Excess Skin

VickyEltonGreen

Hi Everyone,
Has any one out there who has lost over 75 pounds who is over 50 been able to exercise and tone up tightening excess skin. I am working on my arms and see results however my tummy is another story. Can this be done or is it inevitable that I will have this post weight loss ?Any exercise suggestions to target tummy would be most welcome.

cmriverside

I lost nearly 80 pounds at age 54.

There was quite a lot of loose skin at the very end of my weight loss, but it does get progressively better and now I am quite pleased with how I look. Obviously it's helpful to do some exercise and some resistance training to help that along, but I think you'll be fine.

It took a year or two, though. Just be patient and don't gain the weight back! We're not getting any younger, so it's not going to be like the 30-year-old body.

VickyEltonGreen

Thank you cmriverside, both helpful and encouraging.

cmriverside

springlering62

Hi, Vicky.
I have embarrassingly bare belly photos on my success story post

They are on about page 2, around September 2020, when I updated on my second anniversary.

@AnnPT77 also has a terrific thread with similar pictures.

I am 58, have lost 93 pounds over the past 25 months. The excess skin isn't really a problem. In fact, I treat it as a bit of a warning sign. If I notice the inside of my elbows and arms looking particularly wrinkled, it's usually an indication I'm dehydrated. Weird, huh?

However, having said that, I did have a pull & play (the crazy stuff we do following weight loss, am I right?!) with my extra belly skin before jumping in the shower this afternoon. I decided that, instead of an automobile spare tire, it now looks more like a spare bicycle tire. However, I can tell it's going down.

Its kind of interesting, because I'm seeing improvement since that batch of photos. The crazy wrinkles on my knees have even disappeared since I last posted.

It does happen. Just carry on eating well and loving yourself! Patience is its own reward. or virtue. or something like that.

springlering62

and PS, re: suggestions to help, weight training has been very helpful for me, as has Pilates, which is very core oriented.

AnnPT77

VickyEltonGreen wrote: »

Hi Everyone,
Has any one out there who has lost over 75 pounds who is over 50 been able to exercise and tone up tightening excess skin. I am working on my arms and see results however my tummy is another story. Can this be done or is it inevitable that I will have this post weight loss ?Any exercise suggestions to target tummy would be most welcome.

Honestly, I don't think it's mostly about exercise or toning up. Skin isn't a muscle. I think it's about losing the remaining subcutaneous fat that conspires with gravity to keep skin stretched, then having patience, because skin shrinkage is slow. Mine for sure kept shrinking well into year 2 of maintenance, and maybe longer (eventually it gets hard to tell), at age 60 then (now 65).

I didn't lose 70 pounds, only 50+, maybe 60 (depends on which day you ask, given fluctuations 😉!), but here's my story on the skin front, with photos and comments (in a post at the end of page 1) about what I think helps:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10809632/loose-skin-50lbs-loss-at-60-4-years-maintenance/p1

I think my midsection looks better now than it did in September (time of that linked post), since I was then losing a bit, and a couple of months skin shrinkage maybe makes a little difference. It's a process. 😉

Odds are good your long-term results will be better than you're fearing. I looked worse droop-wise partly to goal than at goal, and worse at goal than a few months later. I think that's fairly common.

Just keep doing the good stuff you're doing, betting it'll work out OK. Best wishes!

springlering62

One thing I’d like to add,my goal weight has kept changing downward as I’ve gone along, and that has helped as well.

I think a lot of what I initially thought was excess skin was (and may still be) just visceral fat hanging around the belly line.

VickyEltonGreen

AnnPT77 and Springlering62 read both your stories.... exactly what I need. My body type looks so similar to yours Springlering62 makes me so hopeful. I know it took a lot of work for you both. The pictures have given me a great visual of how possible it can be for me too.
Thank you,

ninerbuff

My experience with clients is if there's 80+lbs to lose, there's usually going to be some loose skin. To what degree is dependent on each person. So length of time one was overweight and age does matter. Get to the goal weight you want then you'll likely have to wait a couple of years to see how the skin retracts. And of course the other option is to have surgery to remove it.

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

VickyEltonGreen

Thank you ninerbuff, the biggest take away I am hearing is also that it takes time a number of years for the skin to retract. I anticipate my tummy will be my most challenging area. I am really trying to focus and remain motivated. Hard but did my measurements and am down a few inches. Best of all feeling better .

Fflpnari

Im 26 and lost 97lbs. I have a lot of loose skin, even with a slow loss and weight training. Id rather have the loose skin than the fat.

dawnbgethealthy

I have loose skin too now. I have lost about 55 pounds (in just over 2 years), but was heavy from peri menopause until a couple of years ago when I began reducing. I wasn't sure if it was that I had stretched out all of the skin being fat for more than 15 years, or if it was just from turning 60.
Really glad to have happened upon this thread.
And doubly glad to think that the skin might tighten back up eventually. Yes, inside of the elbows and upper arms, thighs...
I don't like it, but like somebody here pointed out it is better than the fat. The silhouette in clothes is better, but I cringe at the thought of a bathing suit, which looked good when I was 10 pounds heavier.
I am not to my goal weight yet, just very slowly dropping 10 pounds at a time.

What about skin brushing? I have heard of it. Does anybody know if it helps with the loose skin?

AnnPT77

dawnbgethealthy wrote: »

I have loose skin too now. I have lost about 55 pounds (in just over 2 years), but was heavy from peri menopause until a couple of years ago when I began reducing. I wasn't sure if it was that I had stretched out all of the skin being fat for more than 15 years, or if it was just from turning 60.
Really glad to have happened upon this thread.
And doubly glad to think that the skin might tighten back up eventually. Yes, inside of the elbows and upper arms, thighs...
I don't like it, but like somebody here pointed out it is better than the fat. The silhouette in clothes is better, but I cringe at the thought of a bathing suit, which looked good when I was 10 pounds heavier.
I am not to my goal weight yet, just very slowly dropping 10 pounds at a time.

What about skin brushing? I have heard of it. Does anybody know if it helps with the loose skin?

I'm a skeptic. I did a little for a different issue (too complicated to explain, had to do with a post-radiation-therapy physical therapy intervention, very narrow relevance). It feels kind of nice, so it can't really hurt anything. I'm inclined to think it's one of those things that makes people feel warm and fuzzy that they're Taking Action, while time passes, and that passage of time improves things. But I have no science to support that supposition, and I'm a cynic, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

I still think this is the important stuff (because skin is an organ, and thrives under the same conditions as the other organs):

* avoiding fast loss (because it's a physical stress to lose fast),
* getting good well-rounded nutrition (macros and micros, especially but not exclusively protein),
* getting regular exercise (both cardiovascular and strength),
* managing all-source life stress,
* hydrating adequately (not crazy much, but enough),
* avoiding smoking and excessive alcohol,
* specific to skin, also avoiding tanning.

Genetics is relevant, and probably personal history, but we can't do anything about that.

🤷‍♀️

dawnbgethealthy

Thanks @AnnPT77