The Post. “I needed to hear from him that he found me attractive and this was OK for him. I couldn’t figure out how anybody would be attracted to that.”
While out with friends, she became self-conscious about all that excess skin. And the latex compression garments she had to wear made her unable to enjoy basic physical activities with her daughters, ages 11 and 5.
When a stranger at a pool asked an impertinent question about the sagging skin on her arms, it was the final straw. As viewers of “Skin Tight” will see, she had 23 pounds of excess skin surgically removed. Her new, tighter body has greatly boosted her self-esteem, though it didn’t come without challenges.
The hardest part — not covered on TV — was the psychological challenges of recovery. After adopting a more active lifestyle after weight-loss surgery, Figueroa found herself immobile again for four to five months while her incisions healed.
“I had just gotten my feet wet with having such a productive life, and now I had to take a few months to take it easy and I just didn’t know what to do with myself,” she says. “I’m going to the gym now, but my core strength isn’t there. Now I have to start from scratch.”
But Figueroa says it’s all worth it. Not only is she free of the compression garments that held her back from being an active mom, but she’s finally wearing clothes she always wanted to — including sleeveless tops. She’s even started planning her wedding, something she never wanted to focus on when she was heavy or living with excess skin.
Granted, it wasn’t cheap: An arm lift, breast lift and tummy tuck can average upward of $4,000-$5,000 each, costs that “Skin Tight” producers didn’t cover — and the risks include bleeding, infection and/or abnormal scarring. Nevertheless, Figueroa says, “It was something that I knew I wanted to have done . . .
“I felt confident in the doctor’s ability to take care of me and also I know that my daughters wanted me to be happy. I wanted to be the best [possible] version of myself . . . for them.”