Loose skin???
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Being young is a huge help, because your skin loses elasticity as you age. Losing slowly may help.
Don't pay for the creams. They're scamming. One of skin's Major functions is to act as a barrier so things can't get through...and those creams (even if they had the ability to make your skin more elastic) aren't getting through to where they need to go. If you must try a Vitamin E cream, dab a little on to test it first. Reactions are common with that.
Lifting weights won't help your skin itself. If you build muscle, that may take up space under the skin and fill it out more, so the skin isn't as loose.
I didn't have loose skin until I'd lost about 60 pounds. It's already so gross at 75 that I worry a bit about how much there will be when I'm done. I used to be all, "Who cares about loose skin if the fat is gone?!!" Now that I have it...I care. Still, it is better than fat.
They say time helps. I'm hoping that's true.0 -
Even though a woman isn't going to build muscle large like a man, you still want a toned, defined look, not soft and squshy. My calves are gorgeous since I started working out. They are about an inch smaller, but very hard and defined. My best feature. Personally, I know i will have lots of belly skin to deal with, I'm ok with that. Its body shapers, cardio, and heavy lifting for me.
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ive lost 160 pounds and have loose skin on my lower stomach,arms and on my thighs when leaning over certain ways
there was pretty much nothing I could do about it and if it happens it happens..even though its horrible
but yea go slower with weight loss to reduce the amount you get and wait or get surgery when you are finished0 -
great advise here.
i think it is what it is unfortunately.
ive lost 55 of the 100 i need to lose, I've had the weight on for the last 10 years plus three pregnancies ,its not pretty so far...
well see how it goes when i get down to goal.
but in the end i rather have the weight off with loose skin than be 255 pounds again anyhow so....
i still look great in clothes
))
your wedding dress is gorgeous by the way!0 -
I lift weights because I like the muscle definition and I like to be strong, but I don't think it does a thing for my loose skin.0
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I see mine as well deserved battle scars. Mine are located in the upper thigh, upper arms and lower pooch area so its nothing that cant be covered up with clothes. I admit that it's nice that i don't have any in the moobies area.0
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Yep, like most people said, age and genetics plays a huge role.
But I also want to remind you that in some cases people do often confuse fat with loose skin.
Loose skin on a person with very low body fat (not just weight) looks VERY different than people who still have considerable fat left on their bodies, even if they're in a normal weight range. Real loose skin, that is not filled with fat, is very thin. Skin, even at it's thickest, is a very thin organ. A lot of the images you see of people who say they have "loose skin" is still filled very much with a lot of fat.
I've lost over 100 pounds. I still have a ways to go as I recently lowered my goal weight down 20 pounds. There have been periods during this journey where the fat became looser, disconnected, and baggy. It looked exactly like what a lot of people call "loose skin". Except it wasn't, it was just area of fat where the loss was uneven. The remedy was to just keep losing until the whole area looked more uniform.
This is why the emphasis should be on body fat percentage, not just weight. That will tell you a much more realistic story about how much of what you have left is actual excess skin, and how much is just skin that's sagging due to excess fat.0 -
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salembambi wrote: »ive lost 160 pounds and have loose skin on my lower stomach,arms and on my thighs when leaning over certain ways
there was pretty much nothing I could do about it and if it happens it happens..even though its horrible
but yea go slower with weight loss to reduce the amount you get and wait or get surgery when you are finished
Thanks & amazing job on losing 160...!0 -
beamer0821 wrote: »great advise here.
i think it is what it is unfortunately.
ive lost 55 of the 100 i need to lose, I've had the weight on for the last 10 years plus three pregnancies ,its not pretty so far...
well see how it goes when i get down to goal.
but in the end i rather have the weight off with loose skin than be 255 pounds again anyhow so....
i still look great in clothes))
your wedding dress is gorgeous by the way!
Thanks a millionnnnn!!! Congrats on the 55...! I've had no kids thus far in my life so I'm hoping that works in my favor as well lolol 0 -
Iwishyouwell wrote: »Yep, like most people said, age and genetics plays a huge role.
But I also want to remind you that in some cases people do often confuse fat with loose skin.
Loose skin on a person with very low body fat (not just weight) looks VERY different than people who still have considerable fat left on their bodies, even if they're in a normal weight range. Real loose skin, that is not filled with fat, is very thin. Skin, even at it's thickest, is a very thin organ. A lot of the images you see of people who say they have "loose skin" is still filled very much with a lot of fat.
I've lost over 100 pounds. I still have a ways to go as I recently lowered my goal weight down 20 pounds. There have been periods during this journey where the fat became looser, disconnected, and baggy. It looked exactly like what a lot of people call "loose skin". Except it wasn't, it was just area of fat where the loss was uneven. The remedy was to just keep losing until the whole area looked more uniform.
This is why the emphasis should be on body fat percentage, not just weight. That will tell you a much more realistic story about how much of what you have left is actual excess skin, and how much is just skin that's sagging due to excess fat.
Thanks I'll keep that in mind...!
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When I lost 100 lbs 5 years ago, I used a lot of cocoa butter products meant for pregnant women, which did help.
...Now I have to do it all over again, and I know it's going to be much worse since I've done this to my skin a second time.
There's only so much muscle you can build and not be bulky, but like else said- it took time to stretch, it will take time to shrink, and what's leftover after that is unavoidable, really, but I believe that carrying around some extra skin is a whole lot better and not at all as dangerous for us as that weight we carried around!
Best wishes to you, and congrats to those who have lost such amazing amounts!! WOW!! 0 -
Every person is different, and unfortunately you won't know until you lose it. Everyone has given you excellent advice. Drinking water, LOTS of water is good! Also, take care of your skin. Moisturize. It doesn't have to be those expensive fad creams, either. I'm talking about regular body lotions, or even cocoa butter. In addition to exercise/lifting (which has been excellent advice from so many above) making sure that your skin is properly taken care of <u>may</i>help improve elasticity.
Now, I've lost 186lbs, and my body is just a hot mess. I look awful. Yeah. In about another two years, I'm getting an overhaul. It's all getting cut off. Aside from the fact that it doesn't look good, it doesn't feel good. So, it's going away.0 -
ive lost 113...sorry, no way to fully avoid, but lift heavy and hit your 1-1.5g of protein per body weight goal per day.0
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Hell, I know I'm going to have loose skin. I've been big my entire life. My stomach is stretched to the max plus I had my son weighing at 320 so my stomach is gonna show it. I lift weights. Not real heavy ones but I noticed in my arms my skin is more loose since lifting. I will probably switch to heavier weights though. Good luck!0
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0somuchbetter0 wrote: »Age and genetics are the two biggest factors. You're young, so your skin is more elastic that someone 20 years older. So yes, lose the weight now!
I do have a question for those who recommended heavy lifting. How does strengthening muscle help skin?
The muscles fill out the skin and recomps your body.
I have noticed this is absolutely true. I can see the difference in my tummy area.0 -
As people have said...age, genetics, length of time overweight. All these things are against me. Hopefully not so for you. As to speed of weight loss, the amount of loose skin you have at the end will be the same regardless of how slowly or quickly you lose. However, it takes (apparently) about a year for the skin to tighten as much as its going to. So all that means is if you were to magically lose 100 pounds in 2 months you'd have another 10 months to stare at a very slowly shrinking empty skin sack and it might seem worse than if you took the whole year to lose and the slowly shrinking skin sack seemed to follow to receeding fat a little more closely.0
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Being young is a huge help, because your skin loses elasticity as you age. Losing slowly may help.
Don't pay for the creams. They're scamming. One of skin's Major functions is to act as a barrier so things can't get through...and those creams (even if they had the ability to make your skin more elastic) aren't getting through to where they need to go. If you must try a Vitamin E cream, dab a little on to test it first. Reactions are common with that.
Lifting weights won't help your skin itself. If you build muscle, that may take up space under the skin and fill it out more, so the skin isn't as loose.
I didn't have loose skin until I'd lost about 60 pounds. It's already so gross at 75 that I worry a bit about how much there will be when I'm done. I used to be all, "Who cares about loose skin if the fat is gone?!!" Now that I have it...I care. Still, it is better than fat.
They say time helps. I'm hoping that's true.
I've found a few sources that seem to suggest the general rule of thumb would be about 10 pounds of skin for every 100 pounds lose. So i'd have somewhere around 17 pounds of skin. This makes sense considering the one handful above my belly that i was able to pull out far enough to drop on the package scale at work without leaning was about 1.5 and there's waaaaaaay more where that came from
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*lost - blast no edit option0
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I've read that, too. No idea if it's accurate or for whom it is accurate. It would leave me with 10-12 pounds of skin. Yech!meganjcallaghan wrote: »Being young is a huge help, because your skin loses elasticity as you age. Losing slowly may help.
Don't pay for the creams. They're scamming. One of skin's Major functions is to act as a barrier so things can't get through...and those creams (even if they had the ability to make your skin more elastic) aren't getting through to where they need to go. If you must try a Vitamin E cream, dab a little on to test it first. Reactions are common with that.
Lifting weights won't help your skin itself. If you build muscle, that may take up space under the skin and fill it out more, so the skin isn't as loose.
I didn't have loose skin until I'd lost about 60 pounds. It's already so gross at 75 that I worry a bit about how much there will be when I'm done. I used to be all, "Who cares about loose skin if the fat is gone?!!" Now that I have it...I care. Still, it is better than fat.
They say time helps. I'm hoping that's true.
I've found a few sources that seem to suggest the general rule of thumb would be about 10 pounds of skin for every 100 pounds lose. So i'd have somewhere around 17 pounds of skin. This makes sense considering the one handful above my belly that i was able to pull out far enough to drop on the package scale at work without leaning was about 1.5 and there's waaaaaaay more where that came from
My extra skin is just creepy to me, like Silly Putty or something. The worse it gets, the more I consider the idea of cosmetic surgery when this is over. But that's a ways off and not a decision I need to make yet.
Still, "Better than fat...better than fat..." It's like my mantra, lol.
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