Are You Happy With How You Look As You Lose?

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  • hasta_la_vista_belly
    hasta_la_vista_belly Posts: 103
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    I love how I am starting to look, but not quite to a point where I could say go swimming on a beach with no shirt on. But compared to 2 years ago, I look a lot better and I love it. Probably won't reach my goal till late summer or towards the end of the year is my guess. Got about 20 pounds of fat more to lose and certainly need to build muscle.

    The other problem I have is that my belly and love handles area has really crazy stretch marks and I have no idea how to get rid of them or if they are just going to go away. So far they haven't been. And the funny thing is that I didn't get too terribly fat and yet I have these stupid marks all over. *angry*
  • arabianhorselover
    arabianhorselover Posts: 1,488 Member
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    Interesting. My arma are worse than my abdomen. Don't think it will be possible to get rid of the "flapping wings".

    uote]
    Im also 53 i have lost 25 lbs in the last 1 1/2 years so i definetly did it slow also have lifted the whole time. The most i ever lost (40 lbs) previously was in my 30 s and i dont remember having issues with skin.Whats weird is for the first time in my life i love my arms cant wait for summer and no sleeves ,the thighs are ok still have cellulite but im ok with that. What im having a hard time accepting is my abdomen, most women complain about a pouch,but my fatty area is above my waistlline and my lower stomach is flat but ive got loose skin,not the kind from massive weightloss but what i call old lady skin. I have it on my arms right above my elbows too, but you only see it when i reach down. I do ab exercises 5 days a week so i know there under there but yet i think i need some fat as filler so to speak. I would like to lose 10 more lbs but im probably just going to up my strenght training and hope the muscle will fill out these areas. Im wearing a bikini this summer, in florida theres lots of old saggy women on the beach so ill be fine :)
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  • arabianhorselover
    arabianhorselover Posts: 1,488 Member
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    I think that a lot of what I'm considering loose skin still has fat under it. I can only hope the skin will shrink up when the fat is gone.
  • Iwishyouwell
    Iwishyouwell Posts: 1,888 Member
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    I've lost a lot of weight, even more than my ticker shows.

    I've gone through periods of looking awful. Why? Because fat doesn't deflate in nice, smooth, even patterns. I've had plenty of periods along the way where I was losing, and the fat got terribly flabby looking; again, the body doesn't drop it uniformly.

    But the areas always eventually tighten back up...until the next woosh. Even though I'm a man, I carried an obscene amount of fat in my thighs. My inner thighs looked terrible during the loss. They looked like what people typically call "excess skin"; wrinkly, deflated, saggy. Same with "batwings"; those are almost always FAT that's become loosened and is causing skin to hang. Most people just seriously underestimate how lean you have to get in order to eliminate "batwings" if you're genetically predisposed to carry a lot of fat in the arms.

    But what did I do? I just kept losing more fat. Eventually you discover that a lot of the things people call "loose" skin, or "flab", is just body fat that's now become less compact, and is causing skin to hang. The best way to combat this is to keep losing FAT, not just weight, and aim for a lower body fat percentage. If all you're going by is an arbitrary scale number, and not your actual body fat levels, you're fighting a losing battle. Scale weight is only half the story.

    I've still got a bit to go, but after losing well over 100lbs and going through various stages of "flab", it's good to know that most of it is turning out to just be body fat that still needs to be dropped.
  • kgeyser
    kgeyser Posts: 22,505 Member
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    Some days I am. Other days I look in the mirror and it seems that the fat is just migrating to different locations.
  • arabianhorselover
    arabianhorselover Posts: 1,488 Member
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    Well, I've lost another pound this week, so that's good. So how, exactly, do you lose body fat, and not just weight?
  • ALNoog
    ALNoog Posts: 413 Member
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    Yes and no.... I am confident with my looks... The only thing I don't like is that my boobs go completely away... I go from a large C to an A.... I hate that!

    But people tell me that I look just like my momma... she passed away almost 12 years ago and it makes me so proud to hear that I look like her because she was so beautiful!
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    Yes, obviously I look much better. Sad about the loose skin though... but I have to realize that it's still better than the alternative.

    I look more muscular than I'd like though, yet still have too much body fat on my hips (and belly, maybe, but I think it's mostly skin at this point). Damn genetics.
  • Joebob8
    Joebob8 Posts: 69 Member
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    When I went from 192 lbs to 135 I thought I was more or less done with my weight loss and all the loose skin was my burden to bear unless I went in for surgery. Then I kicked my fitness into high gear with serious weight training, focusing on diet, etc. I'm 123 lbs now and ab muscles are beginning to appear. I still have some stretch marks and would feel wayyyy too self conscious in a bikini but my body has gone from "normal/average" to amazing. I was overweight from the age of 5, btw (30 now).

    Loose skin is like thin crepe paper. Loose fat is when you have an inch to pinch. Keep working.
  • Joebob8
    Joebob8 Posts: 69 Member
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    To answer OPs second question about losing body fat and not just weight: 20% deficit from TDEE and no more than that. Solid amount of protein. 80% of calories from foods that provide real nutrition and not just taste. 3-4 days per week weight training. Other people on MFP say cardio is not for weight loss but I disagree. It provides a little extra calorie burn, more importantly it gets those endorphins going so you feel good and are more apt to make better choices. It also helps regulate appetite.
  • margannmks
    margannmks Posts: 424 Member
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    Loose skin is like thin crepe paper. Loose fat is when you have an inch to pinch. Keep working.
    thats exactly what i have, both of, upper ab is fat lower is crepe if i could figure out how to post pics i could show perfect example of the difference. Glad to hear extra weight training will get rid of this with proper diet of course.
  • arabianhorselover
    arabianhorselover Posts: 1,488 Member
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    Well, I've done fine with the TDEE, and do weight training 3 days per week. I don't do as well with diet, but better than I used to! I also walk a lot.
    To answer OPs second question about losing body fat and not just weight: 20% deficit from TDEE and no more than that. Solid amount of protein. 80% of calories from foods that provide real nutrition and not just taste. 3-4 days per week weight training. Other people on MFP say cardio is not for weight loss but I disagree. It provides a little extra calorie burn, more importantly it gets those endorphins going so you feel good and are more apt to make better choices. It also helps regulate appetite.
  • Iwishyouwell
    Iwishyouwell Posts: 1,888 Member
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    When I went from 192 lbs to 135 I thought I was more or less done with my weight loss and all the loose skin was my burden to bear unless I went in for surgery. Then I kicked my fitness into high gear with serious weight training, focusing on diet, etc. I'm 123 lbs now and ab muscles are beginning to appear. I still have some stretch marks and would feel wayyyy too self conscious in a bikini but my body has gone from "normal/average" to amazing. I was overweight from the age of 5, btw (30 now).

    Loose skin is like thin crepe paper. Loose fat is when you have an inch to pinch. Keep working.

    This. All day long, this. If it jiggles, it ain't skin folks.
  • arabianhorselover
    arabianhorselover Posts: 1,488 Member
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    I think a LOT of people mistake fat for loose skin.
  • astralweeks82
    astralweeks82 Posts: 230 Member
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    I generally feel MUCH better about my body, but I was 130lbs heavier when I started and I've seen so many positive changes in my health, it's hard NOT to be happy with what I see.

    That being said, I get down a lot when I look at the loose skin. I had twins so my stomach was destroyed from that, but loose skin in other areas gets to me sometimes. I just focus on how I look IN clothes and that keeps me pretty happy most of the time.
  • margannmks
    margannmks Posts: 424 Member
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    Ill take my loose skin over my previous fat self.d121
  • SugaryLynx
    SugaryLynx Posts: 2,640 Member
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    Yep. I'm happy with what I've achieved and have yet to. I've come a long way, even if I'm never perfect, I'll still love the person who had the courage to take those steps towards a healthier, happier me.
  • Joebob8
    Joebob8 Posts: 69 Member
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    OP it sounds like you are on the right track! Slow and steady really is the best. I'm working on a goal of losing the "last 5 pounds" (of fat) the next six months. I figure if I'm going to work so hard to get it off, I don't want it to ever come back! I have friends who ask for my advice all the time, when I tell them they can't lose more than 2 pounds per week at most and that all their crash diet ideas are a sure fire way to lose water and muscle and then end up even fatter than they started they get really annoyed. And then they don't put in the work. And then they stay fat. C'est la vie. As I said before, just keep going. It really is a lifestyle change.
  • catherinemaxwell566
    catherinemaxwell566 Posts: 75
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    im completely confused by my body at the moment, I lost around 15lbs last year yet some days I look bigger than before
  • LC458
    LC458 Posts: 300 Member
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    Totally understand! My boobs have deflated from 34 DD to... hell Idk, something a whole lot smaller.
    Thank God my man is an "*kitten* man" and thank God for push up bras 8D
    So to answer your question- I am happy with my body and the way it looks because I know I am so much healthier now.

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