How to lose that jiggle under upper arms and on lower body

Sulekhatc

Hello, I have been a member for past many years and have lost lots of weight over the past 5 years but need to lose another 40-50 lbs but as I am losing the weight the jiggle under my arms is not getting any smaller. I am in my mid Fifties. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

claireychn074

Calling @AnnPT77 as she has some v good advice about arm wobble (hint - it’s not as much fat as you think it is!)

snowflake954

You talk about losing weight but are you doing strength training? That helps tremendously with under arm jiggle. However, you might not lose it all depending on how overweight you were and your age--as you get older your skin doesn't bounce back like before. I agree @AnnPT77 is definitely well versed on this topic. Calling....calling......

Retroguy2000

If we say her name three times she'll appear.

@AnnPT77

AnnPT77

Yupper, you've hit on one of my pet peeves: Women misidentifying nice, relaxed triceps muscles as fat or loose skin.

I'm not saying you have zero arm fat or loose skin. I have no way of knowing.

(Brace yourself, this is going to be a lengthy essay, once I get going. 🤣)

What I do know is this: I've had this conversation quite a number of times with women in my real life. Every single one of them was holding her arm out horizontally, relaxed, and identifying anything that hangs/wobbles as fat or loose skin. In every single case, some of that was relaxed muscle.

Any long muscle, when relaxed, has some slack in it. When we position our body so that gravity acts on that muscle, it tends to droop or wobble. That's true for even very fit people (men as well as women).

Try this:

Stretch one arm out straight horizontally and relaxed, then take the opposite hand, and grab the hang-y jiggle part on the extended upper arm. Put your finger tips close to the upper arm bones, and hold on firmly.

Next, flex that extended arm in as "bodybuilder-like" a pose as you can accomplish: Upper arm above shoulder level, elbow bent, hand curled down/in toward the inside of the arm, consciously/conscientiously tightening every single muscle you can feel, especially those underneath the upper arm. Tight tight tight, still holding the area with that opposite hand.
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Anything that firms or tightens in the holding-on hand when we do that is muscle, not fat or loose skin. There may be some fat or loose skin, but I'd bet that a good bit of your "jiggle" tightened up. If you're not used to bodybuilder poses, there's probably even a bit more muscle than you felt, because it's hard to tighten up those muscles if we're not used to flexing them.

Now, on top of that, if you have more weight to lose, you're maybe not "there yet", in a larger sense. When we lose weight, most of the fat needs to deplete before the skin in an area can start to shrink, because the remaining fat conspires with gravity to keep the skin stretched. Then, it can take quite a time for the skin to shrink as much as it will. My loose skin kept shrinking at least into year 2 of maintaining a healthy weight . . . maybe longer, as it is a little slower process toward the end.

I hate to say it, but it's another process - like the weight loss itself - that requires some patience. Many of us even look a bit worse part way to goal weight than we look at goal (I did), and then worse at goal than we will after some time passes at that healthy goal weight. It can get better, almost certainly will get better, all along the way!

Let me add a personal example about the arm-hang issue. I'm 67 now, lost 50+ pounds about 7 years ago, after having been overweight/obese for about 3 decades before that. This is my very own arm - I think I was 65 at the time - held out horizontally, and relaxed:



Scary, huh?

Here, in the spoiler, is that very same arm, mere seconds later, after I've flexed my arm sort of bodybuilder style to tighten up that area.

I think that looks pretty different . . . seconds apart. Now, I do have a bit of arm muscle (from rowing, for 20+ years now, starting when obese - not much weight lifting). But I'd guarantee that you have some triceps muscles, because if you didn't, you couldn't raise your arms, y'know? Don't hate your triceps muscles: They're good guys!

Here's what I think helps with loose skin. First is losing enough weight so that skin can start shrinking.

Beyond that, skin is an organ. The things that keep other organs healthy will also tend to keep skin healthy, which means elastic and more willing to adjust. These include:

* 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.

People will say all kinds of things about creams, dry-brushing, supplements, etc., but personally I'm inclined to think those are mainly ways to pass the time while skin does pretty much what it was going to do anyway. Help a little? Maybe. Big help? I'm a skeptic. But it can feel good to feel like we're doing *something*, and as long as it's not prohibitively expensive or dangerous, why not?

FWIW, if you're interested, here's a more complete post I made at around age 64, about 4 years after weight loss, being very honest about my loose skin at that time.

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

This is another good thread, from someone who lost substantially more weight than I did:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10763291/my-turn-to-overshare-my-adventure/p1

Here's another, also 50+ age with bigger losses:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10672121/4-year-milestone

There are others, women 50+ who've lost weight and look pretty great . . . especially after some time passes: Take a look in the "Most Helpful Posts" section of "Success Stories" here in the MFP Community, and you'll find some.

I know, it's hard to be patient. But improvement is out there for you - you may well surprise yourself!

Wishing you all the best, going forward!

AnnPT77

Yupper, you've hit on one of my pet peeves: Women misidentifying nice, relaxed triceps

claireychn074 wrote: »

Calling @AnnPT77 as she has some v good advice about arm wobble (hint - it’s not as much fat as you think it is!)

snowflake954 wrote: »

You talk about losing weight but are you doing strength training? That helps tremendously with under arm jiggle. However, you might not lose it all depending on how overweight you were and your age--as you get older your skin doesn't bounce back like before. I agree @AnnPT77 is definitely well versed on this topic. Calling....calling......

Retroguy2000 wrote: »

If we say her name three times she'll appear.

@AnnPT77

C'mon guys: 3 tags in less than an hour? 🤣 That's pressure! I admit, I'm a fast touch-typist, but my ridiculous rants still take a little time to formulate after I see the tag, y'know? (Plus I needed more coffee.)

Isn't the 3 times thing for demons or something? I don't think I'm a demon? I'm just a sweet li'l ol' lady! Maybe. Kinda. 😉🤣

cmriverside

@AnnPT77

This is where you get to use those typing skillz.

:flowerforyou: and a sorry for yet another tag.

manderson27

Brilliant advice and information from @AnnPT77 as always. You really are an inspiration to many of us Ann. Thank you for all you do on here.

kshama2001

AnnPT77 wrote: »

Yupper, you've hit on one of my pet peeves: Women misidentifying nice, relaxed triceps

claireychn074 wrote: »

Calling @AnnPT77 as she has some v good advice about arm wobble (hint - it’s not as much fat as you think it is!)

snowflake954 wrote: »

You talk about losing weight but are you doing strength training? That helps tremendously with under arm jiggle. However, you might not lose it all depending on how overweight you were and your age--as you get older your skin doesn't bounce back like before. I agree @AnnPT77 is definitely well versed on this topic. Calling....calling......

Retroguy2000 wrote: »

If we say her name three times she'll appear.

@AnnPT77

C'mon guys: 3 tags in less than an hour? 🤣 That's pressure! I admit, I'm a fast touch-typist, but my ridiculous rants still take a little time to formulate after I see the tag, y'know? (Plus I needed more coffee.)

Isn't the 3 times thing for demons or something? I don't think I'm a demon? I'm just a sweet li'l ol' lady! Maybe. Kinda. 😉🤣

The triceps response is definitely a FAQ that you could have stored in a google doc or something so you can just paste with minor edits

kshama2001

My suggestions:

1. Strength train
2. Get to your goal weight
3. See Ann's post above
4. Continue to strength train

AnnPT77

.

kshama2001 wrote: »

AnnPT77 wrote: »

Yupper, you've hit on one of my pet peeves: Women misidentifying nice, relaxed triceps

claireychn074 wrote: »

Calling @AnnPT77 as she has some v g ood advice about arm wobble (hint - it’s not as much fat as you think it is!)

snowflake954 wrote: »

You talk about losing weight but are you doing strength training? That helps tremendously with under arm jiggle. However, you might not lose it all depending on how overweight you were and your age--as you get older your skin doesn't bounce back like before. I agree @AnnPT77 is definitely well versed on this topic. Calling....calling......

Retroguy2000 wrote: »

If we say her name three times she'll appear.

@AnnPT77

C'mon guys: 3 tags in less than an hour? 🤣 That's pressure! I admit, I'm a fast touch-typist, but my ridiculous rants still take a little time to formulate after I see the tag, y'know? (Plus I needed more coffee.)

Isn't the 3 times thing for demons or something? I don't think I'm a demon? I'm just a sweet li'l ol' lady! Maybe. Kinda. 😉🤣

The triceps response is definitely a FAQ that you could have stored in a google doc or something so you can just paste with minor edits

I do use cut'n'paste. But I also try to tailor the post, if/as needed, to what the OP actually said/asked. Sometimes it's minor edits, sometimes less so. But it was 3 tags in less than an hour, and I needed to make myself a cup of coffee in there, too! 😉🤣

ETA: And it seems to have been all for naught in this case, as OP posted essentially the same question in a different section a couple of days later. 🤷‍♀️

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10878450/how-to-get-rid-of-upper-arm-jiggles-and-lose-skin-after-some-weight-loss#latest

Presumably this is someone new who's having difficulty figuring out how to get back to their previous posts - though I dunno.

Retroguy2000

You're too kind, Ann.

Just seems like poor forum etiquette imo, to ignore everything here then ask the same thing elsewhere without referencing this at all.

AnnPT77

.

Retroguy2000 wrote: »

You're too kind, Ann.

Just seems like poor forum etiquette imo, to ignore everything here then ask the same thing elsewhere without referencing this at all.

TBH, it helps my emotional well-being (equanimity) when I give others the benefit of the doubt.

It isn't always possible to do that, but OP has only 4 posts at this moment, and the two mentioned were, I believe, the first two since one in 2014. There's a learning curve to participating in the Community posts, I think.

I did link this thread in the one where the question was repeated.