Loose skin -- how to cope

girlalmighty08

I've lost 40 lbs. to date and I feel fantastic. The only trade-off is I'm starting to see a little bit of loose skin. It's not a huge problem at this point, but I'm still about 27 pounds away from my goal so I can only anticipate that I will develop more -- it's inevitable. I do my best to try and ward it off by having slow weight loss, keeping hydrated, and doing strength training, but I know I'll still be left with some excess baggage.

I realize that the loose skin is a small price to pay for being healthy and in shape, but let's be honest, it's not something that's easy to look at -- especially for a single gal who's in the middle of the dating game.

I'm wondering what people's experiences are with learning to accept their loose skin? I could really use some support

DeniseB0711

Skin Firming lotion. I know it sounds like a gimmick but for whatever reason it seems to make me think my batwings are fading.

Sarauk2sf

Skin can take a while to tighten up (up to 2 years in some cases). You are still pretty young, so you have a good chance that it will tighten eventually.

RodaRose

Lift heavy weights. You will feel great and love the shape of your body. (the skin will not bother you)

crystalstinson7

I am right there with you! I'm 36 years old so I don't know if I'll ever bounce back. I've lost 60lbs in the last year. Plus, I've had a kid so I already had stretch mark issues. I keep telling myself to give it at least 2 years before truly worrying, but it's not easy. I use Jergen's Skin Firming Lotion, but I don't know that it helps. I tried BioOil, but I just couldn't be consistent with it. It's, well, oily and I didn't want it getting all over my clothes. I've tried wraps--HA! Don't. Hydration is a big thing. So while I don't know if the lotion helps or not, I still use it. Plus, I try to drink plenty of water (been slacking on that). I don't lift heavy. I don't want to lift heavy. I don't want to fill the loose skin with muscle. That's redundant to me. I didn't want it filled with fat, why would I want it filled with muscle? lol Nope. I want it gone so that I'm sleek, not bulky.

And, ye gods, I can see them descending on me now for saying the word "bulky." Trust me, if I filled up my loose, flabby skin with muscle (say on my arms), I would be bulky. And maybe what I define as bulky is not what others define as bulky. Even now, as I pull my skin away, my biceps are verging on bulky. I am prone to muscular arms. That's just how I'm designed. Even at my smallest I've had guys complain that my arms are bigger than theirs! I don't want my arms to be any bigger!!

I'm sorry. I rambled. Long story short: Patience. That's all the advice I can give--have patience.

Oh, and as for dating, don't sweat that too much. You'll find someone that loves you despite the loose skin. From what I hear, guys don't really give that much thought.

Siege_Tank

The best solution is to replace the skin stretched out by the large fat cells, with large muscle cells.

I lost 60 pounds and wanted to gain half of it back when I realized how skinny-fat I looked.

Goodbye cardio, hello even heavier weights.

I love the way Jason Ferruggia put it, when writing for women's fitness magazine, the editor was screaming at him about his article. "Isn't there *anything* we can tell women, other than to increase the weight??"

"Yeah, tell them they should be in the kitchen, bare foot and pregnant like they belong, for Christ’s sake!"

http://jasonferruggia.com/how-to-get-a-body-like-jessica-biel/

Mischievous_Rascal

RodaRose wrote: »

Lift heavy weights. You will feel great and love the shape of your body. (the skin will not bother you)

Yes to the weights, and yes that will make you feel awesome, but the last part isn't really true for everyone. It sure bothered me, still. OP, if you can't afford surgery, look for a masseuse who does decompression massage, skin rolling and fascial stretching. Those can actually help the appearance of loose skin, up to a point, where any cream or oil really can't so anything but keep the skin soft. (But surgery is really the only way to truly get rid of it.)

Wiseandcurious

Crystalstinson7, from what I've read, it's not so much that you fill it in (you can't) but that you can get very lean this way, and then the loose skins is much less noticeable because it doesn't hang at all (skin which hangs still has quite a bit of subcutaneous fat under it).