Has anyone avoided getting access skin when losing 50-75 pounds?

leanjogreen18

I'm 50f down 40 lbs so far (75 to go) and I'm seeing the "chicken wings" or whatever they are called under my arms.

Honestly if I have to wear sleeves to cover I'm cool with that. It the price to pay yeah?

ohthesorrow

I lost about 80 pounds (220-140) in about 8 months the first time I dropped weight. I never had any loose skin but that could be due to genetics and history. I've always been about 180-190 in high school and gained the last bit within a year or so, so I wasn't at my heaviest for long.

divcara

I went from 182 to 115 pounds and I don't have any loose skin. I do have a stomach pouch that annoys me because I work so hard with fitness and nutrition that I wish I didn't have it. I am hard on myself, but I know it's not awful. I don't have loose skin anywhere else. I wasn't overweight the majority of my life. I gained a lot over a 2 year period. It came off pretty quickly when I got serious about losing it. I also focused on getting lean and tightening up, not just dropping weight. Overall, I don't have any excess fat but I do have an annoying poochy stomach left.

garber6th

ninerbuff wrote: »

One will never know till they do it. Genetics and age play an important part and losing too fast MAY not let the skin retract back as quickly as the weight loss. You'll just have to do it to find out.
The reality is is if you do get loose skin, you have a couple of choices: accept it or get surgery to remove it.

Pretty much all of this. Everyone is different. I went from 386 to 180. I do cardio, strength, and yoga. I look great with clothes on, but clothes off - I look like I am melting. That said, I didn't lose weight for vanity, and my good health and the fact that I feel amazing definitely outweighs the loose skin, no pun intended. Maybe some day I will have skin surgery, I am still undecided, but I would much rather have excess skin than a whole bunch of excess weight that is bad for my health.

ETA - I am 53 years old and I was overweight most of my life. Things are not likely to bounce back on their own in my case.

OhMsDiva

garber6th wrote: »

ninerbuff wrote: »

One will never know till they do it. Genetics and age play an important part and losing too fast MAY not let the skin retract back as quickly as the weight loss. You'll just have to do it to find out.
The reality is is if you do get loose skin, you have a couple of choices: accept it or get surgery to remove it.

Pretty much all of this. Everyone is different. I went from 386 to 180. I do cardio, strength, and yoga. I look great with clothes on, but clothes off - I look like I am melting. That said, I didn't lose weight for vanity, and my good health and the fact that I feel amazing definitely outweighs the loose skin, no pun intended. Maybe some day I will have skin surgery, I am still undecided, but I would much rather have excess skin than a whole bunch of excess weight that is bad for my health.

ETA - I am 53 years old and I was overweight most of my life. Things are not likely to bounce back on their own in my case.

Congratulations to you! I do not know what loose skin is. I am sure I have some but I don't know what it is. Maybe I am in denial.

kshama2001

MalkinMagic71 wrote: »

I went from 388 to 185 in a little over a year. I have minimal loose skin. I'm 33, about 6ft tall. I have some around my stomach, but I think incorporating resistance training along the way helped a lot.

Wow, 200 pounds, quite an achievement!

For those of you with minimal loose skin:

A. What was your exercise program when you lost weight?
1. Cardio
2. Strength training
3. Both

B. While you were heavy, were you active or sedentary?

garber6th

kshama2001 wrote: »

MalkinMagic71 wrote: »

I went from 388 to 185 in a little over a year. I have minimal loose skin. I'm 33, about 6ft tall. I have some around my stomach, but I think incorporating resistance training along the way helped a lot.

Wow, 200 pounds, quite an achievement!

For those of you with minimal loose skin:

A. What was your exercise program when you lost weight?
1. Cardio
2. Strength training
3. Both

B. While you were heavy, were you active or sedentary?

I incorporated resistance/strength training into my routine as well and still have loose skin, so like others have said, it's basically a crap shoot.

Machka9

newgirl57 wrote: »

Wait, wait, wait....I've always known about the baggy skin thing because I watched The Biggest Loser, but the marshmallow phase? Machka9 - tell me about the marshmallow phase?

The marshmallow phase took me by surprise.

I was busy losing weight and then all of a sudden everything kind of sagged and seemed to get really mushy ... like loose dough, if you've ever made pizza dough from scratch and it's just a bit too watery.

It looked and felt so bad, I actually debated about putting the weight back on again.

And no, it wasn't accompanied by a "whoosh" ... I've never experienced a "whoosh" in my weight loss. Mine has always been as steady and consistent as can be.

I stayed all dough-y/marshmallow-y for several months, and all the while, I kept losing weight. But I did feel some disappointment at the way I looked and felt.

And then one day, that mushiness seemed to go away, and I was left with loose skin ... bat wings!! Plus wrinkles around my abdomen, upper thighs, and butt. I started weight lifting, but knew that it would just take patience. About a year later, the loose skin is much better.



Maybe I should add that I was 48 when I lost all that weight. From what I understand if you lose the weight when you're younger, it is easier to avoid loose skin. But on the other hand, I was only overweight for just a few years, and from what I understand, if you haven't been overweight for very long, it is easier to avoid loose skin.

afort001

I have lost 50 pounds in 5 months, I don't have any loose skin. Maybe because I didn't lose it too fast? I'm not sure. I think genetics plays a role too

btodd304

Went from 300.2 to 240.2 so down 60lbs in 8months and so far no loose skin. I do a mix of cardio and weights in hopes to tighten as I go and has worked thus far. I think it depends on your genetics too. Some people's skin just doesn't bounce back and can just depend on how long it was stretched out I imagine. Best of luck.

brdnw

I went from 285lbs-190. 65lbs of it was in 7 months, so I lost the bulk of it pretty quickly. I don't have any signs of loose skin and I didn't even consider while I was losing weight.

anl90

I cannot tell you what a relief it is hearing so many of you say you have not had much of an issue with loose skin. Obviously different factors play into it, so that risk is there, but knowing I could avoid it is great to know. Regardless, I would still be more okay with that loose skin than the excess fat I am carrying around right now.

CrabbyCancerMama

I do have loose belly skin. I don't think.mine will go away. it's like mushy dough. I went from 272 to 190 in 11 months. granted I'm 36 and been pregnant twice and overweight for the past 10yrs. I still want to loose another 30lbs. oh and my chest.....let's just say I definitely need them done now. clothes on I look fine but clothes off I feel gross.

Chunkahlunkah

When my brother was in his late teens, he lost a little over 100 pounds. No loose skin issues. He does have some stretch marks though.

He lost the weight over a period of 1.5 years and his primary exercise was just cardio (walking). He's kept it off for over 10 years.

MalkinMagic71

kshama2001 wrote: »

MalkinMagic71 wrote: »

I went from 388 to 185 in a little over a year. I have minimal loose skin. I'm 33, about 6ft tall. I have some around my stomach, but I think incorporating resistance training along the way helped a lot.

Wow, 200 pounds, quite an achievement!

For those of you with minimal loose skin:

A. What was your exercise program when you lost weight?
1. Cardio
2. Strength training
3. Both

B. While you were heavy, were you active or sedentary?

When I was at my heaviest I was basically a sloth that did nothing.

I started cardio only for the first month or two. Its all I could do. 15 minutes a day maybe. A few months in I started slowly lifting. Sometimes just using my own body weight as resistance. I built up to doing weights. Now I still do cardio everyday but incorporate weights every other day or so. Doing resistance training early in though I think helped alot with my body keeping some semblance of tone to it.

Machka9

kshama2001 wrote: »

For those of you with minimal loose skin:

A. What was your exercise program when you lost weight?
1. Cardio
2. Strength training
3. Both

B. While you were heavy, were you active or sedentary?

A ... 3. Both

B. Active in the sense that I still cycled and walked quite a bit, just not as fast or as much as I do now.

85Cardinals

I've lost 70 odd pounds so far. My excess skin is minimal and I'm a man in my 50s. I gained the weight fairly late in life though. I do flex my abdomen a lot, that seems to be an area looking for trouble.

ErinLeeeee

MalkinMagic71 wrote: »

Doing resistance training early in though I think helped alot with my body keeping some semblance of tone to it.

This is helpful! Thanks for sharing. You're an inspiration!

rainbow198

I'm 40 and I lost 80 pounds a few years ago. It took me 15 months to lose.

I was overweight most of my life and obese for a couple of years. Considering my age and how long I was overweight, shockingly I still did not deal with loose skin.

When I reached my goal my body was not tight and toned like it is now. My skin was soft and a little flappy in those trouble spots, but it was not hanging skin.

It took a couple of years of maintaining for my skin to adjust to my new body and tighten up.

I guess you will never truly know what will happen after you lose. For me though when I was losing weight these are some of the things I did:

1. I took the slow and steady approach when I was losing.
2. Stayed very active...lots of fast walking and lots of strength-training.
3. Kept my skin very moisturized. Didn't use any special lotions or cremes however.
4. Drank lots of water.
5. Also my genetics? I was the only overweight person in my immediately family so I am completely not sure, but I'm believing it's a factor.

tomteboda

kshama2001 wrote: »

MalkinMagic71 wrote: »

I went from 388 to 185 in a little over a year. I have minimal loose skin. I'm 33, about 6ft tall. I have some around my stomach, but I think incorporating resistance training along the way helped a lot.

Wow, 200 pounds, quite an achievement!

For those of you with minimal loose skin:

A. What was your exercise program when you lost weight?
1. Cardio
2. Strength training
3. Both

B. While you were heavy, were you active or sedentary?

Hiking. A lot of hiking. And Frisbee. And housework. And caring for my disabled mom. But seriously, no real exercise program the way people think of them.

I agree with the others, its luck of the genetic lottery. I happened to get dark grey eyes, terrible hair (frizzy, fine, thin) and amazing skin. I'm not even terribly surprised mine has recovered so well, because my skin is something absolute strangers have walked up to me and complimented me on pretty much all of my adult life (which is very, very weird and I don't think I've ever gotten used to it). It's not something I can confer on others, or some virtuous behavior that I had.

Which isn't to say throw in the towel on skin care in general! My grandmother advised me as a young teen to avoid tanning, and use moisturizer daily. I've followed her advice, and I cannot say if it's worked or not, but I certainly feel like it hasn't hurt!