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I'm melting.
AshStout83
Posts: 190 Member
Does anyone else feel like they're melting? I actually feel more squishy after losing 16 lbs. Is this normal?
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Replies
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Yes, it is. I feel "fatter" now that I did several pounds/inches ago, because my skin isn't holding it all in. I think that this is why many bariatric patients use compression wear to help the skin heal, etc.2
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I'm squishy too because of the extra skin. I try to focus on areas like my collar bone and hip bones where I can feel bones I never felt before. I also spend way too much time looking at my hands and feet...the have no extra skin and look so different these days! OR I think about how much my butt hurts when I'm sitting down. The padding is all gone. I need to buy a stadium seat for football and marching band competitions now!2
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Absolutely. You're wearing a suit that's too big now.
There's a theory that periods of no weight loss that we all lose our minds over at some point in time is actually skin maintenance, when the body does some house cleaning in regards to connective tissues and tightening up.
Of course, this can only go so far for some of us that have been considerably heavier at some point in our lives.
I figure this is something that I have been experiencing for the past year since I've lost no weight but am considerably smaller.4 -
Yes, it is common and fun.
Type "squishy fat" in a google search and you'll get many explanations. Both somewhat scientific and otherwise. Seems to have a bit to do with the "contents" of the fat cells changing.2 -
Yup, having been morbidly obese since I was in my 20s, now 40, I'm never going to shrink my skin suit back to normal...but that's okay. I'll figure it out down the road.4
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Definitely squishier...but lifting has helped keep the squishy at bay.6
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Yes - that's why I lift heavy ... Soon that squishyness will be all muscle... MUAHAHAHA!!!!!!!
DIE FAT! DIE!!!
**coughs** ... Moving on.
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Yep. When I lie flat my tummy looks like a half empty bag. Well. It's better than a full bag.8
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I have gone down 5 clothes sizes and yes I feel wobbly and squishy. But I am a much smaller and squishy person, I look a lot smaller, I feel better about myself and my mindset has changed. So yes, my skin wobbles a bit BUT I would never change it. I rather be smaller and wobbly than larger and feeling like an over inflated balloon.8
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Shadowmf023 wrote: »Yes - that's why I lift heavy ... Soon that squishyness will be all muscle... MUAHAHAHA!!!!!!! DIE FAT! DIE!!!
**coughs** ... Moving on.
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You guys are great. Thanks so much!1
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I do.
I'm more pear/hourglass-ish shaped and gain pretty evenly all over, so the first place I lose...esp on LC, is my stomach.
Two weeks in I was feeling much flatter and really excited. This morning, I'm sticking out above my belly button again and was wondering WTF was going on and where did my flat stomach go? I realized though that my ribcage above that was more pronounced, so I think I had just lost more above, but now looked "fatter" below. It's something I battle every time I try to lose weight. If I don't take measurements, visually I start to look bigger even while losing because of how I lose. It's a mindgame.3 -
Shadowmf023 wrote: »Yes - that's why I lift heavy ... Soon that squishyness will be all muscle... MUAHAHAHA!!!!!!! DIE FAT! DIE!!!
**coughs** ... Moving on.
Ha!1 -
One of the things Dr Jason Fung said in one of his videos is it is ok to lose "lean mass" when losing weight because included in lean mass is skin and other protein based body parts that don't need to be as big. He is one who says you only need about 0.65 grams of protein per kg of body weight for the typical person to replace what gets lost just by living. He at least implied and may have outright said it is ok to eat less protein during times of losing a lot of weight to help facilitate losing that extra skin. He was comparing how his patients did not have the huge sags of skin like those on The Biggest Loser even though they had lost just as much weight.
Personally, I have never been that large. My mom had gastric bypass and lost about 150 pounds or more. She has lots of extra skin. She is lower carb than typical, but high protein. Hard to get her to change. I figure she is nearly 71 now with no significant health problems (knock on wood) so probably not as pressing to worry about the saggy skin as it is for someone younger.1 -
cstehansen wrote: »One of the things Dr Jason Fung said in one of his videos is it is ok to lose "lean mass" when losing weight because included in lean mass is skin and other protein based body parts that don't need to be as big. He is one who says you only need about 0.65 grams of protein per kg of body weight for the typical person to replace what gets lost just by living. He at least implied and may have outright said it is ok to eat less protein during times of losing a lot of weight to help facilitate losing that extra skin.
Dr. Ron Rosedale also states it is important to keep the protein at a moderate level - except he uses .65g per kg of LEAN body weight, and if someone is quite 'metabolically broken' he has prescribed even lower, down to .5 works quite fine without bad health effects. I agree with both of them, but it is hard to lower the amount of protein when all the fats I like are tied in with the proteins I like.
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Shadowmf023 wrote: »Yes - that's why I lift heavy ... Soon that squishyness will be all muscle... MUAHAHAHA!!!!!!! DIE FAT! DIE!!!
**coughs** ... Moving on.
LOLZ!@Shadowmf023 you are a woman after my own heart! 1 -
cstehansen wrote: »One of the things Dr Jason Fung said in one of his videos is it is ok to lose "lean mass" when losing weight because included in lean mass is skin and other protein based body parts that don't need to be as big. He is one who says you only need about 0.65 grams of protein per kg of body weight for the typical person to replace what gets lost just by living. He at least implied and may have outright said it is ok to eat less protein during times of losing a lot of weight to help facilitate losing that extra skin. He was comparing how his patients did not have the huge sags of skin like those on The Biggest Loser even though they had lost just as much weight.
Personally, I have never been that large. My mom had gastric bypass and lost about 150 pounds or more. She has lots of extra skin. She is lower carb than typical, but high protein. Hard to get her to change. I figure she is nearly 71 now with no significant health problems (knock on wood) so probably not as pressing to worry about the saggy skin as it is for someone younger.
Yeah, he said so in the excessive protein post too. I really wish he had backed up those claims with some data...
I do think he may have a point tough that at least some of the protein turnover during fasting is actually recycling connective tissue, not loss of skeletal muscle. For what it's worth I've done semi fasts (500 kcal) up to 3 days multiple times in the past 2 years, and in combination with lots of exercise I've visibly gained skeletal muscle. Not a lot, but my f.ex. my calves are bigger in the soleus, bigger glutes and more dev. thighs. In theory, if someone induces autophagy and getting rid of cellular junk with IF/ Fasting, then excess skin and connective tissue ARE literally dead weight.
In 2ketodudes episode Protein Controversy , Richard says he hasn't lost skeletal muscle with multiple fasts and tons of cycling
http://2ketodudes.com/show.aspx?episode=33
I must admit that although "Phinney started it first in Vail" I think it would have been a more mature thing of Fung to talk with Phinney directly rather than to insinuate stupidity of everyone who disagrees with him. I stand my ground that I think most of "LBM losses" seen during Keto and IF is actually less water weight for both. If it is correct that 1 glucose /glycogen molecule binds 3 molecules of water, then it's only logic that protocols that reduce glucose also reduce water weight. AFAIK the DEXA scan does NOT differentiate between intramuscular water and the skeletal muscle fiber itself. Meaning, water bound in glycogen inside muscle are counted as "skeletal muscle fiber" in DEXA. We currently have no accurate way to measure muscle "gains" from water bloat. I think the whole debate about fasting leading to muscle loss is partly confounded by misunderstanding what DEXA measures.
An interesting observation about IF that I've done is that it seems to chip off tummy fat more than other places, but maybe that's just me.
Edit: Minor spellings and words plus bolding. If it's true that a young college age male can store up to 400g of glycogen in his muscles then up to 1.2kg of water weight is potentially a big confounder in both muscle fiber loss and gains in....many exercise studies. Looking blindly at numbers in studies and taking that as gospel is a trap.1
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