EDMONTON — Claudia Farner is half the woman she used to be. She has lost 220 pounds: 40 before her October 2008 bariatric surgery and 180 since she changed her lifestyle, waking up at 4 a.m. for daily swims and regularly pushing weights with former Edmonton Eskimo Gizmo Williams.

But she’s now being held back by her own stretched skin, which hangs from her arms, torso and legs, needs to be tucked awkwardly into her swimsuit, causes moist rashes and raw sores and prevents her from running or taking Samba dance classes.

“We have to wait until the skin’s off because it’s just too painful. If it keeps bouncing around, you can feel it, how it tears on your skin,” Farner, 43, said. She also has a hard time showering and keeping the skin folds dry with baby powder and corn starch, especially in the summer’s heat. While swimming isn’t painful, her skin drags back on the waves. “I’m at the point where I can’t really lose any more weight because it’s hindering me so much. There is physically no room for me to go further.”

Extra skin weighing down biggest losers