Struggling. Loose skin or fat?

florent_ven · February 2022

Hi everyone,

I’ve done so many posts about this and have taken advice onboard, but I’m really struggling.

I used to weight 115kg and now weight 80kg. I lost about 20kg in 2018, and then the remaining 10-15kg from Oct 2020 - Spring 2021. Since then, I’ve stagnated.

I don’t know if I have loose skin or fat? Or a mixture of both? I don’t know what to do because it doesn’t seem to be going and it has just ruined my confidence and the way I see myself. I’m tired of calorie defeciting. I’ve provided photos.

When I bend down, the fat looks so loose and like there’s a lot of loose skin.

But when I stand upright, it looks like I’n just fat.

There’s 2 photos of two different angles of me when bending down, one photo of me standing upright without tensing, and one with tensing.

Any advice? I don’t want to resort to a tummy tuck, but if that’s the only way, then I will.

florent_ven · February 2022

Apologies. Photos didn’t upload. Here are 3 different angles when I bend over and the fats/skin looks loose

florent_ven · February 2022

This is when I’m standing upright and I don’t tense. The photo in the original post is of me when I tense

Lietchi · February 2022

To me it looks like a mixture of fat and a bit of loose skin.
Why not just loose skin? Because of the 'thickness': loose skin with less fat tends to be more wrinkly and thin, but when there is subcutaneous fat left, it's thicker when you pinch it.
(I'm basing myself on what my own stomach looks like, quite similar when bent over, but more wrinkly)

I would try to improve body composition before deciding on possible cosmetic surgery, things can still change a lot. Perhaps try recomp for a while instead of a calorie deficit, to give yourself a break calorie-wise: doing strength training and eating at maintenance.

Aside from losing more fat, you should also be aware that loose skin takes time to tighten up, it can still improve up to a year or more after losing weight. So don't rush into surgery 🙂

claireychn074 · February 2022

Wow congrats on losing that much! I’m not an expert so there will be others more knowledgable than me along in a bit. I just wanted to make a couple of comments: firstly, when you bend down or go into a plank position, it is really common for your tummy to hang. You have to have v low body fat and v tight skin to avoid that (I’m about 22% body fat and weigh 55kg and I have a blancmange belly when I plank 🤣). Secondly, it looks to me like a bit of skin and a bit of fat, but I’m wondering whether you need to think about recomp now? Do you want to lose more weight or are you happy now? Recomp would slowly build muscle and at the same time your skin should naturally shrink a little. You’ve done brilliantly to lose that much weight!

AnnPT77 · February 2022

I agree with others: There's still some subcutaneous fat there. You've done an amazing job losing weight, and as you stand I'm not seeing what I'd call loose skin - but there's still a bit of residual fat conspiring with gravity to keep skin stretched a little.

If you slowly lose a little more fat (like maybe a 250 calorie deficit), I think you'll see a great result, because you really have little true loose skin IMO so far, given that magnitude of loss. No guarantees, but your current results suggest favorable genetics.

True loose skin, IMO, looks like thin wrinkles, as if the skin were medium-weight fabric, like maybe a not-super-thick denim, or a fine corduroy (if you ignored corduroy's plushy wales).

Because it's kind of off-putting, I'm going to put a photo in a spoiler: Brace yourself before you look, if you decide to look. With apologies for my bruised thumbnail in there besides, it's my stomach a couple of years ago, when I was sitting slumped forward on purpose to show loose skin and residual fat.

Those very thin wrinkles are what I'd call loose skin - just skin. The thicker roll part pinched in my fingers still includes some residual subcutaneous fat. I'd lost 50-some pounds a few years earlier, and at the time of the photo was working on slowly (re-)losing maybe 10-12 vanity pounds, and was about 7 pounds down from roughly 4 months earlier. Most of the loose skin was related to that re-loss (I think), and it didn't show up if I were standing straight and not slumping to make it prominent.

You could choose to lose a bit more weight, or you could choose to stay close to your current weight, add some muscle via recomposition. I don't know what appearance you prefer - thinner at same muscularity, or a bit more muscular - that's completely up to you. Even though I'm a li'l ol' lady (F, 66), my preference for myself is to be a little more muscular, maybe weirdly so for my demographic, so if I were you I'd pick the "more muscular" option, but that's not a judgement on you if you prefer a more slim/sleek kind of aesthetic.

If you want to pursue the muscularity option at close to your current weight, this thread is quite informative, especially once you get into people's comments and experiences after the OP:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat

For completeness, I'm going to say something I've said on other threads, what I think about creating best conditions to avoid loose skin. Favorable genetics and relative youth are helpful, but we can't control those, so these are what I see as things we can control/influence to improve outcomes to the extent feasible within those non-negotiable things:

Skin is an organ. The things that keep other organs healthy will also tend to keep skin healthy, which means elastic and more willing to adjust. These include:

* avoiding fast loss (because it's a physical stress to lose fast),
* getting good well-rounded nutrition (macros and micros, especially but not exclusively protein),
* getting regular exercise (both cardiovascular and strength),
* managing all-source life stress,
* hydrating adequately (not crazy much, but enough),
* avoiding smoking and excessive alcohol,
* specific to skin, also avoiding tanning.

People will say all kinds of things about creams, dry-brushing, etc., but personally I'm inclined to think those are mainly ways to pass the time while skin does pretty much what it was going to do anyway. Help a little? Maybe. Big help? I doubt it. But it can feel good to feel like we're doing *something*.

Bottom line, I think you've done great, look great, but given your stated self-perception, you may have a little "last mile" work to do still. It's no crisis, you can work at it slowly, and choose your route, either slow fat loss, slow muscle gain (it's always pretty slow, realistically!), or a combination. Given how much you've already accomplished, I'm confident you can reach a happy long-term outcome.

Best wishes!

ETA P.S.: Yes, most people have some droop in a plank, especially those of us who've lost weight. I don't know whether it's permanent for everyone who's lost, or not. My droop is narrower and more wrinkly at lighter weights (more Shar-pei looking), more like a loaf of fat if I'm up 10 pounds or so. But that's just me.

elisa123gal · February 2022

I think it is fat.. the last 3 or so pounds right there. The body can look so odd when it sheds weight. At times we look worse before better. Consider losing it super slow so the skin shrinks back..if you lose it fast..that's when lose skin can b an issue. But..what a great job.

sijomial · February 2022

Yes you still have some fat to lose. Yes you have some loose skin - how much and how long it takes for your skin to recover is very personal.

Whether that fat loss / weight loss is now or in the future is a choice. If you are tired of dieting then have a break and maintain current weight. What you really want to avoid is regaining weight.
Come back to slow weight loss when you feel it's right.
You could focus on non-weight goals while maintaining, fitness or muscle gain perhaps?

The good news is that the last few pounds of fat make a disproportionate positive visual difference, we see shape as well as size.

florent_ven · February 2022

AnnPT77 wrote: »

I agree with others: There's still some subcutaneous fat there. You've done an amazing job losing weight, and as you stand I'm not seeing what I'd call loose skin - but there's still a bit of residual fat conspiring with gravity to keep skin stretched a little.

If you slowly lose a little more fat (like maybe a 250 calorie deficit), I think you'll see a great result, because you really have little true loose skin IMO so far, given that magnitude of loss. No guarantees, but your current results suggest favorable genetics.

True loose skin, IMO, looks like thin wrinkles, as if the skin were medium-weight fabric, like maybe a not-super-thick denim, or a fine corduroy (if you ignored corduroy's plushy wales).

Because it's kind of off-putting, I'm going to put a photo in a spoiler: Brace yourself before you look, if you decide to look. With apologies for my bruised thumbnail in there besides, it's my stomach a couple of years ago, when I was sitting slumped forward on purpose to show loose skin and residual fat.
Those very thin wrinkles are what I'd call loose skin - just skin. The thicker roll part pinched in my fingers still includes some residual subcutaneous fat. I'd lost 50-some pounds a few years earlier, and at the time of the photo was working on slowly (re-)losing maybe 10-12 vanity pounds, and was about 7 pounds down from roughly 4 months earlier. Most of the loose skin was related to that re-loss (I think), and it didn't show up if I were standing straight and not slumping to make it prominent.

You could choose to lose a bit more weight, or you could choose to stay close to your current weight, add some muscle via recomposition. I don't know what appearance you prefer - thinner at same muscularity, or a bit more muscular - that's completely up to you. Even though I'm a li'l ol' lady (F, 66), my preference for myself is to be a little more muscular, maybe weirdly so for my demographic, so if I were you I'd pick the "more muscular" option, but that's not a judgement on you if you prefer a more slim/sleek kind of aesthetic.

If you want to pursue the muscularity option at close to your current weight, this thread is quite informative, especially once you get into people's comments and experiences after the OP:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat

For completeness, I'm going to say something I've said on other threads, what I think about creating best conditions to avoid loose skin. Favorable genetics and relative youth are helpful, but we can't control those, so these are what I see as things we can control/influence to improve outcomes to the extent feasible within those non-negotiable things:

Skin is an organ. The things that keep other organs healthy will also tend to keep skin healthy, which means elastic and more willing to adjust. These include:

* avoiding fast loss (because it's a physical stress to lose fast),
* getting good well-rounded nutrition (macros and micros, especially but not exclusively protein),
* getting regular exercise (both cardiovascular and strength),
* managing all-source life stress,
* hydrating adequately (not crazy much, but enough),
* avoiding smoking and excessive alcohol,
* specific to skin, also avoiding tanning.

People will say all kinds of things about creams, dry-brushing, etc., but personally I'm inclined to think those are mainly ways to pass the time while skin does pretty much what it was going to do anyway. Help a little? Maybe. Big help? I doubt it. But it can feel good to feel like we're doing *something*.

Bottom line, I think you've done great, look great, but given your stated self-perception, you may have a little "last mile" work to do still. It's no crisis, you can work at it slowly, and choose your route, either slow fat loss, slow muscle gain (it's always pretty slow, realistically!), or a combination. Given how much you've already accomplished, I'm confident you can reach a happy long-term outcome.

Best wishes!

ETA P.S.: Yes, most people have some droop in a plank, especially those of us who've lost weight. I don't know whether it's permanent for everyone who's lost, or not. My droop is narrower and more wrinkly at lighter weights (more Shar-pei looking), more like a loaf of fat if I'm up 10 pounds or so. But that's just me.

This was so helpful and reassuring! Thank you so much.

Struggling. Loose skin or fat?

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