Worried about loose skin and losing muscle

JonDyn
JonDyn Posts: 156 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I've lost just over a stone in about 3 weeks, I'm worried because people are telling me that this rate of weight loss will give me lots of loose skin after and I'm worried about losing muscle ( I'm not sure how it works though I weight lift through the diet too)

Replies

  • Cherimoose
    Cherimoose Posts: 5,208 Member
    I'm worried because people are telling me that this rate of weight loss will give me lots of loose skin

    That's an old myth that probably got started because loose skin is more noticeable with fast weight loss. But it can snap back within a year or 2, especially if you're young.

    Losing some muscle can happen, even if you lose the weight slowly. That's why it's good to do full-body strength training to minimize the amount of muscle lost.
  • tator456
    tator456 Posts: 7 Member
    Well, that's at about 5 lbs or so a week, which is high, most definitely, but It kind of all depends on how much you weigh. If you have a larger weight, losing that amount wouldn't make a larg difference. On the other hand, if you have a body more like mine (6'1" and 211 lbs), losing that much weight that fast would most likely cause any stretch marks show as loose skin due to not having the chance to snap back.
  • fzx122
    fzx122 Posts: 4 Member
    Have you sustained this rate of weight loss for longer than three weeks or did you just make change to your diet three weeks ago? If it's sustained, it's a bit fast and you could try making your calorie deficit smaller. If you just started dieting, see how your weight develops over the next weeks and then decide.
    To illustrate: I'm 75kg at the moment and reasonably lean and I can still gain (and lose) 3kg over the span of two days depending on nutrition, hydration and exercise. I stopped worrying about short-term fluctuations and only look at monthly trends.

    By the way, from your picture it doesn't seem like you need to be worried about loose skin.

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