Loose skin or fat

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mdrichardsons
mdrichardsons Posts: 83 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Maybe a dumb question but how do you tell. My stomach is very very giggly like jello. Before I lost my fat areas were more solid (not muscle hard but more solid). Also if this is skin wondering how long did yours took to tighten? I've started stronglifts 5x5 this week hoping things will even out better. I am Apple shaped so even though I'm in the healthy weight range I still feel like I can't wear a tight fitting shirt

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  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
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    I think in most cases it's both, it just looks gigglier because of the loose skin. There's no doubt for me that there's a bunch of loose skin involved because I have a shar-pei looking apron hanging... not pretty. Of course there's some fat left there too but when I was this weight before it DEFINITELY didn't look like that... nor did it look like a pouch of skin hanging when I was bending over...

    Yeah no bikini for me ever (I've been this weight for 2 years and it still looks the same). My issue too is that I have a loose skin pocket above my belly button that obviously is too high to tuck in and I have a wide waist so even if I can take off my jeans without unbuttoning them, I still get a bit of a muffin top. And if I wear a bigger size, the legs/butt are way too wide.Totally sucks. And yeah, no low rise jeans for me...
  • Wysewoman53
    Wysewoman53 Posts: 582 Member
    edited March 2016
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    mdrichardsons wrote: »
    Maybe a dumb question but how do you tell.

    Not a dumb question! I am having the same problem plus I am 62 years old so I have 'old' skin that doesn't bounce back like it used to...sigh! At my age, I will never wear a bikini and my stomach is much smaller but I still have 25lbs to go before I reach my 'ultimate' weight. I, too, was more more solid and my skin on my belly, upper thighs and upper arms was not as saggy. I can cover up those areas with clothes but still! I'm going to try using resistance (yoga) bands to see if it will help tighten up some of these areas. It's really hard to get an accurate measurement of my hips and waist because of all this hanging skin but I do look better when dressed and now I need all new clothes...but naked??? Ugh!
  • mdrichardsons
    mdrichardsons Posts: 83 Member
    edited March 2016
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    Yes exactly no bikinis no low rise. Apron lol!!! Ok thank you at least I can be realistic about it now. :wink:
  • mdrichardsons
    mdrichardsons Posts: 83 Member
    edited March 2016
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    Wysewoman53 wrote: »
    mdrichardsons wrote: »
    Maybe a dumb question but how do you tell.

    Not a dumb question! I am having the same problem plus I am 62 years old so I have 'old' skin that doesn't bounce back like it used to...sigh! At my age, I will never wear a bikini and my stomach is much smaller but I still have 25lbs to go before I reach my 'ultimate' weight. I, too, was more more solid and my skin on my belly, upper thighs and upper arms was not as saggy. I can cover up those areas with clothes but still! I'm going to try using resistance (yoga) bands to see if it will help tighten up some of these areas. It's really hard to get an accurate measurement of my hips and waist because of all this hanging skin but I do look better when dressed and now I need all new clothes...but naked??? Ugh!

    Yes I agree naked not pretty plus I have horrible stretch marks from my first baby like really horrible not just saying that. The bikini thing has been gone for me for a while so I have coped with that. But at least I don't have the weight with it anymore I'm so thankful for that!! I will take loose skin over obesity any day!!
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
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    I have stretch marks too (from gaining back 20 pounds in 6 months after losing them when I was 20) and it makes it way worse, because they seem to make the loose skin around there worse.
  • AverageJoeFit
    AverageJoeFit Posts: 251 Member
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    One of the ways you can also tell is to pinch the area. Fat is sensitive and if you pinch it just a little it will hurt. Skin is much less sensitive and you have to pinch it really really hard before it hurts.

    Also skin will pull away from the muscle easier then fat will. I have a lot of loose skin on my arms and inner thighs. I hope it will tighten up, but being 35 I'm not holding my breath.
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
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    Six months and it went away. It was kind of weird. I felt like there was physically less fat to fill the space and the cells and skin had to shrink. Like after you have a baby. But it went away, no prob and just walking for exercise.
  • Serendipity0913
    Serendipity0913 Posts: 385 Member
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    Loomisj72 wrote: »
    One of the ways you can also tell is to pinch the area. Fat is sensitive and if you pinch it just a little it will hurt. Skin is much less sensitive and you have to pinch it really really hard before it hurts.

    Also skin will pull away from the muscle easier then fat will. I have a lot of loose skin on my arms and inner thighs. I hope it will tighten up, but being 35 I'm not holding my breath.

    You have given me hope!! Thank you!! :-)
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,134 Member
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    Loose skin is thin like tissue paper when you pull it away. My loose skin looks like a deflated balloon. If your trouble spots don't look like tissue paper, you've still got fat under there.

    Loose skin:
    maxresdefault.jpg
    20120609-145136.jpg
  • LushFix
    LushFix Posts: 306 Member
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    I'm not sure whos tummy that is. But if I'm left with a tummy like that once I'm at my goal weight. I am ok with that.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
    edited March 2016
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    LushFix wrote: »
    I'm not sure whos tummy that is. But if I'm left with a tummy like that once I'm at my goal weight. I am ok with that.

    Mine is way more wrinkly than that... granted, there's more fat left, obviously, but it's lost in the folds somewhere... and it actually looks worse as I'm losing inches... I lost 77ish pounds.
  • Carnhot
    Carnhot Posts: 367 Member
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    That's what mine looks lkke. I am more concerned about my arms, though, as they will be visible this Summer. Still better than being obese, though.
  • Rocknut53
    Rocknut53 Posts: 1,794 Member
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    Wysewoman53 wrote: »
    mdrichardsons wrote: »
    Maybe a dumb question but how do you tell.

    Not a dumb question! I am having the same problem plus I am 62 years old so I have 'old' skin that doesn't bounce back like it used to...sigh! At my age, I will never wear a bikini and my stomach is much smaller but I still have 25lbs to go before I reach my 'ultimate' weight. I, too, was more more solid and my skin on my belly, upper thighs and upper arms was not as saggy. I can cover up those areas with clothes but still! I'm going to try using resistance (yoga) bands to see if it will help tighten up some of these areas. It's really hard to get an accurate measurement of my hips and waist because of all this hanging skin but I do look better when dressed and now I need all new clothes...but naked??? Ugh!

    62 as well. I know exactly what you are talking about. "Old" skin. I wish I would have known it would look like this!
  • smit7633
    smit7633 Posts: 182 Member
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    I'm guessing if your stomach is so jiggly that you still have a high percentage of body fat. You may be at your goal weight but how much of that weight was muscle loss and how much of that was fat loss. You need to rebuild your muscle and encourage fat loss you will probably gain weight during this time but it's essential for body recomposition. You need to eat at maintenance for your body type and metabolic rate and burn a deficit through exercise. Like I said you might see the number on the scale going up but if you're worried take measurements before and during, you should see that you are not really getting any bigger. Hopefully the weight you loose while building muscle will be all fat and you should see your body fat % and BMI going down.

    Put in the work for that body you want, otherwise if you hate the way you look after weight loss what motivation is there for you to keep the weight off?

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