Toning, Or How The Heck Do I Lose The Extra Skin?

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ispringle
ispringle Posts: 5
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm 22. When I was 18 I weighed 330 to 340 pounds. I now weigh 185 (as of this morning's weigh in). My dieting stopped for nearly two years and I maintained myself at 220 pounds. I only restarted my weight loss at the start of this year. I eat roughly 1400 calories a day and I cycle about 150 miles per week (a mix between 20 mile rides on the week days and 50+ mile rides on the weekends).

I am down 35 pounds and my body is becoming defined. Bones are sticking out where they used to be hidden by fat, muscles are showing that used to be covered too. My legs are beginning to look very muscled, and I like it a lot! I don't have much upper body strength, probably something I should work on eventually.

My goal in weight loss has always been to feel comfortable with myself and in my skin. I'm getting there, but now I am facing the loose skin problem. My arms are growing wings, my legs have all this excess skin, mostly upper thigh, my stomach still has a bit of fat (as well as else where) but if I am on my hands and knees you can see it just hanging, as well as on my chest.

Is there anything I can begin to do to remedy this, short of making an appointment with a plastic surgeon? I've seen some people with weight loss stories at the same level as mine (140 pound loss range) who have lots of extra skin at the end of it, and others who have no extra skin, and lots of people in between the two extremes.

I am concerned because I am not only seeing my weight go down, but my body fat is now at 17%, which is entering the normal range.

Replies

  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
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    Skin is elastic to a point. Some more than others. At the end of the day though, it can only adjust so much, for everything else, there's mastercard.

    5411scalpel.jpg
  • LaneB89
    LaneB89 Posts: 93 Member
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    I'm skeptical to think anyone has lost 140 pounds with zero loose skin. Skin will bounce back to a small extent, but it will not do so in the presence of remaining fat. For someone who was once very large like yourself, you shouldn't expect to see any meaningful tightening of skin until at very low body fat (8-9%). Once you've hit that and maintained, you'll have to consider going under the knife and whether the massive scar is worth it to you. Until you've hit a very low body fat, I wouldn't even consider surgery. I myself am nearly 70 pounds down out of a total 90-95 that I wanted to lose to hit close to 10% body fat, and my loose skin is already very noticeable, so I'm in the same boat as you. It's becoming apparent that I'll either be going under the knife and taking the huge scar or living with saggy skin all my life. Tough choice but I think if money weren't part of the equation I'd take the scar. Nothing like putting in a massive effort to achieve something only to find that you still can't achieve the look you want, right?
  • MissObstinatiox
    MissObstinatiox Posts: 275 Member
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    Body lotion can help a lot as well as drinking a lot of water.
    Skin is basically a organ and looked after with water will repair itself and shrink in time.
    I have skin on my stomach that i,m hoping will improve and i noticed a improvement since drinking more water and using a body lotion and scrub :0)
  • getlean414
    getlean414 Posts: 27
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    Hi there! I have never tried the body wrap but I've heard good things about them. Google it, maybe its somethings you're interested in trying. Wishing you the best and good luck! :)

    http://bodyapplicators.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IWBA7.jpg
  • nehushtan
    nehushtan Posts: 566 Member
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    Since you are still young your skin might bounce back.

    Strength training can help a great deal, especially in the core / abs area. What LadeB89 said about BF % sounds like a good plan -- get below 10% and you'll see for sure how much a problem you have. Also read a lot on the topic. Don't think you are limited to surgery -- you may have a lot of options at your age.

    I was 46 when I lost my 90 lbs... A lot of my skin got better, but the stomach is still a "hanging" problem... the chest less so. I do have a bit of a turkey flap at the neck. I still think the stomach could improve somewhat without surgery... It would be a "last resort".
  • DanaDark
    DanaDark Posts: 2,187 Member
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    Depending on the length of time your loose skin has been present, it may be permanent (unless you gain weight and fill it back up).

    Loose skin is generally caused by rapid weight loss that exceeds the skin's elasticity. This is one of the major reasons many on MFP tell people to not create such massive caloric deficits.

    In the end, most likely you'll need to undergo plastic surgery to remove the extra skin. But you should only do this once you've been able to prove that you can maintain a new weight. Would be terrible to remove the loose skin only to regain a bunch of weight again.

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