Excess Skin Issue

Taundry

Hi All,

I gave birth to my daughter in March 2012, I weighed around 133lb when I became pregnant and went up to 196lb. She was born prematurely so for the first 3 months I did no exercise as we were back and forth to the hospital and she was my priority.

Anyhow she came home and thankfully she is now fighting fit, I began to exercise around July and follow a calorie controlled diet, by October I was back to 133lb but wanted to get down to 119lb so I continued to calorie count and exercise.

My mom was diagnosed with Cancer in 2007 which was confirmed terminal in 2010 and in December of 2012 we were told she had a matter of weeks to live, my world crumbled and although I was still eating it took its toll on my body and I went down to 112lb, I'm now 114lb which is within my healthy weight range as I am 5'2 but I think because of how quickly I lost the last pounds I now have excess skin on my tummy, its strange because when I am stood upright or lying on my back my tummy is flat and you can see definition but as soon as i lean forward or do a press up I have this huge sack of excess skin :-(((((( is there anything at all I can do to improve this?

Thanks all, I know I didn't need to write everything I have but I thought I'd explain my circumstances around my weight loss.

Look forward for some advice :-) thank you all xx

_Zardoz_

IMO the speed you lose weight has little to do with long term excess skin. There are many people who lost large amounts of weight in a relatively short amount of time who in the short term will have some loose skin but over time their skin retracts. It's more down to genetics and the quality of your skin. The younger you are the more elastic your skin will be. Do some specific exercises targeting the areas you are worried about. Also keep those areas well moisturisd.

fakeuntilumakeit

I have loose skin (not massively ) from three children which has taken its toll over my body. CW 139 I feel firmer when standing (doing the jm fit in 30 and shed and shred for about 2 months) but similarly see loose skin say if doing the plank or something. I've come to accept that with stretch marks and stress and tears on the abdominal muscles (can stick a finger in the muscle gap yuk), sometimes we have to accept body change is inevidable. That said you will probably get people on here only too happy to show their super flat tums and abs, no stretch marks and miraculously subtle bodies.

My view is that although it would be great to look like we once did before children, you body has done something amazing. It has housed and grown a beautiful child. I'm glad you baby is well, similarly my daughter was very ill when born and our early days were spent in scbu. Everytime I get down on my body, I look at her and how far we've come, she may still have longterm problems and I'd change give my limbs for her 100% health. Its so sad about your mum, you've been through an incredible amount of stress.

You will get plenty of people on here telling you to whip your butt, but I say be kind to yourself, and love the body your in.