Building Muscle & Excess Skin

darla499

Okay, I've heard that nothing you do is going to take care of the excess skin from a large weight loss.

BUT.... then I see progress pics of mommies with huge pregnant bellies and then after they did some extreme cardio combined with strength training and lowering their body fat ration with weights and stuff. I'm not talking about HUGE muscles ... but nice, toned ... ripped!

Can't that excess skin, which is just fat, be conquered by having a very low body fat %?

There has to be hope for those of us who can't/won't go the surgery route.

Thanks!

mjf0461

good ?

Luckymam

Excess skin is skin, not fat. If it becomes over-stretched and has lost its elasticity, then surgery is the only option.

tross0924

I tried googling image results for excess skin once and all I got was a pictures of people with a lot of fat left to loose IMO. There was one guy who'd lost a lot and got down to a decent body fat % and he had a wrinkley 6 pack. I'm ok with a few weird wrinkles on my stomach. :-) All the rest seemed to have some more weight to lose.

Here's a link to the one guys web site - http://www.mrlowbodyfat.com/?p=2129 the pictures kinda small but down toward the bottom you can see what he refers to as excess skin.

Also if you look at plastic surgeons before and after pictures of their "excess skin" removal, they take out a ton of fat with that skin. To me excess skin removal would be making a fold of skin taking a knife cut the top and bottom of the fold and throwing in some stitches.

Now don't get me wrong, my skin is stretched out and that causes the fat to hang in odd ways around the middle there, but there's still plenty of fat to be gotten rid of. My plan is to get to 9% body fat. Once I do I'll let you know. :-D

darla499

Thanks everyone.

@tross0924, thanks so much. That's really what I was hoping to hear. I know it'll never go back exactly like it was, but it's manageable. And some excess skin is sure better than all the fat.

9% body fat? Awesome.

Thanks for the link!

suzycreamcheese

those mums with big pregnant bellies might have not got bad stretchmarks. My tummy is almost flat despite 3 pregnancies where i got very big. My tummy just didnt bear the brunt of the damage.
My boobs on the other hand were ruined and i needed an uplift after that. Also im sure my thighs look bigger than they should because they will never be toned because of how big they got. Theyll always have a slight wobble to them now

BryanAir

It is basically genetics, the length of time your skin was stretched, how fast it got stretched, and the remaining elasticity of your skin. Some people will be lucky and some won't. I always hope for everyone to have the best of luck with excess skin (I'm hoping for myself as well :happy: ).

darla499

those mums with big pregnant bellies might have not got bad stretchmarks. My tummy is almost flat despite 3 pregnancies where i got very big. My tummy just didnt bear the brunt of the damage.
My boobs on the other hand were ruined and i needed an uplift after that. Also im sure my thighs look bigger than they should because they will never be toned because of how big they got. Theyll always have a slight wobble to them now

That's good to know. I hope it does kind'a depend on whether you have stretch marks and such. I don't know why in the world not, but I never got them in my stomach, legs or anywhere but my boobs. They just kinda blew up and fell down! Maybe ... just maybe I won't have such a ton of the excess, saggy skin in my gut, butt and legs.

PoleBoy

Apparently it can take around 2 years for your skin to recover as much as it is going to, so if you lost you weight quite quickly there can be a lag while it catches up.

bentobee

those mums with big pregnant bellies might have not got bad stretchmarks. My tummy is almost flat despite 3 pregnancies where i got very big. My tummy just didnt bear the brunt of the damage.
My boobs on the other hand were ruined and i needed an uplift after that. Also im sure my thighs look bigger than they should because they will never be toned because of how big they got. Theyll always have a slight wobble to them now

That's good to know. I hope it does kind'a depend on whether you have stretch marks and such. I don't know why in the world not, but I never got them in my stomach, legs or anywhere but my boobs. They just kinda blew up and fell down! Maybe ... just maybe I won't have such a ton of the excess, saggy skin in my gut, butt and legs.

This doesn't bode well for me...I've got stretch marks e.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e.

I read that keeing the skin well moisturized during weightloss can help... and I'm applying the Jergen's Firming lotion and Dove's Cream Oil religiously! I'm hoping for the best.....

akaMrsmojo

I heard if you lose it slowly, it is not terrible. That is part of why I try to lose slowly. I am betting some of the pics you saw may have had a bit of photoshop.

darla499

This doesn't bode well for me...I've got stretch marks e.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e.

I read that keeing the skin well moisturized during weightloss can help... and I'm applying the Jergen's Firming lotion and Dove's Cream Oil religiously! I'm hoping for the best.....

I've heard the same thing. I've heard of mothers using cocoa butter and other creams and they didn't lose the elasticity in their skin.