"Empty" Areas Where Fat Used To Be?

levitateme

Maybe I can describe it like this: I've had three babies. After the babies came out, the space where they had been was still there. It's the same way with my upper arms and thighs.

OK...this totally confused me.
Do you mean you have 'rectus diastasis'?

ETA: obviously not talking about areas other than abdomen

No. I do not have that. However, the area never really shrunk back to it's former size.

I vote for lifting heavy. If you have areas that are 'flabby' & some that are loose skin, as well as some that may be a combination of the 2, I still say, lift weights.

Heavy weights. Compound movements. What have you got to lose?
I'm sorry I can't be of more help. :ohwell:

I know it sounds glib & over-used as an answer, but that's only because it's true :blushing:
ETA: after I lost 30#'s I looked TERRIBLE in shorts...weight training is changing that for me.

Agree with this. I lost about 26 lbs doing just cardio and eating less from Jan - March. I was lighter and smaller but my legs had a lot of cellulite and my arms were flabby with really gross "batwings". I started lifting heavy and eating near/above maintenance at that point (3/15) and now weigh more, but am smaller and tighter, getting closer to what I want to look like every day. Patience, heavy lifting, a good macro split with calories near TDEE. That's my best advice.

arabianhorselover

Well, I reached my original weight goal a whole back, but decided to lower it by 5 more pounds. Still working to get rid of 3 more pounds, then planning to maybe eat a little above maintenance - once I figure out what that is - and add muscle.

Yes. I am very happy to be rid of the extra weight! Even if I end up flabbier than I would like, I am still so much better off in so many ways. Not really complaining.

YaGigi

It's loose skin.

You should exercise more, strength training.
Also lots of moisturizing. Drink more water, use more lotions on your skin.

I also love accupancture and it does help with loose skin. And I like the RF lifting treatments, they're pricey but they give incredible results.

arabianhorselover

Well, I don't really think I can exercise much more than I already am. I guess I don't really feel that there is a lotion out there that actually does anything much except moisturize.

strassenkoenigin

The problem with these discussions is that there are people participating of all different ages. When I was in my twenties, thirties, forties and even in the beginning fifties I had no skin problems after dropping some weight. Now I am nearly seventy and since menopause my weight has been fluctuating too much and the skin really shows it. The ideal situation would be if we all could stay at our ideal weight all the time and then our skin would not get so saggy and have these empty pockets. But unfortunately that is not the reality. I am determined to find something beside surgery to help this condition. I am taking cold showers all the time, I dry brush my skin and in winter I will go to the Sauna again. In summer I live in a sauna, so I sweat enough:embarassed:

Francl27

The problem with these discussions is that there are people participating of all different ages. When I was in my twenties, thirties, forties and even in the beginning fifties I had no skin problems after dropping some weight. Now I am nearly seventy and since menopause my weight has been fluctuating too much and the skin really shows it. The ideal situation would be if we all could stay at our ideal weight all the time and then our skin would not get so saggy and have these empty pockets. But unfortunately that is not the reality. I am determined to find something beside surgery to help this condition. I am taking cold showers all the time, I dry brush my skin and in winter I will go to the Sauna again. In summer I live in a sauna, so I sweat enough:embarassed:

Yeah. Seriously... exercise won't help when you were 50 to 80 pounds overweight for 15 years. I have killer triceps now... but my bat wings are not going anywhere, and I doubt the skin on my stomach is either... even if I kill myself at the gym. There is definitely some detached fat under the skin there though, but it doesn't seem to be going anywhere either. Maybe if I go down to 15% body fat or something.. which isn't happening :laugh:

But losing 25 pounds that you gained in a couple years and losing 80 pounds that you had for 10+ years = not the same situation at all. Exercise will not always help.

meshashesha2012

OP I know you said you have been doing strong lifts 5*5 for a year, but i'm wondering how you are advancing the weight.. after a year of steadily increasing the weight im thinking you should have been moved to something like a 5/3/1 scale

stealthq

To clarify - I'm not saying flab means there is no problem with loose skin, or even that any of us are willing to do what it takes to really see if it is truly just loose skin or not. But flab means that there may yet be a non-surgical fix.

This excerpt from <http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-to-get-rid-of-excess-skin-after-major-weight-loss/#axzz39pTIjmRK&gt; explains pretty well:

If your loose skin is thicker than a few millimeters, there is residual body fat. And because adipose tissue – which, remember, is actually a major endocrine organ, rather than an inert piece of tissue – remains, the skin has no reason to return to its former size and elasticity. As long as the subcutaneous fat attached to it remains, the skin will appear loose and drape-y. Skin that fills your hand when you squeeze it isn’t just skin.

This isn’t really bad news, believe it or not. It actually means that you’re almost there. It means that your “loose skin” isn’t necessarily out of your control. If indeed it is simply stubborn subcutaneous fat, once you manage to lose the excess fat, the “loose skin” might just disappear along with it. In fact, I’d imagine that most such cases of “loose skin” can and will be remedied in this manner. Men, get down to around 10-12% body fat before you start considering surgery or anything drastic. Women, get down to 15-17% body fat before taking any surgical steps.

hookilau

The problem with these discussions is that there are people participating of all different ages. When I was in my twenties, thirties, forties and even in the beginning fifties I had no skin problems after dropping some weight. Now I am nearly seventy and since menopause my weight has been fluctuating too much and the skin really shows it. The ideal situation would be if we all could stay at our ideal weight all the time and then our skin would not get so saggy and have these empty pockets. But unfortunately that is not the reality. I am determined to find something beside surgery to help this condition. I am taking cold showers all the time, I dry brush my skin and in winter I will go to the Sauna again. In summer I live in a sauna, so I sweat enough:embarassed:

Yeah. Seriously... exercise won't help when you were 50 to 80 pounds overweight for 15 years. I have killer triceps now... but my bat wings are not going anywhere, and I doubt the skin on my stomach is either... even if I kill myself at the gym. There is definitely some detached fat under the skin there though, but it doesn't seem to be going anywhere either. Maybe if I go down to 15% body fat or something.. which isn't happening :laugh:

But losing 25 pounds that you gained in a couple years and losing 80 pounds that you had for 10+ years = not the same situation at all. Exercise will not always help.

:brokenheart: You're right.
I say give up...or you could suck it up and do what you have to do
I'm not sure what kind of reassurances you need but as a natural part of aging, your skin becomes less elastic. I'm not really sure how much of that is hormonal vs weight loss, but does it really matter?

I was overweight for 17 years....lost the weight during the course of last year. I've been lifting heavy for at least 10 of those years.
Only this past year since losing the weight there are visible changes.

At the beginning of the summer, I tried on a size 6 jeans and they fit really niiice. Encouraged, I tried on a size 6 pair of shorts. YOu should've SEEEN the look of horror on my husband's face when I opened that dressing room :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

I opened the door & the look on his face was all I needed, I just closed it again & changed back into my old jeans. He felt horrible, but I knew it wasn't a good look.

My legs looked like deflated balloons with cellulite :laugh: I can laugh now cause it was THAT awful. My legs have improved so much from just a couple of months ago that I can almost wear shorts out in public & feel confident

OP, I don't mean to sound harsh, but really, you'll either have to do something about it or accept it. However, I don't see how it's productive to kvetch about it =/

You sound like a really nice lady, I wish you all the best & hope things turn around for you.
:drinker:

RHachicho

I've heard that sometimes if you have been overweight. Your body doesn't store fat with the same logic as someone who has never been overweight. Someone who hasn't been overweight builds up their fat deposits just fine and evenly. And if they never get bad with it then that's where it stays. But someone very fat who has lost weights can often end up with left over areas of sub cutaneous fat under their skin which prevent the area from tightening properly. According to this viewpoint you have to stick with the diet and get even slimmer. You have to literally force the body to use those skin based fat deposits because if it doesn't then the skin won't tighten.

That being said if you are sure it's not leftover fat then it could just be your age. Your skin isn't as elastic as it used to be unfortunately.

I wish you the best of luck as I'm kinda developing this problem myself.

arabianhorselover

OP I know you said you have been doing strong lifts 5*5 for a year, but i'm wondering how you are advancing the weight.. after a year of steadily increasing the weight im thinking you should have been moved to something like a 5/3/1 scale

I switched to 3x5 months ago. I have made great gains in strength on this program, but have eaten at a deficit the entire time, so can't really expect muscle gain.

I don't increase the weight every workout. Basically, when I get comfortable with a certain weight, I increase it.

arabianhorselover

The problem with these discussions is that there are people participating of all different ages. When I was in my twenties, thirties, forties and even in the beginning fifties I had no skin problems after dropping some weight. Now I am nearly seventy and since menopause my weight has been fluctuating too much and the skin really shows it. The ideal situation would be if we all could stay at our ideal weight all the time and then our skin would not get so saggy and have these empty pockets. But unfortunately that is not the reality. I am determined to find something beside surgery to help this condition. I am taking cold showers all the time, I dry brush my skin and in winter I will go to the Sauna again. In summer I live in a sauna, so I sweat enough:embarassed:

Yeah. Seriously... exercise won't help when you were 50 to 80 pounds overweight for 15 years. I have killer triceps now... but my bat wings are not going anywhere, and I doubt the skin on my stomach is either... even if I kill myself at the gym. There is definitely some detached fat under the skin there though, but it doesn't seem to be going anywhere either. Maybe if I go down to 15% body fat or something.. which isn't happening :laugh:

But losing 25 pounds that you gained in a couple years and losing 80 pounds that you had for 10+ years = not the same situation at all. Exercise will not always help.

:brokenheart: You're right.
I say give up...or you could suck it up and do what you have to do
I'm not sure what kind of reassurances you need but as a natural part of aging, your skin becomes less elastic. I'm not really sure how much of that is hormonal vs weight loss, but does it really matter?

I was overweight for 17 years....lost the weight during the course of last year. I've been lifting heavy for at least 10 of those years.
Only this past year since losing the weight there are visible changes.

At the beginning of the summer, I tried on a size 6 jeans and they fit really niiice. Encouraged, I tried on a size 6 pair of shorts. YOu should've SEEEN the look of horror on my husband's face when I opened that dressing room :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

I opened the door & the look on his face was all I needed, I just closed it again & changed back into my old jeans. He felt horrible, but I knew it wasn't a good look.

My legs looked like deflated balloons with cellulite :laugh: I can laugh now cause it was THAT awful. My legs have improved so much from just a couple of months ago that I can almost wear shorts out in public & feel confident

OP, I don't mean to sound harsh, but really, you'll either have to do something about it or accept it. However, I don't see how it's productive to kvetch about it =/

You sound like a really nice lady, I wish you all the best & hope things turn around for you.
:drinker:

I think I am pretty much doing everything I can about it.

Francl27

The problem with these discussions is that there are people participating of all different ages. When I was in my twenties, thirties, forties and even in the beginning fifties I had no skin problems after dropping some weight. Now I am nearly seventy and since menopause my weight has been fluctuating too much and the skin really shows it. The ideal situation would be if we all could stay at our ideal weight all the time and then our skin would not get so saggy and have these empty pockets. But unfortunately that is not the reality. I am determined to find something beside surgery to help this condition. I am taking cold showers all the time, I dry brush my skin and in winter I will go to the Sauna again. In summer I live in a sauna, so I sweat enough:embarassed:

Yeah. Seriously... exercise won't help when you were 50 to 80 pounds overweight for 15 years. I have killer triceps now... but my bat wings are not going anywhere, and I doubt the skin on my stomach is either... even if I kill myself at the gym. There is definitely some detached fat under the skin there though, but it doesn't seem to be going anywhere either. Maybe if I go down to 15% body fat or something.. which isn't happening :laugh:

But losing 25 pounds that you gained in a couple years and losing 80 pounds that you had for 10+ years = not the same situation at all. Exercise will not always help.

:brokenheart: You're right.
I say give up...or you could suck it up and do what you have to do
I'm not sure what kind of reassurances you need but as a natural part of aging, your skin becomes less elastic. I'm not really sure how much of that is hormonal vs weight loss, but does it really matter?

I was overweight for 17 years....lost the weight during the course of last year. I've been lifting heavy for at least 10 of those years.
Only this past year since losing the weight there are visible changes.

At the beginning of the summer, I tried on a size 6 jeans and they fit really niiice. Encouraged, I tried on a size 6 pair of shorts. YOu should've SEEEN the look of horror on my husband's face when I opened that dressing room :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

I opened the door & the look on his face was all I needed, I just closed it again & changed back into my old jeans. He felt horrible, but I knew it wasn't a good look.

My legs looked like deflated balloons with cellulite :laugh: I can laugh now cause it was THAT awful. My legs have improved so much from just a couple of months ago that I can almost wear shorts out in public & feel confident

OP, I don't mean to sound harsh, but really, you'll either have to do something about it or accept it. However, I don't see how it's productive to kvetch about it =/

You sound like a really nice lady, I wish you all the best & hope things turn around for you.
:drinker:

But my point is that sometimes there's nothing you can do about it. Short of getting down to 15% body fat or something, like the poster above said... and that's something I'm just not willing to do, or I'd be skin and bones.

What irks me is that some people don't want to admit that lifting weights is not a miracle solution for everyone - not the loose skin itself.

OP I'm right there with you! It sucks, but we're going to have to accept it until we win the lottery or something.

hookilau

jrodri0105

Looks to me that you didn't consistently meet your protein intake.

arabianhorselover

I generally strive to get 100 grams per day, but no, I don't always make it.