Loose Skin: 50lbs loss at 60+, 4+ years maintenance

BrightEyedAgain

Thank you for that upper arm post! Lately I've been wondering whether to maintain at my current weight or try and drop a few more vanity pounds, and my upper arms were one of the spots that were bothering me. But when I flexed like you said, I realized it's pretty much all muscle there. So that alleviates that concern for me and helps me realize I'm probably fine at my current weight. Thank you!

chublet25

Thank you so much for sharing these! I am 65 and have just lost 75 pounds and have 24 to go, and loose skin is starting to be a worry, especially as I have lost the weight in 6 months, which I guess is pretty fast, too fast some people would say if they can't help themselves. I was very interested in your results, and glad to realize that you look FINE! Absolutely fine! I will be happy if I end up looking like you! Thanks again!

sargemarcori

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BartBVanBockstaele

AnnPT77 wrote: »

On my MFP friend feed, someone asked about my experience with loose skin, as someone who lost weight at 60+. Not the first time the question has come up. I decided to post a thread, being as honest as I can manage. Photos will be in spoilers, even though not indecent in technical terms (I'm wearing a tank top & short shorts that I wouldn't usually wear in public, but wouldn't be arrested for) . . . but I don't want to hear from anyone who doesn't want to see a li'l ol' lady body. You were warned: It's on you. I'm sharing this for others' information, not because I think it's fabulous looking. Also, different people will have different results, better or worse. This is n=1 me.

Background: I lost something over 50 pounds at age 59-60, 183lbs to 120s, in a bit less than a year. That was about 5 years ago. Over the intervening time, I drifted up 10-15 pounds, though still at a BMI in lower 20s, and have recently re-lost around 10 or so pounds, at 126.6 this morning, at 5'5", BMI 21.1, age 64. The photos below are from that weight, today.

I felt like the loose skin I had immediately after loss wasn't mostly disastrous, and certainly way better in every way than staying obese. The loose skin I had shrunk quite a bit during the first two years of maintenance, and maybe beyond. Now, I have a small amount of new loose skin from the re-lost 10 or so pounds.

On to photos. This one is what my midsection looks like, standing up straight, not sucking in, just standing relaxed.

You can see that sort of downturn/squint at the sides of my navel that shows there's been weight loss. The finer wrinkles just above the navel are, I believe, from the recent re-loss, and I suspect they'll disappear after some time.

I can make the midsection look worse by slumping forward (leaning to bring ribcage closer to pelvis). That's the next photo.

The finer wrinkles are what I'd consider to be true loose skin. They'll maybe disappear with time. The little roll above the waistband still has some subcutaneous fat in it, and won't leave unless I lose more fat.

Next up, legs. They're sturdy, not shapely, just how I'm built.

You may note that one leg has more remaining inner thigh fat than the other, and is saggier. Weird, but true.

Next, let's look at an area that many women worry about, the upper arms. This will try for an illustration of that thing I rant on about, with respect to "bat wings" or whatever ugly thing women may call it.

This is the first of two photos. My arm is relaxed and horizontal, and I'm pinching the area that most women would call "arm fat" "loose skin" "bat wings" or whatever, but I'm not pulling on it, just pinching. Big flap there. (Yes, my underarm looks weird. A surgeon took out some lymph nodes, so there's a divot.)

Next photo, I'm flexing that same arm, pinching what skin/fat I can, and *pulling down hard* to highlight as much loose tissue as possible.

I hope you'll agree with me that there's much less flap here than in the previous photo even though I'm trying to maximize the flappy part in this one, i.e., a decent share of the flappy part above turned out to be relaxed tricep muscles, muscles that are now engaged/tight in this photo. (I wish I could do a video of myself, because the difference in actual floppiness is pretty major.)

From the weight loss, the thing that looks the most worst to me is my face. Now, I never was Cutie McCuterson, and never will be. I'd also say that my face looks better than it did right after weight loss, but there is still noticeable droop there, that wasn't there when I was obese. I look better if I smile, but I'm intentionally not smiling, so you can see the maximum droop.

This would be the front view.

Besides the droop/wrinkly bit below my mouth on either side, my neck looks stringier than when I was fat. I suspect this has something to do with my own weird muscle/tendon structure that was underneath the fat the whole time, just covered up. I don't think it came from weight loss, but weight loss revealed it more.

Now, the side view.

You can see the droop/wrinkles below my lips quite clearly. There's mostly the stringy zone under my chin, but not IMO a lot of just hanging skin. I did have a good bit of fat there previously, when I was obese.

There ya go: Honest pics of loose skin, one woman's experience, after a few years of mostly maintenance, following 50+ pounds loss at about age 60.

Great pictures. Since I lost about 60 kg myself, with a few more to go and am 61 yo, it'll not be a surprise that things look similar for me, only more pronounced. It doesn't bother me. I see it as simply the way I look after living the life that I have had so far.

greedyg

Wow, I think you look great!! I understand where you’re coming from but from an outsider perspective, I am impressed. I’m 50 and when I first lost roughly 35# a few years ago (I gained a bit, back on my weight loss journey) and my stomach never looked that nice, even when I was 115 and actually needed to gain a few pounds.
Btw, your lips are so pretty! And edited to add, your arms look fabulous. You see batwings but I see some serious guns, lady!

eyesee7

You look great Cutie. You are such a positive encouragement.

AnnPT77

greedyg wrote: »

Wow, I think you look great!! I understand where you’re coming from but from an outsider perspective, I am impressed. I’m 50 and when I first lost roughly 35 # a few years ago (I gained a bit, back on my weight loss journey) and my stomach never looked that nice, even when I was 115 and actually needed to gain a few pounds.
Btw, your lips are so pretty! And edited to add, your arms look fabulous. You see batwings but I see some serious guns, lady!

Thank you - I never really thought about my lips, but I guess it's a good thing to start out with somewhat naturally larger lips? I know most women's lips seem to thin as we age, but I do still have some lip acreage left.

Overall, after reading your and some other replies here, I think maybe I communicate my own psychological inner state too unclearly?

I'm not very interested in my physical appearance, but I'm actually quite happy with my body at this point. I'm not in aging supermodel territory, but don't particularly want to be - I respect that that takes an investment of time, energy and money that I wouldn't want to make. I respect women who do want to make that investment - to each her own - but don't envy them. I don't look like I'm 22, but I absolutely don't want to look 22: I think the idea that older women should want to look younger is . . . I don't know, maybe even kind of insulting? (I just turned 67 yesterday. I like 67 just fine.)

More specifically, I don't think I have "batwings". I hate the term, even when there's a real thing to be described. What I think is that many women think they have so-called "batwings" way beyond any kind of reality, because they hold their arms out in a way that utterly maximizes the droop of combined muscle (relaxed triceps), plus any loose skin or upper arm fat they actually may have.

Most women I've discussed this in real life have much more triceps muscle than they realize, and relatively less fat/loose skin than they imagine (even if non-zero), because they misidentify the relaxed muscles as one of the other things. I tried to emphasize that distinction in the photos in my OP by pulling on the tissue of my upper arms. When my arm is relaxed, it looks like lots of droop. When it's flexed, there's very obviously much less droop, even though I'm pulling-pulling-pulling to create as much droop as I possibly can.

There's a photo on page 3, in which I'm not pulling, but have a decent-ish flex going. Repeating it here:



In my own upper arms, what I see is a little bit of loose skin, not too much upper arm fat (I lose upper body fat disproportionate to lower body fat) . . . and pretty darned decent triceps, especially for someone who doesn't like to lift weights and rarely does so. (I'm not going to pine after body features I'm not willing to put in the effort to get. That's ridiculous, and frankly a little foolish. I have decent triceps from the rowing I love, and that'll do me fine.)

I don't want anyone assuming I don't like my body. I do like it. I liked it when I was fat (but fit and reasonably capable). Heck, I even mostly liked it when I was fat and very unfit. (What would I do without it, y'know?) I like it even more now that it's lighter, healthier, more functional, less painful and painful less often, and now that some of the modest muscle I've had for a long time actually shows.

I do try to be honest, both pros and cons - to myself especially, but also in public. I'm happy with my body. It has stepped up reasonably to the amount of time and effort I care to invest. Maybe I'm immodest, but I'm totally OK with myself, physically.

Are there things I'd like to improve? Sure. And when I put in the work, I'll believe I mean it.

I'd like for everyone to like her (or his) body. It needn't be objectively perfect to be likeable, even lovable! Beyond that, no matter where we are, we can always improve, if we're willing to make the investment of time and energy. To foresee and pursue improvements is not disliking, it's investing.

(end rant ).

justanotherloser007

A long time ago there was a game/thread about "what is your favorite part of the body" I was probably 265 at the time, and I put: skeleton! Because seriously, if you can't appreciate your skeleton you would be a skin bag of goo. Might still be my fav part of the body.. It is a tough call btw brain, heart, and skeleton though hmmm...

nanannow

Thank you so much for your honesty. You look wonderful. I worry about this loose skin on my belly. Thank you!

robmcc1479

Thanks so much for this detailed report. I'm 82 and have lost 37 pounds in the last year and have some noticeable changes especially in my waist area but I'm not done losing yet and it hasn't been that long so I hope I will see some improvement as I go on.

JacquiScarff993

Thank you for this post, it's really reassuring that the loose skin diminishes somewhat over time. I've been stressing about that.

JaysFan82

I REALLY hate this loose skin around my stomach that's developed. I'm hoping it'll get better with time.

aCountryVegan

First of thank you for posting such a motivational and honest post.

64 year old male here and 10 years ago this Christmas I weighed 305lbs and had a 48 inch waist line and 2X shirts. Now after a couple of yoyos over the years, I am down to 192 with a 34 waist line and I could wear medium shirts, but choose not to. Why? Because when I wear a medium shirt my loose skin around my stomach makes the shirt look like crap. I wish I had tightened up anywhere near like you have. Now do not get me wrong, I am very happy that I have lost 1/3 of myself and now can run a 1/2 marathon if I wanted, but for me its just depressing thinking without surgery this might never get any better. Your post gives me hope and perhaps this will be my year of CORE and see just how much of this I can actually tighten up. I would post pics, but mine will really scare some people.

annliz23

Thanks for posting it's been very inspiring, I am working on my arms I really hate them at least I know now I can change them with constant work.

AnnPT77

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annliz23 wrote: »

Thanks for posting it's been very inspiring, I am working on my arms I really hate them at least I know now I can change them with constant work.

@annliz23, please just don't hate the relaxed muscle part! Try that thing I describe in detail above, with holding onto the area then flexing. Even some very fit, slim male folks have some wobble there when arms are relaxed and held out straight.

spottedpony62

Thank you so much for sharing this information. I'm 62 and on a journey to lose 60 - 100 pounds. I was worried about this issue though whatever it is I would rather be thinner and healthier with loose skin than obese like I am now. My neck already looks worse than yours! LOL.. But Honestly, I'll get a face lift if necessary! I will have earned it You look great!! So happy for you.

AnnPT77

spottedpony62 wrote: »

Thank you so much for sharing this information. I'm 62 and on a journey to lose 60 - 100 pounds. I was worried about this issue though whatever it is I would rather be thinner and healthier with loose skin than obese like I am now. My neck already looks worse than yours! LOL.. But Honestly, I'll get a face lift if necessary! I will have earned it You look great!! So happy for you.

Thank you!

I feel like most people care about appearance, and that's an easy thing to communicate about with photos . . . but a thing many people may not anticipate, but (I think/hope) quite a few experience at goal weight - but that's hard to communicate about - is how different everything feels at a healthy weight.

I'm not talking about the people who expect they'll psychologically feel like a whole different person when slim, i.e. just better because thinner and all dimensions of their whole life happiness will fall into place, all their stresses and interpersonal conflicts will evaporate, etc. Sadly, I don't think that's realistic.

I'm talking about the many ways the physicality can feel different and better: I feel like I used to lumber around when obese, but when I reached a healthy weight it felt more like scampering. Going up and downstairs in my house whenever it strikes me, vs. budgeting trips up and down while staging things at the top and bottom to carry up/down in a more limited number of trips. Just a general feeling of physical well-being (I don't know the source - maybe less of systemic inflammation?). The improved blood pressure, cholesterol, joint pain or discomfort.

It's hard to even put into words, but a lot of good physical things can happen. I want that for everyone!

pashin8nz2000

I'm losing 2lbs a week I hope losing it slowly will help. I have batwings already.

AnnPT77

pashin8nz2000 wrote: »

I'm losing 2lbs a week I hope losing it slowly will help. I have batwings already.

Unless you're way over 200 pounds, 2 pounds a week isn't slow.

And if you're not at goal weight yet, or better yet months down the road of maintaining a healthy goal weight, whatever has happened "already" isn't really a great indication of where you'll end up. In terms of loose skin, it's common to look worse part way to goal weight than at goal weight, and worse at goal weight than after quite a few months of maintaining that weight.

And, as previously mentioned (with photo examples), probably part of the "batwings" are relaxed muscle, along with some partially-depleted fat stores (that will reduce with continued loss) and loose skin (that has a chance of shrinking over a longer span of time than the fat loss takes.

This can improve. Really! Until you've lost all the weight and been in maintenance for some time, there's hope of improvement . . . and probably some hope even after that.

mkksemail

AnnPT77 wrote: »

pashin8nz2000 wrote: »

I'm losing 2lbs a week I hope losing it slowly will help. I have batwings already.

Unless you're way over 200 pounds, 2 pounds a week isn't slow.

And if you're not at goal weight yet, or better yet months down the road of maintaining a healthy goal weight, whatever has happened "already" isn't really a great indication of where you'll end up. In terms of loose skin, it's common to look worse part way to goal weight than at goal weight, and worse at goal weight than after quite a few months of maintaining that weight.

And, as previously mentioned (with photo examples), probably part of the "batwings" are relaxed muscle, along with some partially-depleted fat stores (that will reduce with continued loss) and loose skin (that has a chance of shrinking over a longer span of time than the fat loss takes.

This can improve. Really! Until you've lost all the weight and been in maintenance for some time, there's hope of improvement . . . and probably some hope even after that.

I love your plain speaking, and your inspirational words. I've sent you a friend request, and attempted to honor your request for a note, but, as we are not yet friends, I don't know if the message will reach you, @AnnPT77 . Here's the message I sent, tho:
Hello !

I saw the note on your profile, so I'm sending you a note. Although, I guess I'm not sure adding friends is meaningful in any way now, now that MFP has trashed the Newsfeed :-(. But, anyway!

I'm inspired by your comments, and story, and photos, as told in your thread titled, "Loose Skin: 50lbs loss at 60+, 4+ years maintenance".

Cheers,
~ mk

Schwellness

Isn't the body wonderful! Great work & maintenance. Very inspiring.