120 lbs to lose- how to avoid excess skin??
tiffanygordon1111
Posts: 10 Member
I started my journey 3 weeks ago and I'm down 13 lbs. I have about 120 lbs total to lose. Anyone have advice on avoiding too much excess skin?
3
Replies
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Hate to discourage you ... but with over 120 pounds to lose, you will end up with loose skin in certain places. There are some things I've read that can help ... lose weight at a moderate pace; exercise to build the muscle underneath the skin; save money for some cosmetic surgery after you finish losing weight if any excess skin bothers you too much. One thing I know from personal experience ... don't lose and gain, lose and gain ... because each time you will be more flabby skinned than you were the last time .... So make up your mind to make the changes necessary to lose that extra weight and stick with it until you get to where you want/need to be weight wise.
PS ... heard an interesting image about skin that has been stretched too far from being too heavy and then losing weight .... like a stretched out balloon ... it will get smaller when you let the air out, but it won't go back to it's original size before you blew it up. And, if you blow it up and let the air out again, it will be looser yet.
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I really worried about this too but then see some of the people who lose 100lb plus and look fantastic even with lose skin. Good luck.7
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I wish there was a solution! I lost 140lbs and my belly shows it. Some clothing works at hiding it, some doesn't. Everyone is different, you may not have any loose skin at all.6
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I am down 80 pounds with no lose skin. Drink plenty of water and don't lose it too fast. Good luck!22
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Loose it slowly and exercise with weights. Sign up to a gym and ask them to give you advice on what machines and weights to use. Ive had four children and no one told me to do light exercise or gentle weights so now over the years of yoyo diets ive got an apron. Its horrible and i hate it. It really gets me down. My husband is training to be a personal trainer so is helping me in the gym. Im training my chest bingo wings and i do squats then 30 mins cardio 3-4times a week. This depends on how the week is going due to family lifestyle. Its a lot of hard work but will be all worth it.9
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A small portion of it can be helped with losing it in a reasonable time vs. very quickly, strength training, dry skin brushing, etc. BUT - the majority has to do with your genetics and skin elasticity.
Both my best friend and I have lost over 100 lbs each over the last 5 years. She did hers in two years (110lbs), mine took about 4 years (130 lbs). I did ALL of the above, extra strength training, plus avocado oil massages, exfoliation - everything.
My friend just did workouts & diet. Besides her stomach (she's had kids), the rest of her looks 100% normal. For me - I will need arm surgery, thigh lift, truck (backside) lift. I had a tummy tuck last October. My Dr. said unfortunately I have very poor skin elasticity. Even with skin removed, my stomach is tight (yay!) but you can tell it is stretched out skin. My skin is exactly like a deflated balloon.
I've learned to accept it but will be having procedures to have it removed. Tummy tuck cost me 8k but I only put $500 down and then they financed it, I pay $180 a month. Not too bad. I plan on saving for the other surgeries.
It sucks, but my life is so incredible being healthy I wouldn't trade it for the world. There is no point beating yourself up for what you can't change now (i.e. for allowing yourself to gain the weight in the first place). You are on the right path, that's all that matters.
Congrats on your 13 lbs - it is ONLY the beginning. Don't look back, never give up, slow and steady wins the race!
15 -
This will depend on age, genetics and where you're holding your fat. Usually if most of the weight is in the lower body, loose skin won't be as noticeable. However if it's in your upper body, I've found that loose skin on abs, arms and low back aren't uncommon. My experience is that if one has 80+lbs to lose, there a high likelyhood of some loose skin regardless of approach.
What I can tell you is that creams, oils, dry brushing, wraps, etc. do NOTHING to reduce it. You may see less "ripple" from loose skin, but most of these products just inflame the skin giving the appearance of being more "filled" out.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
5 -
I don't know much about this at all, but it's probably worth investing in a good body moisturiser - it doesn't have to be expensive even something like Nivea Q10 skin firming moisturiser should help to keep the skin elasticity up. maybe look at good vitamin pills that also help boost skin elasticity.
These things might not be complete solutions but they should surely help :-)
Agree also skin brushing/exfoliating, not losing too quickly, exercising, moisturising, drinking lots of water etc. I think the worse of skin sagging is due to losing far too quickly throughout the diet. Plateauing on a diet for a few weeks can be a good thing, it allows the body to recalibrate and find a new normal, before more weight loss follows. If skin sagging is a big concern, maybe after every 28lbs lost, you up your calories to maintain for 2/3 weeks before reducing them again and going back to dieting.
The worst skin sagging you see is on people who have had weight loss surgery who then lose huge amounts in a matter of weeks. I don't think skin sagging is as bad as those on diets who after the initial quick weight loss go on to lose a steady 2-3 lbs a week.
But maybe others will think differently?
Good luck tho! :-)
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The best advice I can give is to lose the weight at a measured pace after the initial newb loss. I recommend not setting your weight loss goal above 1-2 lbs a week so your body can adjust to the changes. General medical advice is 1lb a week for safe sustainable loss, personally do 2lbs but so far have only done it in 20-30lb increments with breaks between and have not had any issues and I'm down over 60lbs. I hope this helps.6
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The cellular structures which support your skin could care less what you put on the surface of your skin. If you spend a billion dollars on creams and exfoliate a lot you will have lovely, soft, stretched out loose skin, and less money.
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The best thing you can do is drink lots of water daily (which helps diets in a plethora of other ways) and weight training. Your skin is attached to fat now, when thats gone theres nothing for skin to hang on to. Building muscle can at least reduce the appearance of loose skin.
I had a friend that lost a lot and had a pretty large tummy apron. Insurance covered a huge chunk of her tummy tuck because her skin there would get irritated a lot.3 -
I don't know much about this at all, but it's probably worth investing in a good body moisturiser - it doesn't have to be expensive even something like Nivea Q10 skin firming moisturiser should help to keep the skin elasticity up. maybe look at good vitamin pills that also help boost skin elasticity.
These things might not be complete solutions but they should surely help :-)
Agree also skin brushing/exfoliating, not losing too quickly, exercising, moisturising, drinking lots of water etc. I think the worse of skin sagging is due to losing far too quickly throughout the diet. Plateauing on a diet for a few weeks can be a good thing, it allows the body to recalibrate and find a new normal, before more weight loss follows. If skin sagging is a big concern, maybe after every 28lbs lost, you up your calories to maintain for 2/3 weeks before reducing them again and going back to dieting.
The worst skin sagging you see is on people who have had weight loss surgery who then lose huge amounts in a matter of weeks. I don't think skin sagging is as bad as those on diets who after the initial quick weight loss go on to lose a steady 2-3 lbs a week.
But maybe others will think differently?
Good luck tho! :-)
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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getoffin1year wrote: »The best thing you can do is drink lots of water daily (which helps diets in a plethora of other ways) and weight training. Your skin is attached to fat now, when thats gone theres nothing for skin to hang on to. Building muscle can at least reduce the appearance of loose skin.
I had a friend that lost a lot and had a pretty large tummy apron. Insurance covered a huge chunk of her tummy tuck because her skin there would get irritated a lot.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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As everyone has said here. Unfortunately the skin is there to stay. Just tuck it in and go on.2
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Im going to add my 2c worth. Vitamin C everyday 1000mg or more, zinc cream rub it in bad areas, as well as a very good moisturizer, rosehip oil, avocado oil, Vitamin E internally and externally on bad areas, most importantly do give up on the skin. If all the guys knew what their girlfriends faces looked like with without moisturiser they would shut up yeah well you get the idea no offense. Honestly good luck xx3
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Unfortunately the best advice I can give is to accept the fact that you will probably have some loose skin. Factors that you can't control, like age and genetics, play a huge role in how much you will have. I lost 100 pounds in my early 30s. I have some loose skin, but not a lot. I'm mostly okay with it. I would rather have a little loose skin than a lot of extra fat. I sort of see it as both a badge of honor of how far I've come, and a caution to myself not to go back to the way I used to be. As we go through life our bodies collect markers of the experiences we've had, whether they're tattoos or scars or piercings or muscle or loose skin.6
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