Call for help: Excess Skin?

LoudmouthLee

My insurance will cover it if my doctor deems it necessary. I already (Jeez.. am I admitting this out loud?) have "sweat collection issues" underneath the loose skin. It's uncomfortable, and it smells something fierce. I'm meticulous with cleaning the area after a workout and every night, but still...

Lynn_babcock

"It's like a tongue!" -- Movie "Click"

That is a lot of extra skin... I can't imagine that going away by Summer.. and if you're already having issues with sweat.. I'd get it removed.

tripledipped13

Seriously, congratulations on the weight loss! That is great! But I know you know that :happy: . As far as the surgery, my suggestion would be to give your body about 6 months to a year to catch up with the weight loss so the skin can “shrink” some. I am by no means saying that surgery is wrong in any way what so ever and if it is causing you medical issues (i.e. rashes, infections, sores, ect) and your MD says you need to have it done than do it!

thedesertkid

I will be in the same boat as you someday.

In fact, I was just researching tummy tuck surgery before I saw this post.

I too, am terrified of surgery. I've never had one and the thought of ever needing one is scary. However, if it is going to make you happy then it may be worth the risks involved. Just know that a tummy tuck is not a simple procedure and it can take a while to fully heal (6 weeks or longer).

I'd like to know what you decide i.e. if you're gonna wait a year to see if your skin tightens a bit or if you get the surgery. Either way, congratulations on far you've come and may you go infinitely farther in the future towards your own happiness.

sapphies

I don't have advice about the lose skin...I am actually worried about excess skin after I reach my goal. However, you look awesome...great job:drinker:

LoudmouthLee

I see my regular doctor in a week or two. Please feel free to friend me, and I'll keep you guys in the loop in regards to what I choose to do. If it's not one thing, it's another!

waldo56

Get really lean (as in 6 pack territory, belly like the back of your hand) and cycle bulking/cutting (or get really lean in the process, don't need to be super lean the first go-round).

Something about the calorie surplus and the growth hormones (as in, you have to for real strength train) when bulking does wonders for the skin.

If you don't want to build muscle, suck it up and deal with it, then when you're happy with you skin, quit strength training and diet away your muscles treadmill hamster style.

This won't clear up 100% of loose skin issues, but it will clear up >95% of loose skin issues. You just have to be ready for the fact that your initial weight loss was the easy part and you have way, way further to go, think years (as an aside though, sure is a helpful way to avoid the gaining it all back scenario so many deal with).

You may not want to get super lean, but fact is at whatever your target weight, you will look way better if you reach that target weight gaining from super lean than you will cutting from super fat.

Always remember in the end doctors are trying to sell you services. Of course you need a tummy tuck and there is no other way to get rid of loose skin. Of course those big but fairly thin rolls of fat you have are loose skin you can't get rid of.

thedesertkid

I see my regular doctor in a week or two. Please feel free to friend me, and I'll keep you guys in the loop in regards to what I choose to do. If it's not one thing, it's another!

You've come a long way and the journey is not yet over. However, your past and present victories can serve to drive you forward towards even greater personal fortune.

You really do serve as an inspiration to people like myself, who feel that our goals are nearly impossible and the challenges insurmountable.

waldo56

BTW the OP's pics are much moreso loose fat than loose skin.

The fat attached to the skin was deposited when you were much larger. Skin shrinks, fat doesn't. There is stil A LOT of fat on the skin preventing it from shrinking.

I had that exact same thing when planking (lost 75 lbs), now about a year and a half later, its almost fully gone.

As you get leaner it will get looser and shrink more. There will reach a point where the shrinking effect exceeds the loosening effect and the issue that got progressively worse will begin to get progressively better.

Swtiching to a small calorie surplus with strength training will significantly increase the shrink rate once you're on the upslope and its getting better.

The OP appears to still be on the downslope though where it'll continue to get worse before it gets better.

Sparlingo

I don't have experience with loose skin, so I'll try not to comment on something I'm not knowledgeable about. I would imagine, though, when you reach your goal weight, if things don't tighten up it may be worth your dollars and time.

I follow a blog called Roni's weigh, a website chronicling a woman's amazing weight loss and maintenance. She had a tummy tuck and doesn't regret it for a second. You can read about it here if that interests you:

http://ronisweigh.com/ronis-updates/tummy-tuck-pictures

Just know that it isn't silly or vain to want one, if that's what you decide .

LoudmouthLee

Waldo,

I'm the OP, and thank you for taking the time to respond.

I do a lot of Tabata Training with weights (approximately 3x a week, targeting chest, bicep/tricep, shoulders, back and core.) I also do core exercises every day. I have seen significant change with my upper abs, as noted by the picture, but much less change from the lower abs, regardless of core based exercises I'm doing.

I've been told that it's impossible to target fat loss to specific area of the body. I have two young children, so I can't spend hours in the gym, I do a lot of cardio but I also strength train. Perhaps not enough?

waldo56

You just need to keep losing weight. Another 10-15% BF or so will do wonders.

You're right, you can't spot reduce. Working consistently > Working more. Just give it time.

About 3/4 the way toward your goal (assuming your goal is the ab zone) is about the peak of loose skin issues. Way too many people freak out about it at that point and do drastic things whereas the best course of action is stay the course and reach your goal, by the time you get there a lot of it will be cleared up.

It is usually a smaller issue for men because men tend to be much better at goal setting. Men will typically target the ab zone, a body composition goal, and press forward on to that goal. Women are much more prone to picking some seemingly random round number for weight, a "good enough" point, getting there being still fat, then blaming their remaining fatness on loose skin. Having body composition goals tends to avert this problem; men in general are much more intuitive about it (who cares what the scale says, you've got abs or you don't).

LoudmouthLee

I'm at least giving it another full year. We will see how much change I notice at that time.

Allow me to reiterate: I really don't want surgery. I just want it to get better. It looks worse (as you correctly noted), and although I look better in clothing, I feel I look blah naked. Disproportionate.

Maybe some therapy will help as well. I don't remember looking this good, and being so unstable, mentally. :P

april1445

insurance will cover it? To me that's a no-brainer. Get it done. The recovery will suck, but you'll never regret it. I honestly view my loose skin as a...well....it's not part of me any more. It's from someone I used to be. I don't think I should be punished forever for old choices. That's my view.

waldo56

Think about this little thought experiment for a moment.

What's between you skin and your muscles/bones/organs?

Fat.

and.....

Nothing. There isn't air under there. You aren't a big aquarium. Aside from the fat , the space between your skin and your muscles/bones/organs is a vaccuum.

When you see someone with sharp abs and details in all their mucles, that doesn't happen because their skin is so tight it shrink wraps them. Your skin is not full body compression gear. It happens because your body is vaccuum sealed by your skin. Get rid of the fat and your skin has to have the vaccuum sealed look.

And this is true even with loose skin. Someone that has real loose skin issues will still looked vaccuum sealed by their skin. Like anything vaccuum sealed (which usually uses a fairly inelastic wrapper), there will be tabs and flaps around the edges; the wrapper vaccuum sealing itself. But there are very few pictures of this. Why? Virtually everybody with "loose skin" that reaches that point magically no longer has loose skin.

Most people at a low BF that have that vaccuum sealed look, actually have fairly loose skin that can be pulled away a fair bit. But it doesn't look like that, the skins elasticity hides it well.

Edit - Purely anecdotally, a little bit of sun seems to help things a bit. I'm not talking about tanning to leather skin levels, but a little bit of sun, hour or so a week, does seem beneficial. Like most things, just right exists somewhere between too little and too much.

SanteMulberry

Think about this little thought experiment for a moment.

What's between you skin and your muscles/bones/organs?

Fat.

and.....

Nothing. There isn't air under there. You aren't a big aquarium. Aside from the fat , the space between your skin and your muscles/bones/organs is a vaccuum.

When you see someone with sharp abs and details in all their mucles, that doesn't happen because their skin is so tight it shrink wraps them. Your skin is not full body compression gear. It happens because your body is vaccuum sealed by your skin. Get rid of the fat and your skin has to have the vaccuum sealed look.

And this is true even with loose skin. Someone that has real loose skin issues will still looked vaccuum sealed by their skin. Like anything vaccuum sealed (which usually uses a fairly inelastic wrapper), there will be tabs and flaps around the edges; the wrapper vaccuum sealing itself. But there are very few pictures of this. Why? Virtually everybody with "loose skin" that reaches that point magically no longer has loose skin.

Most people at a low BF that have that vaccuum sealed look, actually have fairly loose skin that can be pulled away a fair bit. But it doesn't look like that, the skins elasticity hides it well.

Edit - Purely anecdotally, a little bit of sun seems to help things a bit. I'm not talking about tanning to leather skin levels, but a little bit of sun, hour or so a week, does seem beneficial. Like most things, just right exists somewhere between too little and too much.

Very interesting, Waldo. Since this seems to be a common problem here, it would be great if you would post a thread on it. Thanks for your input on the issue. :flowerforyou:

Would you think that one of the problems in losing too fast is that the rigors of the diet might mean that one is probably missing nutrients that would benefit the skin in its "shrinkability"? I have lost a fair bit and so far, don't seem to have much of an issue with loose skin--especially since I took up weight training a few months ago. But I lost the body fat over a fairly lengthy period (about three years) and I have made a real point to eat whole, nourishing foods. I have gone from approximately 50% body fat to about 27-28% at the moment. I think you are right about "residual fat" as those who get their body fat down (like anorexics) look like their skin is tightly stretched over their "sub-structure".

waldo56

I don't know that type of food plays a role. Doubtful.

More likely an anabolic/catabolic thing. Same reason you can only build muscle in a surplus. Your body shuts off some inessential functions when in a calorie deficit. Muscle building is one of them. Likely something to do with the skin is too. Enter a surplus with strength training, your growth hormones surge, your body turns on all those other functions and good things happen, one of which unfortunately is storing fat (remember to your body, fat = good).

When cutting your skin has a softness that it doesn't have at other times. It goes in waves, between soft and firmer when cutting, the frequency decreasing as you get leaner. Going from obese to not obese has a huge soft-firm wave that you likely are out ahead of, whereas once in the ab zone the soft-firm waves might only last a day or two. Raise to maintenance and it stops, the skin firms up fast. The softening of the skin is in fact one of the first physical clues that you are in a calorie deficit, signs of it appear within a couple days of starting to cut.

While it may "look" like skin is tightly stretched, that is not the case at all. In reality it is vaccuum sealing, not tight stretching. Loose skin will absolutely not prevent you from having shrinkwrapped looking abs or other sharp defined details.

GlassslippersAndFairyDust

bump to read later

Yellerie

I don't know if this will help you as a guy but alot of women use belly binders like the squeem one after pregnancy or alot of weight loss they say the have to be worn pretty much all day for a few months but that it does help however this being said it is in conjunction with exercise. They are pretty expensive but before going the surgery route I would give it a try.