Flabby Saggy Swingy Arms

psuLemon

jagodfrey08 wrote: »

That's kinda what I have going on, AnnPT77. When my arms are flexed, there is no wobble or jiggle. When they are held straight out, it's a huge swoop. It looks so gross to me. It has gotten smaller, but I want to work on those triceps for sure. My arms have always been pretty weak, too. So, I will keep plugging along on my weight loss and work on toning the muscles under the fat.

Keep in mind, that doing tricep exercise won't make it go away. It will make your triceps stronger, but it won't cause any additional fat loss to that area. The bigger key is higher protein (which you are) to help maintain the muscle in your triceps (and the rest of your body) and time (which sucks).

jagodfrey08

I appreciate that, psulemon. Thanks for the dose of realism. Hopefully, I can see the results when some more of the fat goes away. You guys gave been so helpful!

mamasmaltz3

psulemon wrote: »

Keep in mind, that doing tricep exercise won't make it go away. It will make your triceps stronger, but it won't cause any additional fat loss to that area. The bigger key is higher protein (which you are) to help maintain the muscle in your triceps (and the rest of your body) and time (which sucks).

Even with high protein, if she's eating 300-400 cals under her BMR she's not going to be able to preserve muscle. Her body is going to want to breathe and pump it's blood first.

OP you say you want exercises to help that area, but you really need to look at your diet if you want to be able to sustain your weight loss and fitness gains. You're really working against yourself.

psuLemon

mamasmaltz3 wrote: »

psulemon wrote: »

Keep in mind, that doing tricep exercise won't make it go away. It will make your triceps stronger, but it won't cause any additional fat loss to that area. The bigger key is higher protein (which you are) to help maintain the muscle in your triceps (and the rest of your body) and time (which sucks).

Even with high protein, if she's eating 300-400 cals under her BMR she's not going to be able to preserve muscle. Her body is going to want to breathe and pump it's blood first.

OP you say you want exercises to help that area, but you really need to look at your diet if you want to be able to sustain your weight loss and fitness gains. You're really working against yourself.

I agree with and you should look at my previous comments, I did happen to mention a lower deficit.

mamasmaltz3

psulemon wrote: »

mamasmaltz3 wrote: »

psulemon wrote: »

I agree with and you should look at my previous comments, I did happen to mention a lower deficit.

mamasmaltz3

Yes. I saw what you said, and I have been around here long enough to know you know that, I was trying to reiterate the point for the OP who seems to have glazed over your most important points.

psuLemon

mamasmaltz3 wrote: »

Yes. I saw what you said, and I have been around here long enough to know you know that, I was trying to reiterate the point for the OP who seems to have glazed over your most important points.

Oh ok, i thought you were calling me out.. I was like whaaat.. lol

enterdanger

I found that these helped my bye-bye arms. I was also eating at a deficit, so losing all over, but arms are like the last place I lose from. I did notice that when I waived at someone my arms didn't wave back quite so much after a month or so of these. Every little bit helps.

wilsoncl6

The only way you're going to get rid of that swing is to either increase muscle mass in that area to fill the void if it's loose skin or lose fat there if it's fat. If you still have a good amount of fat to lose, it's possible to put on muscle in that area by doing progressively heavier weights to work triceps, even in a deficit. My favorites are tricep cable push downs (with a bar alternating with single handed pull downs with a wrist twist), overhead tricep extensions (seated or standing), skull crushers, tricep dips and diamond pushups.

jagodfrey08

Thanks, wilsoncl6!

jagodfrey08

I'm not trying to glaze over anything. I'm working with my doctor, who is also a nutritionist, on the diet portion. I'm coming to you guys for the exercise portion, and I greatly appreciate all the advice. I am eating at a deficit to lose weight. I have gone from 202.8 down to 180.5 in the past 9ish weeks. I currently eat at minimum - 92g of protein a day, with most days being over 100g. I keep my carbs to less than 40%, and I make sure those are complex carbs like whole grains, sweet potatoes, berries, apples, corn, and the like. I eat 3 main meals and 2 snacks a day. I am trying to beat the prediabetic diagnosis as well. So, what is so wrong with my diet? How is it not going to help me lose the fat on my arms? According to MFP, I only burn about 500 calories a day outside of my BMR...and my doctor told me not to eat back my calories. Is she wrong? I am a bit confused, now.

ouryve

Even Madonna has bingo wings, btw. It does seem to reach a point where it's hard to fill with sufficient muscle, in many women.

wilsoncl6

jagodfrey08 wrote: »

I'm not trying to glaze over anything. I'm working with my doctor, who is also a nutritionist, on the diet portion. I'm coming to you guys for the exercise portion, and I greatly appreciate all the advice. I am eating at a deficit to lose weight. I have gone from 202.8 down to 180.5 in the past 9ish weeks. I currently eat at minimum - 92g of protein a day, with most days being over 100g. I keep my carbs to less than 40%, and I make sure those are complex carbs like whole grains, sweet potatoes, berries, apples, corn, and the like. I eat 3 main meals and 2 snacks a day. I am trying to beat the prediabetic diagnosis as well. So, what is so wrong with my diet? How is it not going to help me lose the fat on my arms? According to MFP, I only burn about 500 calories a day outside of my BMR...and my doctor told me not to eat back my calories. Is she wrong? I am a bit confused, now.

A lot of people eat back their calories, some don't. Not sure of the reasoning behind the doctor's suggestion although it may be to ensure you hit your caloric goal as some people have a hard time tracking their calories accurately and stay in a deficit. Some people only eat back half or 3/4's of their goal for the same reason. The only problem I see with it is that you may be burning more calories on a daily basis than you've set your goal for. The negative to this is that your weight loss may be even more aggressive than you'd like, resulting in a higher chance of muscle loss. Your doctor may have additional reasons. If you're unsure, just ask the doctor why.

psuLemon

jagodfrey08 wrote: »

I'm not trying to glaze over anything. I'm working with my doctor, who is also a nutritionist, on the diet portion. I'm coming to you guys for the exercise portion, and I greatly appreciate all the advice. I am eating at a deficit to lose weight. I have gone from 202.8 down to 180.5 in the past 9ish weeks. I currently eat at minimum - 92g of protein a day, with most days being over 100g. I keep my carbs to less than 40%, and I make sure those are complex carbs like whole grains, sweet potatoes, berries, apples, corn, and the like. I eat 3 main meals and 2 snacks a day. I am trying to beat the prediabetic diagnosis as well. So, what is so wrong with my diet? How is it not going to help me lose the fat on my arms? According to MFP, I only burn about 500 calories a day outside of my BMR...and my doctor told me not to eat back my calories. Is she wrong? I am a bit confused, now.

Well at 180lbs, it's most likely you have a good amount of fat to lose. I suspect your doctor isn't having you eat back exercise as a means to accelerate weight loss and help keep you motivated. Nothing is wrong with your diet. Just warning you that aggressive weight loss can increase the chances of muscle loss (especially as you become more lean). But at the current time, you are probably in a good position. Also, as your body fat decreases, your triceps and other body parts will look better.

AnnPT77

jagodfrey08 wrote: »

That's kinda what I have going on, AnnPT77. When my arms are flexed, there is no wobble or jiggle. When they are held straight out, it's a huge swoop. It looks so gross to me. It has gotten smaller, but I want to work on those triceps for sure. My arms have always been pretty weak, too. So, I will keep plugging along on my weight loss and work on toning the muscles under the fat.

I think I'm not communicating effectively.

If you can flex it out of existence, it isn't (mostly) fat. Fat doesn't flex into tautness.

There may be a little bit of fat there that gets stretched into a bit more firmness by the flexed muscle; there may be some loose skin that gets stretched into a bit more firmness (or filled out better) by the flexed muscle.

The muscles themselves in the back of the arms will wobble when you hold your arm in the right position so that they're very relaxed, with gravity pulling them downward. This can be true in women with very strong, very toned arms.

You can prove this to yourself if you use the opposite hand to grasp a handful of this upper-arm 'fat' when in the relaxed position, then flex the muscle. You should feel (much of) the "fat" magically transform into a muscle, instead.

<Warning: rant coming> We women are so accustomed to hate on our bodies that we've taught each other to look at our upper arm muscles; misidentify them as some kind of evil, fat, ugly thing; and pledge to work out until we get rid of them. I'm sorry to say it this bluntly, but that's a form of body dysmorphia.

Will your arms look 'better' (according to cultural norms) if you get stronger and leaner? Yes, absolutely. Is it good to be stronger? No question. Will relaxed upper-arm muscles stop wobbling when they're relaxed? Not much.

<end rant>

jagodfrey08

Thank you all. I appreciate the clarification from all of you in regards to my diet. I will definitely modify as I get closer to my goal weight. I really appreciate all the insight!