sagging skin????

mrsbarton

I was wondering.. whats some ways i can really tone my stomach.. im scared that if i lose a bunch of weight my skin will hang and look awful! i have 3 kids and 2 of them being twins so my belly kinda already hangs anyways LOL.. i was wondering if some people who have lost lot of weight wouldnt mind posting a pic of there bellies??!!! and any advice on what i can do to prevent it from sagging would be great!!! im shooting for losing 75 pounds.. and right now im thinking that the jillian micheals no trouble zones will prolly be the best thing for my belly LOL thanks!

ErinMarie25

If you are losing the normal amount of weight 1-2 pounds a week, your skin should be okay throughout your weight loss. Which is another good reason not to try and lose the most amount of weight a week. Your skin needs time to adjust itself.

I have a friend who lost 50 pounds in 3 months. That's a lot of weight. She has saggy skin on her stomach and has had it for a few years. Sadly, nothing is helping. She is saving up for surgery.

4lafz

I am a bit worried too but you have something on your side that will work for you - YOUTH! I think you will be fine. A friend around my age is taking fish oil caplets - I may get some. That and firming lotion every morning and night (like Nivea). I have done some strength training too - should probably do more toning (with weights and resistence) now that I have lost over 40 lbs.

becomingsara

Same here! I hope people give some good advice...the twins REALLY stretched the belly out...and seperated my ab muscles...did that happen to you?

ka_42

I have this problem. I've lost 60 lbs. It's not really my belly thats the worst but my boobs have a lot of extra skin. gross. Anyway- I've read that as you skin develops over time it adjusts to your new body size and will get less saggy. I appreciate any other miracle working tips. Thanks for posting.

00trayn

I've lost 61 pounds so far, and my stomach isn't 100% flat but it's getting there. I've been using cocoa butter on the areas I want to take care of every night (stomach and under arms) and I've been losing no more than 2 lbs per week. From what I've realized, it takes a little longer for skin to catch up to the loss of fat underneath. My stomach is still kinda jiggly, but there is still fat to be lost to get rid of the muffin top and pooch, and I can tell over time that it is getting tighter. Just keep doing what you're doing to lose the fat, don't lose too quickly, and try some lotion every night. It's partly genetics and luck whether it'll completely snap back or not.

mrsbarton

yes!! LOL my twins were pretty good size for twins, and they are only 19months old so it wasnt to long ago LOL

Same here! I hope people give some good advice...the twins REALLY stretched the belly out...and seperated my ab muscles...did that happen to you?

IbettR

Mrs Barton, look up my tattoofreek She's had several kids, did P90X and looks amazingly fabulous! Check out her pics, or it may be in her blog. But I'm sure you'll be able to relate to her, and she's been an amazing support to me! :drinker: Good luck!!!

mrsbarton

i cant seem to find her!

Mrs Barton, look up my tattoofreek She's had several kids, did P90X and looks amazingly fabulous! Check out her pics, or it may be in her blog. But I'm sure you'll be able to relate to her, and she's been an amazing support to me! :drinker: Good luck!!!

redhotsmacker

I know I am still in the process of losing, about 44 lbs to go give or take, but I have lost 74lbs already and I am noticing that my skin seems to be following suit for the most part. It seems like as the fat disappears the skins seems to shrink right along with it. I have 4 kids, my middle two kids are also twins and were about 5lbs each when they were born. They are now 3 and a half. I know that 40lbs can make a huge difference, but I am trying to be optimistic about the skins issue. My thoughts are, if it is a huge problem later on down the road, then I will look into surgery, but for the time being, I think it might be livable.

tattoodfreek

Mrs Barton, look up my tattoofreek She's had several kids, did P90X and looks amazingly fabulous! Check out her pics, or it may be in her blog. But I'm sure you'll be able to relate to her, and she's been an amazing support to me! :drinker: Good luck!!!

OMG, LOLOL!!! I love ya girlie, do you know that???!!!

That's me! I happened to click on this thread, and here I see my name mentioned!

I have 5 kids, but only 3 are mine biologically. My youngest is 14 months old, so my skin on my belly is definitely still a work in progress. She was 9 lbs 5 ounces at birth, and my belly was huge for my third pregnancy. I had strangers asking if I was past my due date when I was only 5 months prego! So, the skin got a real workout.

The biggest determining factor in what happens to your skin is going to be genetics. A good indicator of what your stomach will look like is your mother. Things like stretch marks and elasticity in the skin is something you inherited from her . I have found personally that the tightness of the skin improves with time following the pregnancy. Though I have tried many things, time is really the only thing that made an appreciable difference. That being said, improving the muscle tone of your stomach in addition to losing fat really will help to improve the appearance of your stomach, regardless of how saggy the skin is.

I did the P90x program, which really did deliver great results in my stomach until I got a hernia injury. I finished the program, but then had surgery and back tracked for a while. More recently, I have been doing workouts from www.bodyrock.tv, and they have delivered fantastic results in the tone of my stomach muscles. I've lost a total of 72 pounds. My stomach went from 43 inches, now down to 28.75 (that 1/4 inch makes a big difference, LOL). I have a before/after pic up in my pics. The first pic was after I had already lost about 25 pounds, so there is only a 50 pound difference in those two pictures. Even though I still have a (what I consider) bad problem with sagging skin, there's no doubt that the loss and tone is what mattered the most. So don't let the fear of a little sagging skin hold you back!! I also have an ab shot close up in my pics That should give you a pretty good idea of what I am talking about.

I know that you are at the beginning of your journey, and 75 pounds seems daunting, and like it will never get here. I was in your shoes 11 months ago. You CAN do this, and you WILL be fabulous. Please feel free to add me as a friend for support!!

NeuroticVirgo

I'd love to see some tummy pictures if people weren't embarrassed. I guess I'm just a visual person, I always hear people say Oh its sorta saggy, but not really bad.... and then you think to yourself...whats not really bad mean? ..... I've been told so much from so many people about skin its unreal. What my doctor told me, was to lose 1-2lbs per week, not to waste my money on lotions co-co butter etc, to wait 1-2 years AFTER I get to my goal weight to give time for my skin to adjust...and after that if its still saggy surgery is the only option. I've also read in magazines things like...if you've been overweight by at least 30% of your healthy weight (which I have...pretty much if your goal weight is 160...and you were more than 210 etc) for more than 5 years...your skin might be permanently stretched, but you'll have better luck with stretching from pregnancies or short term weight gain because your skin wasn't stuck in the position for very long. Which makes sense but scares me.

I did a boudoir photo shoot for a woman who lost 70lbs in like 4 or 5 months...I don't think she had the weight on for very long though cause she had barely any stretch marks, and she has a bit of a saggy tummy, but you could only tell when she was bending over, on all 4's etc (that sounds so bad, but I'm trying to explain what I mean...haha.) I discarded all the not so great ones....so I can't really show you what i man, but this is a picture of her stomach when standing up normal & on sorta sitting lol. Looks pretty good to me!




(I cropped, even though I have rights to publish the photos etc, I figure the context I'm talking about, I shouldn't)

SandraMay1982

I have heard that massaging the area can help a bit. It increases the blood flow to the area and helps smooth it out. Whether it works is another thing.

I think everyone who has a large amount of weight to lose is scared of this. I have been overweight for at least 10 years, I am 28. I was 80kgs (170lbs) when I was 16. I am 5'3. So yeah. I am scared of it. But. I figure I'll just squish it out the way for a while. haha.

BobbieJo_1977

In my case I had been super morbidly obese for over 15 years. I have lost 159# and my skin will never be the way it was before gaining all that weight. I will be having a lower body lift in the coming year. They expect to remove up to 20# in the first phase. My thighs will have at least 2 surgeries, maybe 3, but my stomach will be totally flat

NeuroticVirgo

I'm thinking I'll have to copy Homer Simpson until I can save money for surgery by the time I lose all my weight.

alittle007

I agree, the genetics thing and looking at your mother is probably key in knowing if your skin will "rebound". I lost 50 lbs last year and would love to lose 20 more and will definitely be having a tummy tuck! I know that it will not get flat on it's own (my mother and her mother both have the "pooch"). I think it will be worth it in the end for me, personally. I feel that if I'm going to work this hard to lose the weight and be healthy, I want to love what I see in the mirror!! I also had big babies (9lb,6oz & 8lb 15oz) which did not help the gut.