Best way to lose sagging skin

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lisaf08

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I am almost 32 years old, I've been overweight all my life, but have flucuated between losing and gaining due to having kids, and getting back on track. I am at a place in my life right now where I am finally focused on ME! I am trying to take care of myself and have joined the gym doing a cardio step class 3x a week and a body sculpting class 1x a week. I am eating fairly well...low fat, but not being as cautious with my calories as I should. I have lost almost 50 pounds since November and am feeling extremely well with what I've done and gaining more energy. However, since I have gained and lost several times I have such saggy skin especially on my arms (my wings) and my inner thighs. I don't know what the very best thing to do for this is. I really don't want to succumb to surgery if it isn't my only resort. I have this saggy skin and still have quite a bit to lose...so I don't want it getting worse. Any advise or help would be greatly appreciated! I am in the right frame of mind and am ready to do what it takes!

Thank you!!!
 
wow! fantastic work. The skin takes time, but you will get some great ideas.

I wanted to congradulate you, tell you greeat attitude and welcome to the forum.
Sweat Daily!
FF
 
lisaf08 said:
I am almost 32 years old, I've been overweight all my life, but have flucuated between losing and gaining due to having kids, and getting back on track. I am at a place in my life right now where I am finally focused on ME! I am trying to take care of myself and have joined the gym doing a cardio step class 3x a week and a body sculpting class 1x a week. I am eating fairly well...low fat, but not being as cautious with my calories as I should. I have lost almost 50 pounds since November and am feeling extremely well with what I've done and gaining more energy. However, since I have gained and lost several times I have such saggy skin especially on my arms (my wings) and my inner thighs. I don't know what the very best thing to do for this is. I really don't want to succumb to surgery if it isn't my only resort. I have this saggy skin and still have quite a bit to lose...so I don't want it getting worse. Any advise or help would be greatly appreciated! I am in the right frame of mind and am ready to do what it takes!

Thank you!!!
Click to expand...

Whether you skin is elastic enough to retract over time is dependent mostly on your genetics :( So it may or may not only time will tell....

cheers,
Diane
 
great work, and keep up the great work. 50 pounds in that time frame is awsome. and i dont mean to sound like a dick, but men generaly lose weight faster and easier than women, so great work. skin is naturally elastic. it will contract and expand as needed. on the other hand, people who have been extremely over weight and lose the weight do infact need surgical procedures to get rid of it. this is extreme case. my advice would be to keep working hard, doing your cardio, and whatever weight program your on. how much your skin will retract is going to depend on how heavy you were and how much weight you lose. there seems to be a weight where people just get to heavy and thier skin expands so much that there is just to much to retract.

on the other hand i watched the show the biggest loser, and there was a guy on there who was i think over 350 pounds. he has lost over 120 pounds i believe and you can tell that his skin is retracting all on its own. so there is hope at the end of the tunnel.

the other thing i would suggest is to keep your skin healthy. use moisturizers. its not common that moisturizers dont have vitamin E in them, but make sure you use a moisturizer that has a good amount of vitamin E in it. if your concerned there isn't enough you can just buy straight vitamin E cream and you can either just use that or add that to your moisturizer.

hope this helps. and keep up the great work.
 
squadronleader said:
great work, and keep up the great work. 50 pounds in that time frame is awsome. and i dont mean to sound like a dick, but men generaly lose weight faster and easier than women, so great work. skin is naturally elastic. it will contract and expand as needed. on the other hand, people who have been extremely over weight and lose the weight do infact need surgical procedures to get rid of it. this is extreme case. my advice would be to keep working hard, doing your cardio, and whatever weight program your on. how much your skin will retract is going to depend on how heavy you were and how much weight you lose. there seems to be a weight where people just get to heavy and thier skin expands so much that there is just to much to retract.

on the other hand i watched the show the biggest loser, and there was a guy on there who was i think over 350 pounds. he has lost over 120 pounds i believe and you can tell that his skin is retracting all on its own. so there is hope at the end of the tunnel.

the other thing i would suggest is to keep your skin healthy. use moisturizers. its not common that moisturizers dont have vitamin E in them, but make sure you use a moisturizer that has a good amount of vitamin E in it. if your concerned there isn't enough you can just buy straight vitamin E cream and you can either just use that or add that to your moisturizer.

hope this helps. and keep up the great work.
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you failed to mention that age is also a factor and the fact that she has had children also makes a difference. I am a mother of 2, 42 yrs old, only been overweight (if you can call it that) during pregnancy and for a short period after. Luckily I have a decent genetic base and a pretty flat stomach now :)

However, it isn't firm as it once was (I am working on that-hopeing too....lol) But I have to also be realistic and accept that MAYBE it will never be that firm tummy I once had.....

All we can do it try....short of a good tummy tuck :D

cheers,
Diane
 
If its loose skin and it doesn't go back by its own then you can either try to fill it in with muscle or go through surgery.

Theres a thread about a guy on here who had a lot of loose skin in the lower abs, the kind of loose skin i thought would never be filled in without surgery and over the months he posted pictures and it has definetly improved since he filled it in with muscle.
 
great job on losing the weight and keep up the good work. I do some cardio classes myself and I really like them. The biggest advice I can give you is you cant just lose weight in one spot or lose saggy skin in just one spot, are bodies are always tryin to maintain equilibrium. Make sure when your working out you keep variety, fortunately those aerobic classes tend to introduce all sorts of workouts and use all muscle groups so thats a good thing to keep up, I like turbo kick myself. The second point is that theres a good chance that its not extra skin. I myself have lost about 100 pounds in about a 2 year time frame in which I lost and gained back and forth but have kept it up for about 9 months and I had and still have somewhat of a problem with the skin issue. In my case I had it all in my stomach and about 2 months ago I started lifting and introducing differnet cardio activities into my workout and it really made a big difference, i also changed my diet significantly (dont worry I still probably eat close to 2800 calories a day, I just watch what I eat). I was also scared that I would have to go through surgery too but I have been finding out that skin really does come back to being normal eventually and surgery is not the answer. But back to the loose skin issue. Its probably not lose skin, its probably small pockets of fat that are within the skin which will take some effort to get rid of. For myself I found that diet combined with cardio is the best way to rid of them. Another thing I would tell you is eventually im sure youll get down to your target weight but will still have issues with pockets of fat. Just because your "skinny" doesnt really mean much. Start getting your body fat % tested. I was at 11% body fat 180lbs (6ft tall) and I still had those pockets of fat, now I'm at 10% body fat I see the biggest difference in the world all the while I actually gained 5 pounds and I can finally see a little bit of a six pack coming in. So good news you probably dont need surgery, but unfortunately after you lose the wieght is when the hard part comes!! Sorry my response was so long but I just really no what your going through.
 
Phate89 said:
If its loose skin and it doesn't go back by its own then you can either try to fill it in with muscle or go through surgery.

Theres a thread about a guy on here who had a lot of loose skin in the lower abs, the kind of loose skin i thought would never be filled in without surgery and over the months he posted pictures and it has definetly improved since he filled it in with muscle.
Click to expand...

That's my goal, fill it in with muscles. But even then having children can cause those stomach muscles to stretch out and it also may never go back to what it was.

Again, I think with the hard work and a good diet in most cases it can be done without surgery.

*keeping my fingers crosses*
 
Great work on the weight loss, don't get discouraged by the cosmetics of the looser skin, keep going and hit your target.

building muscle will help bring the skin back and make it taught. For your "wings", work your triceps AND biceps. Increasing the muscle on the anterior part of your upper arm will help bring the loose skin on the backside back into shape.

Good luck, and keep us posted
 
If surgery is not an option, have you tried yoga? Yoga is a great natural healer for many ailments including loose abdominal skin.


Good luck.
 
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I lost about 110 pounds, and had a bit on my stomach, but it fixed itself. Granted I am only 19, but give it time.
 
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