Is this change in my body normal?

Graceious1

Hello all,
I have been following this programme for almost 6 weeks now and I am really enjoying it. I have noticed that I am firming up all over so that is a good sign. The change that I have noticed is in my belly. I actually noticed a couple of weeks ago that when I lay to the side my flab follows too. It feels like a balloon with water in it.

My weekly fitness is:
3x a week Strong Lifts
2x a week taekwondo @ 90 minutes, which includes sparring and boxing techniques
1x 15 min skipping
1x 30 min jog
I am preparing for my black belt exam, which is in 5 weeks time and need to increase my stamina.

I think I do quite a bit and I have cleaned up in the kitchen too. Is this saggy belly normal? I'd like to know what changes happened in your bodies that made you think "Is this change in my body normal?"

Llamapants86

Sounds like loose skin. It kind of sucks but it happens. All the fat that used to support it is gone so now it just flops around. Sorry if that gave you or anyone else disturbing mental images.
The only thing that really surprised me body change wise was how much I lost weight in certain areas. I lost weight in my face, then on my collar bones and then slowly over the rest of me (this part is still a work in progress).

canadianlbs

heh. i'm expecting good girl-talky type things from this thread.

i guess i noticed a more general thing, which might be similar. there's a much harder line between my muscle and my fat now. i used to be just generally sort of squishy, same texture all the way through until you got to the bone. but now it's like there's this muscle-based layer of me inside the remaining wrapping, and i can really feel the boundaries between the two layers when i poke. i feel like a biscotti wrapped up in, idk saltwater taffy or something like that.

also, muscle is more slithery. this is terminally fascinating to me. i sit around poking [at] myself a whole lot for that reason as well.

indianarose2

I just like that there is less of me! Lol - and my belly button is shrinking. I noticed that in the shower yesterday. Pretty cool for me who has had 3 csections and diastasys recti. Fun/interesting thread! That is fascinating Canadianlbs!

Graceious1

Yes, Llamapants86, I guess you're right about the loose skin. I would love to set fire to it some how but don't worry ladies, I won't.

giusa

Yes, that happened to me. Two years ago, I lost some weight from a HIIT cardio program and ALL body parts started sagging, my belly looked like a deflated basketball

Sumiblue

I noticed something like this about a month ago. My stomach had been taut (but fluffy) and then looked looser & jiggly. I believe it was a loss of water weight & it was followed by fat loss. I think it's a good thing!

Graceious1

How do you get rid of that deflated water filled balloon? Has anyone had any success?

Sumiblue

If it's water weight loss before the fat loss like I mentioned above just keep doing what you are doing. The fat loss follows but takes time. I have some loose skin after being pregnant. I'm not sure what, if anything, can be done about loose skin. Maybe if you are younger and your skin has good elasticity it just needs time to tighten up. Staying hydrated is probably good for that. It's great that your muscles are firming up after 6 weeks and you sound very active. I've been doing SL since October (5 months) and saw the most results in just the last month. Mostly because I started eating a bit more than MFP told me to do but still at a deficit. I think my food logging got more accurate, too.

scrittrice

I found this in another thread on this same phenomenon, and my experience matches it:

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/of-whooshes-and-squishy-fat.html/

giusa

Thanks @scrittrice!!

As folks get very lean, down to the last pounds of fat, the skin and fat cells that are left will often change appearance and texture. It will look dimply (as the fat cells which are supporting the skin shrink and the skin isn’t supported) and feel squishy to the touch. This is bad in that it looks really weird, but it’s good because it means that the fat is going away. I have nothing truly profound to say about this topic, just realizes that it happens and usually indicates good things are happening.

Graceious1

Thanks for posting that @giusa, for the link @scrittrice and your response @Sumiblue. It is good to know I am on the right track.

Sumiblue

^^^that is what I went looking for online when I had that sudden squishiness. I read a few articles and figured I must be doing something right.

mirrim52

I have heard some people say on the forum that they really saw their skin tightness improve once they got to maintenance. Seems that the skin needs the extra calories and fat to improve in texture.

DawnEmbers

I have a little bit so far but am expecting more issues like that in the future. Starting at obese and having been so for a good portion of my life, I pretty much expect some sagging and excess skin issues to surface. Have lost almost 50 so far. I notice minor things for now but a bulk of my excess weight is still in the stomach.

With my arms, the top portion from shoulder down is starting to have nice shape showing but trying to pose to show any smidge of muscle definition doesn't work yet cause gravity means have some of that hanging on the lower fortune of the upper arm.

My outer thigh is doing decent and can feel a hint of muscle but inner thigh is a little flabby and sag prone still.

Stomach is always a little weird cause it has always had a dip in a red at the belly button level and that is still there. Stomach still sticks out but is slowly getting smaller. This is also where I fully expect extra skin at some point since I had been obese for so long and had always held excess fluff there. Haven't had kids yet and am 30, so we will see how it all goes.

Girl talky enough?

justmytype

I noticed kind of early on in lifting (been at it since August 2014) that my obliques were much firmer. Dare I say "hard?" And the fat in my belly area in the middle is getting smaller. Yay!!

I've read where it takes somewhat longer for whatever skin tightening there will be to catch up to fat loss, sometimes a year or so. At least I'm hoping for it!

Will have to check out that link, @scrittrice.

Graceious1

Well done DawnEmbers. So the jiggly belly isn't just me then. I can see some green shoots of ab development. I M 6 weeks in and I hope it will start to firm up even more in another 6 weeks.

threnjen

I seem to have pretty elastic skin (I've had two kids and not a stretch mark to be seen) but I think these bingo wings are just not going anywhere.

canadianlbs

threnjen wrote: »

bingo wings

but more seriously: i never even freaking heard about these particular things until i got into lifting a year ago. i know i'm sort of outside the mainstream and a lot of what's going on in the world kind of goes right by me, but there is stuff that does trickle through.

and like i said. not once in 20+ years of hearing all the various lists of body flaws i was supposedly supposed to get all obsessed and morbid about, have i even heard that i was supposed to care what my triceps look like. or even think about the fact that they're there. so idk who or what started this upper-arm thing, but i'll bet money on this. it's a fashion. someone somewhere thought it up out of nowhere and turned it into the New Biggest Thing we're supposed to find unacceptable in ourselves. i'm saying that because i've been around for a while, and i've seen this. there's never supposed to be a point in time, ever, where we women are completely content with ourselves and there hasn't been something for someone to criticique about us. and if there is such a time it doesn't last. someone somewhere always has to hurry and think up something to get us worried again.

it's like it's gotten so axiomatic to the entire world for us never to feel at ease or properly satisfied with ourselves, that if it ever happens, it's an alarming, unnatural state. something has to be invented to unsettle us again and get us back into the 'right' frame of mind. because personal insecurity is the normal, natural state for a 'healthy' woman to be in, or something.

/rant.

Graceious1

I've had 2 as well @threnjen but I seem to have lose my elasticity in my stomach area. I have lost my wings though. I guess some areas take longer to go than others. Keep at it though!

Sumiblue

I never got stretch marks from pregnancy, either. But I had my daughter at 42 and I guess my skin just doesn't have the elasticity it once had. I should take better care of my skin but I'm so low maintenance I just forget to slap some skin cream on daily.

LaarainNYC

Sumiblue wrote: »

I never got stretch marks from pregnancy, either. But I had my daughter at 42 and I guess my skin just doesn't have the elasticity it once had. I should take better care of my skin but I'm so low maintenance I just forget to slap some skin cream on daily.

I don't think cream does any good. No kids myself but I lost a lot of weight in my 20s, kept most of it off, but have been contending with loose skin and stretch marks ever since.

Sumiblue

I just meant to keep my skin hydrated. I take pretty hot showers and baths and need to keep up the moisturizing. I hope that building my ab muscles helps fill out the loose skin a bit.

threnjen

@canadianlbs I don't know, I have been self conscious about the upper arms pretty much forever. Probably because my mom has always been self conscious about hers, ever since I was little. It's a lesson to me to always try to love my body when my daughter can hear me!

I think we are all destined to never be 100% satisfied, hit as we are from all sides with perfect airbrushed photos of perfect people. We just gotta do the best we can and hope for the best!

Edit: I've never been happier with my arms, despite the bingo wings. The flapping is way less than it used to be, and my biceps and shoulders are totally bitchin.

arabianhorselover

I really hate the "empty areas" where used to have fat. Don't expect they'll ever go away, though. I do hope to fill my inner thighs with some muscle, though.

Graceious1

I'm with you on the inner thighs @arabianhorselover