Does anyone else hate their arms?

cityjaneLondon
cityjaneLondon Posts: 12,792 Member
in Motivation and Support
Aaarrrgh, I truly hate my arms! I've always hated them, even when I was a skinny teenager, they seemed so huge. One of my friends had super skinny arms, I was so jealous, I used to stare at them in class.
Well now I am 63 and they truly are huge. I have lost 42 lbs and masses of it has come off my hips and thighs, but my arms are still gross. Plus they are now wrinkly as well.
I have lymphodema in the right one from lymph gland removal because of breast cancer and although I know I am so lucky to be healthy now the arm is still a little bigger than the left one and the bingo wing hangs down extra low.
Has anyone had success training their arms up? Starting from a low point? Pleeeese let me know I might see an improvement! I have started dumbbells and do a 10 girly press ups a day which I will build up. I need to lose around another 14 lbs to goal weight.
My arms put me off wearing nice, sleeveless clothes which seems a shame after my weight loss success.
Help me girls!

Replies

  • JudithEssex
    JudithEssex Posts: 34 Member
    I am not sure a woman over 60 can wear sleeveless and look really good. I am 68 tomorrow and so I say this as a "sister." However, weight continues to redistribute as we hit goal and maintain. Especially since you are now working arms with weights, I'm sure you will see an improvement; maybe just not what you envision. HOwever, I would suggest a more complete arm routine than just one exercise. You have two large muscle groups in the upper arm (biceps and triceps) and they both need several angles of weight work to hit them all.

    good luck!
  • blc1971
    blc1971 Posts: 170 Member
    I feel the same way and always have! I have keratosis pilaris, or chicken skin on my arms, and it was bad when I was growing up. I always felt self-conscious of it. Now that I'm older and overweight, I'm even more self-conscious because I have "batwings"!! I always wear 3/4 sleeve tops or longer short sleeve tops. I've lost 33 lbs so far, with about 25 more to go, and I have started doing some strength training to improve the "batwings" and biceps. I started out with really low weights, like 3 lbs. Now I am using 5 lb and 15 lb weights for different exercises. I do 3 sets of 10 or 4 sets of 10 for each of the exercises. The main thing I have found is to really push because phoning it in won't make a difference. I have also noticed a big difference with the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred. I'm only 8 days or so into it, but I can definitely tell a difference in my arms, back and shoulders. I hope this helps!!! :flowerforyou:
  • Brads2ndLife
    Brads2ndLife Posts: 72
    At 68, and after a lifetime of it being that way, I'd guess it's more likely to do with your skin condition as anything muscle work could change.

    Your profile photo shows you are doing very nicely in the aging department anyway. Any chance the arms are just the only thing you can find wrong with yourself to worry about?
  • tammycolbert
    tammycolbert Posts: 236 Member
    OMG YES, YES, YES OH AND YES!!! I have actually been thinking of plastic surgery to correct them (only if ins will pay) they are horrible and I blame it on the significant weight loss I had about 10 years ago, I worked out everything but my arms and now they just hang. Not only do they hang, but it hurts and I refuse to wear short sleeeves or tanks. I was just saying to my co workers today, while typing my arms are extra jiggly today. I don't like it at all and I have no idea how to try and firm it up because I don't think I can.
  • ilmb87
    ilmb87 Posts: 216 Member
    Yep! Big arms are kind of a thing on my mom's side of the family. At least it helps to balance out my large hips? Sort of. :huh:

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