Where does the fat go?
43kelli
Posts: 31 Member
I want to know if you really lose weight, where does the fat go? I hear it shrinks but aren't you still left with skin that just hangs off of you? Or do you have to have surgery? I'm curious because if I'm serious about losing weight I don't want to have flabby skin hanging off me just to have surgery. I have about 50-60 pounds to lose or at least I would like to try. I had weigh in day & I'm not impressed so I wondering if it worth trying. I'm 47 and I have bad knees so I know losing weight will help that, but I'm so unsure. Any advice or info is greatly appreciated. Thank you.
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Replies
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just lose the weight, you will be much happier and feel better, even if you have some saggy skin. And you may not have saggy skin, the only way to find out is lose weight and see what your body does. Dont use the fear of having loose skin as an excuse to not get healthy, unless you are looking for an excuse and there are plenty.8
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The fat that is not burned up as fuel is expired through your lungs as carbon dioxide.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141216212047.htm
Imagine carrying around a sixty pound backpack day and night. That’s what you are dealing with now and why your knees are so bad. Knee surgery is difficult to recover from too.
Sure you wil have excess skin when you are done. Some of it will tighten up over the next couple years. I looked at the surgical procedure after I lost significant weight and frankly I decided it is not worth it (for me). I keep from flopping around by using firm undergarments. My increased mobility definitely made the weight loss worthwhile.5 -
If you want to see what the excess skin looks like google panniculus. YMMV0
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Fat and skin are different tissues. The fat is used up and you breathe out the carbon atoms in your carbon dioxide molecules. The skin hangs around longer than you wish.1
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not everyone has an issue with loose skin after weight loss, it depends on genetics, how long you were fat, how fat you were and how much your skin stretched, all kinds of factors. I gain and lost about 80 lbs between the age of 40 and 45, and when i lost it my skin shrunk back just fine and i had no loose skin other than what would be expected for my age.2
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Although I am of the opinion that health > loose skin, one thing to keep in mind is that you won't be dropping massive amounts of weight overnight - you can always stop if you start to get worried about how your skin is looking. Just losing 10-20 pounds would probably be great for your health.
Assuming that you're 50-60 pounds above a normal BMI, you're a bit lighter than I was when I started - I was 73 pounds over normal BMI. I've lost 45 of those without any loose skin and I feel freaking amazing even though I'm still overweight. And even if I did have loose skin, the changes in how I feel would absolutely make it worth it.
Good luck!5 -
Thank you all . I appreciate all the advice. I feel better with knowing just get healthy & sweat the small stuff later. I will push through my negative thoughts of saggy skin.6
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MegaMooseEsq wrote: »Although I am of the opinion that health > loose skin, one thing to keep in mind is that you won't be dropping massive amounts of weight overnight - you can always stop if you start to get worried about how your skin is looking. Just losing 10-20 pounds would probably be great for your health.
Assuming that you're 50-60 pounds above a normal BMI, you're a bit lighter than I was when I started - I was 73 pounds over normal BMI. I've lost 45 of those without any loose skin and I feel freaking amazing even though I'm still overweight. And even if I did have loose skin, the changes in how I feel would absolutely make it worth it.
Good luck!
Respectfully, I sort of disagree with the bolded.
It's 100% true that you can stop losing at any point you choose, of course.
But here's the thing: Some of us (I'm one) find that things can look worse, really quite discouraging, at a part way to goal weight stage. For some (most?) people, the fat cells don't cooperatively deplete starting with the outermost layer and then
neatly proceed progressively inward. The fat cells can deplete anywhere in the fat mass. If this happens, the fatty area gets squishy, and can look more droopy or floppy for a time. Some people think these thick (1/2" plus thick) floppy bits are loose skin, but they're more a layer of squishy fat that conspires with gravity to keep the skin stretched out.
Its sort of like a letting some water out of a water balloon (without letting air in
). It goes from firm, round, and kind of stand-up, to slack and floppy, but still pretty stretched out. Once all the water is out (or nearly), the balloon shrinks back to more like its pre-filling size.
It's not identical, but similarly, as more fat depletes, some of these droopy areas will improve. Actual loose skin, which is thinner wrinkles (almost like wrinkles in fabric), is more likely to shrink with time, compared to areas with subcutaneous squishy fat still keeping them stretched.
At the right goal weight, especially after maintaining there for a year or so, the end result may be much better than you would've guessed at the scary part way point.
At age 59-60, I lost 50+ pounds, and really didn't have a massive lot of loose skin at goal. And the parts that reached the thin-wrinkles stage pretty much shrank away by sometime in year 2 of maintenance. The areas where I still had some subcutaneous fat are still a little squishy, but not extensive. I look fine in clothes, and not terrible for a li'l ol' lady in general (though not as good in a bare-midriff plank position ).
OP: It's worth it. It's literally unbelievable to me how much less joint pain I have at a lighter weight. And that's only one of many benefits of weight loss. A little loose skin is a small price to pay!5 -
I lost 35 lbs and didn’t have excess skin. You aren’t that far off from that. Weighing less feels awesome! And just feeling enough energy to go do things is great. I was so lethargic before. Now I can ride a bike or hike etc.2
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I agree that sometimes you look worse partway through the process. For me, my face looked older, but then it sorted itself out and I look way better now. What if I had stopped after 45 pounds and not stuck it out for another 45? What a sad thought!
Also, it seems like you're missing the big picture here. Losing weight is for your health. A bit of loose skin is easily camoflauged with clothing. For example, I'd never wear short shorts because of loose skin at my inner thigh area. But come on, who wants to see a 58 year old woman in short shorts anyway?! LOL But in my compression tights I came second in my age category in my last 5 km run
I just know that I'd rather be a healthy weight, even if it means a bit of loose skin. I tried the alternative and life wasn't much fun.6 -
MegaMooseEsq wrote: »Although I am of the opinion that health > loose skin, one thing to keep in mind is that you won't be dropping massive amounts of weight overnight - you can always stop if you start to get worried about how your skin is looking. Just losing 10-20 pounds would probably be great for your health.
Assuming that you're 50-60 pounds above a normal BMI, you're a bit lighter than I was when I started - I was 73 pounds over normal BMI. I've lost 45 of those without any loose skin and I feel freaking amazing even though I'm still overweight. And even if I did have loose skin, the changes in how I feel would absolutely make it worth it.
Good luck!
Respectfully, I sort of disagree with the bolded.
It's 100% true that you can stop losing at any point you choose, of course.
But here's the thing: Some of us (I'm one) find that things can look worse, really quite discouraging, at a part way to goal weight stage. For some (most?) people, the fat cells don't cooperatively deplete starting with the outermost layer and then
neatly proceed progressively inward. The fat cells can deplete anywhere in the fat mass. If this happens, the fatty area gets squishy, and can look more droopy or floppy for a time. Some people think these thick (1/2" plus thick) floppy bits are loose skin, but they're more a layer of squishy fat that conspires with gravity to keep the skin stretched out.
Its sort of like a letting some water out of a water balloon (without letting air in ). It goes from firm, round, and kind of stand-up, to slack and floppy, but still pretty stretched out. Once all the water is out (or nearly), the balloon shrinks back to more like its pre-filling size.
It's not identical, but similarly, as more fat depletes, some of these droopy areas will improve. Actual loose skin, which is thinner wrinkles (almost like wrinkles in fabric), is more likely to shrink with time, compared to areas with subcutaneous squishy fat still keeping them stretched.
At the right goal weight, especially after maintaining there for a year or so, the end result may be much better than you would've guessed at the scary part way point.
At age 59-60, I lost 50+ pounds, and really didn't have a massive lot of loose skin at goal. And the parts that reached the thin-wrinkles stage pretty much shrank away by sometime in year 2 of maintenance. The areas where I still had some subcutaneous fat are still a little squishy, but not extensive. I look fine in clothes, and not terrible for a li'l ol' lady in general (though not as good in a bare-midriff plank position ).
OP: It's worth it. It's literally unbelievable to me how much less joint pain I have at a lighter weight. And that's only one of many benefits of weight loss. A little loose skin is a small price to pay!
You know, I've seen you post many times about your experience with the middle bit being worse but it honestly slipped my mind. It's a good point, of course. That said, I think that focusing on dropping a smaller amount at first (for whatever reason) is usually a good way to get started, and I suspect that many of the OP's concerns will fall away as she realizes how much better losing that weight can make you feel.2 -
What are some exercises that I can do to strengthen my stomach area? Its been stretched out for a very long time. That is where most of my issues are as stated about flab. I have a hard time trying to fit into clothes. Thank you in advance0
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What are some exercises that I can do to strengthen my stomach area? Its been stretched out for a very long time. That is where most of my issues are as stated about flab. I have a hard time trying to fit into clothes. Thank you in advance
Exercise can't really help loose skin. Continuing fat loss can help if the fat is keeping the skin stretched. If you have more weight to lose, keep up the calorie deficit.
If you reached a good goal weight, but still feel flabby/fat,you could consider recomposition (eating around maintenance calories and doing a well-designed progressive weight training program to very gradually increase muscle and reduce fat while staying at the same weight). There's an excellent thread about that here:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat
The classic good thread about having a nice middle is here:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1161603/so-you-want-a-nice-stomach3 -
Afterthought: If you're concerned about loose skin at goal weight, you might want to check out some of the posts in the Success Stories forum here. There are many before/after pictures of people who had large losses, and some posts are quite open about loose skin. Overall, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by how good most people look, even after pretty massive weight loss.2
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I want to know if you really lose weight, where does the fat go? I hear it shrinks but aren't you still left with skin that just hangs off of you? Or do you have to have surgery? I'm curious because if I'm serious about losing weight I don't want to have flabby skin hanging off me just to have surgery. I have about 50-60 pounds to lose or at least I would like to try. I had weigh in day & I'm not impressed so I wondering if it worth trying. I'm 47 and I have bad knees so I know losing weight will help that, but I'm so unsure. Any advice or info is greatly appreciated. Thank you.
it gets broken down and used or peed out. as long as you don't loss it all over night you should be fine. but other things if your worried about flabby skin is to provide your skin with nutrition it needs to 'adjust' or try lotions, caster oil, coconut oil, being well hydrated, ect. you will be fine and good luck!3
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