Weight Training for skin tightening! is it true?

0Leena0

Hey All 

After almost 4 years I can say that I’m really stuck and I feel i wasted time without seeing the result I was hoping for:( 

Im 30 years old female, currently weighing 59 -60 kg , height: 164 cm. Im pear shaped so mostly my fats are in my stomach and thighs. 

I started my weight loss journey in 2020 weighing 90 kg. I can say that I lost the weight VERY SLOOOOOOWLY. My problem now is my arms, I really hate them and how they look and how jiggly they are, I invested in weight training hoping it will tighten up but after a year and half where I focus on special workouts and eating sufficient protein amounts..

the only change I noticed was a little bit of muscle but my arms are still huge  
Then people around me said the one thing I was really afraid of which is that I have loose skin and won’t benefit from what I’m doing , I need surgery I was dumbfounded and felt whatever I was doing was useless. I’m still trying to lose weight. My goal is to reach 50 kg.

here is what my arm looks like: pic1

Here is my arm  in Oct 2021: Oct 2021

Here is my arm in April : April 2023 and flex arm

claireychn074

Any chance you can post the pics directly? I’m not clicking on external links.

AnnPT77

I'll be blunt: Your flex isn't fully flexed, and you're mis-identifying your relaxed triceps as fat or loose skin. Your arms are not big. They're normal and pretty. Do you have zero fat or loose skin? I don't know. But I'm pretty sure you have much less than you're imagining you have.

When you hold your arm out horizontal and relaxed, as in your unflexed photos, the triceps muscles in the back of the upper arm are relaxed, so they're slack. Gravity pulls the relaxed muscle downward, and it will be soft, floppy, flexible. This is true even for many quite muscular people (and not just women).

As I said, in your flexed photos, you aren't fully flexed. You need to get your elbow above your shoulder, maybe slightly in front of the plane of your body, bring your hand down toward your shoulder more so forearm is nearer upper arm, and curl your hand over toward your forearm, then tighten everything up really hard. No, harder.

Once you get the flex right, relax again, hold your arm out horizontal and relaxed (as in your unflexed photo). Take your opposite hand and grab the floppy bit of your upper arm, getting your fingertips up as close to the upper arm bone as you reasonably can. Then, still holding on, flex again. Flex hard . . . really hard, as described above.

Anything that tenses up in your grip is muscle, not fat or loose skin. Given how nice your arm looks, I'm going to bet that in your case, most of it is muscle.

Don't hate your muscle.

Personal example follows. I'm not a paragon of muscularity, far from it. I'm a li'l ol' lady, age 67, and I don't even lift much. I used to be class 1 obese (overweight to obese for around 30 years, until age 60). I still have some fat and loose skin, even though I'm reasonably fit for an old gal, and am at a healthy weight now.

Here is my relaxed arm. Oh, the horrors of the elderly formerly-fat hang-y flappy flop-itude on that upper arm, amIright? Way worse than even your before pics, yikes!!!



Here, in the spoiler, is that very same arm, just moments after the previous photo.

Even my flex isn't perfect, but I'm sorry (?) to say it's quite a bit more flexed than yours. Looks different from the pre-flex photo, I think. Maybe I flatter myself, but I think most of the hang-y floppy went away . . . because it was mostly relaxed muscle, not mostly fat or loose skin.

Please don't misidentify and hate your muscles. You're normal. You have nice arms. Your work has had a good effect. Keep working. Increase the challenge (reps, sets, weight, time under tension, whatever) regularly. Eat enough protein (and get other good nutrition). You'll keep getting better and better.

You look really good. The key thing you need to do is . . . believe it.

Best wishes!

ETA: In case it matters in how you look at this, I'm almost the same size as you, 165 cm and about 59 kg this morning.

P.S. I'm skeptical about 50kg being a good idea. That's BMI 18.6, barely above underweight, and you're not devoid of muscle. Generally, fit women are going to be better off not that close to the underweight line (which 18.5 BMI). There are women our height who weigh substantially more than me, like 10+ kg more, and are much leaner than I am, because they're more muscular. (I got down to around 52-53 kg when I accidentally overshot my goal weight, and it was not a good thing.) It's your body, so your goal . . . but please be careful with your health.

ninerbuff

Arms look fine. Just keep working at it. It can take up to 2 years for skin to retract with weight loss.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 35+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

rileysowner

I am with ninerbuff. Your are looks fine.