That Apron Around My Middle

SONKISSED1
SONKISSED1 Posts: 48 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Good morning - I have one of those aprons around my middle that hangs over. Pretty uncomfortable and unsightly to say the least. I am losing weight, but the more I lose the apron hangs more. Is there an exercise I can do at home to get rid of the hanging and tighten the muscles? I am on a WW lifestyle but need to be on the low carb end of it. So ideas there as well. I would appreciate any ideas. Thank you and have a great day!

Replies

  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
    skin elasticity varies on age and mostly, genetics. regardless, it takes TIME for it to bounce back. several months to a year or longer.

    Once you reach your goal weight, if you haven't already, definitely begin strength training/recomp work.

    After some time has passed you can evaluate better what your skin is doing, and whether having skin removal surgery would be a possibility.
  • goal06082021
    goal06082021 Posts: 2,130 Member
    There's no muscle in there, it's just skin and fat - more skin, less fat as you continue to lose. Taking good care of your skin (hydration, sleep, not smoking, using sunscreen, balanced nutrition) will help some toward maintaining its elasticity, and it will shrink back to a certain degree over time - it will take a long time after you reach GW, you will have this excess skin for a while even once the scale starts showing the numbers you want. But there's a limit, and if you started out very large, you may want to look into surgery to get rid of it completely.
  • SONKISSED1
    SONKISSED1 Posts: 48 Member
    Would a low carb - ketoish a suggested plan for higher protein intake?
  • middlehaitch
    middlehaitch Posts: 8,486 Member
    No need to go as far as Keto-ish or terribly low carb, unless that is your preference.

    You may have to give up a few grams of carbs and fat to reach your protein goal but you shouldn’t have to re work your ‘diet’ just make small adjustments.

    I.e. I changed eating small cups of fruity sweet yogurt with little protein to a plain skyre adding my own fruit. This gave me 20g protein instead of the previous ~10g at the same weight serving and fewer calories.

    Treat the MFP recommendation as a minimum and try to work up to somewhere around 0.8g (0.6will do) per lbs of your goal weight (or mid BMI for your height).

    Just make small changes where you can without causing too much stress.

    Good all round nutrition first and foremost, tweak where you can.

    Cheers, h.
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,720 Member
    Time, patience, rinse, repeat.

    Our bodies are strange and wondrous things.

    What appears as a bodily eyesore one day can literally disappear what seems overnight, with the fat or whatever fleeing, onky to reappear as a new, temporary bulge.

    The more you lose, the more you feel like a giant amoeba on legs.

    And then, once you’re fairly confident you’re taut in most the right places, the apron reappears, as mine has in the past few weeks.

    I was very upset, chalked it up to (intentionally) putting on a few pounds to recomp, til I realized as I was pumping legs during Pilates, my thighs have gotten really thinner. And my jeans are fitting looser in the waist.

    All I can figure is, there’s less underneath to prop it up and thus it’s reappeared, to my chagrin.

    It’s been like this the whole period of weight loss. Every day is a new surprise.

    But on the whole, excess skin does diminish with time. The bat wings, turkey neck, apron will all shrink with time, although imho the apron is by far the most stubborn. But, it’s also the easiest to hide.

    You are not alone.
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,720 Member
    .....and it’s better than it was before.
  • SONKISSED1
    SONKISSED1 Posts: 48 Member
    Thank you!
  • Speakeasy76
    Speakeasy76 Posts: 961 Member
    I agree with others about giving it some time, especially since you're still losing weight. I believe overall strength training and being at a good body weight/overall lower fat percentage is one of the best things you can do to get more ab definition, as well as a few targeted core exercises.

    I have an apron as well, even though I have visible an definition at the top and have been strength training plus core work for quite a long time. When I lay down, I definitely feel the ab muscles there, but when I'm sitting down there is SO MUCH to pinch.

    In my case, I believe it's due to a few things: having 2 c-sections, having weaker transverse abdominals and a bit of lordosis/not engaging those ab muscles enough in my posture, and frequent bloating. I don't know if this would be the case for you, but one easy thing you can do is really pay attention to you posture in all positions. Are you sitting with a rounded back or standing with the top of you pelvis leaning forward a bit? I am really working on engaging my core to get in better alignment, because all the exercises in the world won't help if I don't have good posture.

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