Is it fat or loose skin? How do you know?

seckler · April 2011

I have lost quite a bit of weight and am now trying to tone, but I have either fat or loose skin around my stomach. How do you know/tell if it is still fat or just loose skin that you can't do anything about?

kylakesgal · April 2011

Well I heard that if you push in on it and it bounces back, it's fat. I had to try that myself and mine was bouncy lol:) Good luck to you!!

angtodaycounts · April 2011

If you can pinch a small amount of skin and pull it away from the body, it is just loose skin...fat you can't grab.

NoAdditives · April 2011

You would know if it's loose skin. Loose skin is saggy and well, loose. Fat can be similar but it's usually thicker, closer to your abdomen and jiggly.

If you have fat you can do cardio to burn some of it and once you have very little overall body fat you can start to spot reduce in the areas that need it. The body will use either fat or muscle for energy, whichever is closest to the area that needs the energy. So, if you work your abs a lot they will need the energy and will use belly fat. If you have loose skin there may not be much you can do about it without surgery, especially if the skin is loose from having children. The skin stretches so quickly that it can't always shrink back.

SarahJaneDeschamp · April 2011

Well I heard that if you push in on it and it bounces back, it's fat. I had to try that myself and mine was bouncy lol:) Good luck to you!!

thank god for this thread, mine bounces so i can burn it all away *woooohooooo*

Goal_Seeker_1988 · April 2011

could be a mixture of both. Like my stomach. which you are welcome to check out it's under my pics.

seckler · April 2011

Well, I have two kids and I gained 50 pounds with both of them, so I know that some is probably loose skin, but hopefully some is fat still and I can lose a little more of it. Thanks everyone!

legacysh · April 2011

Loose skin tends to get a very crapey looking effect to it because there isn't much fat supporting it. Like fine wrinkles. You can pinch fat and you can pinch loose skin. The whole loose skin thing is very hard to get rid of while the fat is something you can continue to reduce. However, if you end up with a lot of loose skin after your done losing the fat, there isnt a whole lot that can be done naturally to get rid of it. (there are some that are young with good elastin in their skin that can bounce back in time and with some things like biotin oil) but most can't, especially if they lost the weight quickly.

esplawn · April 2011

You would know if it's loose skin. Loose skin is saggy and well, loose. Fat can be similar but it's usually thicker, closer to your abdomen and jiggly.

If you have fat you can do cardio to burn some of it and once you have very little overall body fat you can start to spot reduce in the areas that need it. The body will use either fat or muscle for energy, whichever is closest to the area that needs the energy. So, if you work your abs a lot they will need the energy and will use belly fat. If you have loose skin there may not be much you can do about it without surgery, especially if the skin is loose from having children. The skin stretches so quickly that it can't always shrink back.

Spot reduction is a myth, however, by working specific areas more than others the muscle beneath the fat/skin enlarges and causes more definition to appear which is why it seems you can spot reduce.

I'm not sure how to tell the difference between loose skin and subcutaneous body fat especially in the abdominal area... I've lost about 65 pounds and only have about 15 more until my desired weight. I don't see any loose skin but I'm still a little concerned that this last bit could possibly be where I will see some.

Anyone know if going from about 75 pounds overweight to having abs can be accomplished without loose skin?