Abdominal skin from quick gain and loss

recriger

Morning folks. I have a curiosity that I am exploring. Several years back I peaked out at 297lb. It was a fairly quick gain, I went from 245 to that 297 in less than a year (third shift, new baby...). Then, when I realized it, I lost 50lbs over the following 7 months or so. I am male standing 6'-0" (183cm) tall. At that peak, I developed a few stretch marks on the lower stomach.

I am now down to 216lbs. and I am just starting to see the outside (left and right) profile of "rectus abdominis" muscles. I have not done a hydro or body-pod test, but the less accurate caliper or tape body fat tests have me at around 19%. I realize they aren't that accurate, but many say they "can" be within +/- 3%.

This morning, as I was getting ready for my 4:00am run I happened to have my shirt off while doing a plank. When I looked down I noticed a rather unpleasant "bunching/sack" appearing bulge between the belly button and the pelvic area. When standing my stomach looks fairly flat now but you can tell that I still have some weight I can lose.

So the question is: Since it was a quick gain/loss (less than 2 years) and less than 100lb of weight in question... Plus the fact that I am still at 19-20% BF... Do you believe that losing another 5-7% BF could reduce/remove a droop of around 2"?

I'm not overly worried about it since I don't plank in public without a shirt. This is more a search for someone with personal experience with skin elasticity. I can read all I want about the possibilities, but I am a person who needs more specific examples. I don't expect your results to be mine, I'm just curious what others have achieved.

Thanks.

jemhh

I don't think we can really say. Genetics plays a big part in skin shrinkage. But age, how big you were, and how long you were big certain play a role. I will say that losing that more fat has a good chance of reducing your droop by quite a bit. From what I've read, men need to get to about 10% bf overall to determine whether the skin is permanently stretched or not (for women it would be 20%.) So I would say that there is certainly hope to reduce the droop!

SLLRunner

If it's fat, losing a few more would help, but if it's skin losing weight will not help. I was overweight my entire life, lost and gained quickly multiple times, and now that I'm at a healthy weight I have some loose skin in front. However, with progressive weight lifting, I have noticed a significant improvement.