Loose skin or more fat? Cardio required?

Klace

New member
So I lost 120 pounds altogether.
But I'm left with this unsightly jiggly saggy stuff.
I'm not sure if it's subcutaneous fat, or loose skin.

<picture gone>
(Not the best angle, it actually hangs down, I'll try to get a side view later.)

That's if I bend over, it kind of sags terribly and looks disgusting.
When I stand up it's nice and taut, but still jiggly, and I can't stand it.
I'm going to go on the ECA stack along with some cardio and a 1600-1800 calorie diet and hope that it clears up in a month or so.
But any other opinions out there?

My hypothesis is, the ratio of Vicseral to Subcutaneous fat lost was way off.
So I've lost almost all my visceral fat and am just left with this saggy jiggly subcutaneous fat. I blame that on my lack of cardio alongside weight loss. (Just walking and dieting.)
I find this better to think than saying it's loose skin I'm stuck with.
But I'd like to hear what you guys think.
 
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Hard to tell from that image, but I'm going to say that it looks like some loose skin and some of the "skinny fat" syndrome. I don't see a lot of muscle development and I'm thinking that you probably lost a lot of lean muscle with your fat.

I would suspect if you started working out to build muscle - eating lots of protein and lifting weights - you'd see a difference in body composition. I'm not saying all the loose skin will disappear, but I think you'll lose a lot of the "jiggle" by adding some muscle in there.
 
Ok, to add - I just read a few of your other posts and you've got some weird ideas about weight lifting and muscle development. :)

Read this thread: http://weight-loss.fitness.com/weig...ise/32836-conceptual-side-weight-lifting.html

There are some good basic workout routines described in here that you might try. 100x squats are a waste of your time. :) Short sets of between 8-12 reps with heavy weights - that's what you want.

Also, targeting only the muscles you see is bad - it creates imbalance. Work on full body and compound movements and you'll see better results faster.
 
Hard to tell from that image, but I'm going to say that it looks like some loose skin and some of the "skinny fat" syndrome. I don't see a lot of muscle development and I'm thinking that you probably lost a lot of lean muscle with your fat.

I would suspect if you started working out to build muscle - eating lots of protein and lifting weights - you'd see a difference in body composition. I'm not saying all the loose skin will disappear, but I think you'll lose a lot of the "jiggle" by adding some muscle in there.

Then in my opinion, there's still fat to lose.
I'm gonna take the ECA stack which will maintain muscle I have now, and burn fat like nothing else.
 
I'm gonna take the ECA stack which will maintain muscle I have now, and burn fat like nothing els
Uh .. no.

The ECA stack has nothin to do with maintaining muscle. The only way you maintain muscle is to WORK the muscles and make sure you consume sufficient protein. ECA stack may boost your metabolism slightly and help you achieve more efficient workouts, but it's not a fatburning magic bullet and if you take a stack w/out donig any other exercise, you're still losing lean muscle.

It appears you didn't actually read anything I wrote and just twisted my words to fit your own agenda. So .. uh ... whatever.
 
Uh .. no.

The ECA stack has nothin to do with maintaining muscle. The only way you maintain muscle is to WORK the muscles and make sure you consume sufficient protein. ECA stack may boost your metabolism slightly and help you achieve more efficient workouts, but it's not a fatburning magic bullet and if you take a stack w/out donig any other exercise, you're still losing lean muscle.

It appears you didn't actually read anything I wrote and just twisted my words to fit your own agenda. So .. uh ... whatever.

Sorry, I'll get enough protein and do the work to maintain my muscles while I take the stack. That along with cardio and a calorie deficit should get rid of my fat.
I found an interesting article online that put my theory to rest:

"The last bit of fat to go is where we least want it to be. Unfortunately, it's common for people to overshoot their target weight and believe they are there but stuck with loose skin, when in fact they simply have another 10 - 20 or even 30 pounds to lose in order to take care of the issue."


(Would an hour of cardio a day be enough do you think?
I play Dance Dance Revolution. Embarassing, but it gets my heart working unlike any other cardio.
Also I assume I don't want to do intense cardio on the stack because it already elevates my heart level considerably.)
 
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My hypothesis is, the ratio of Vicseral to Subcutaneous fat lost was way off.
So I've lost almost all my visceral fat and am just left with this saggy jiggly subcutaneous fat. I blame that on my lack of cardio alongside weight loss. (Just walking and dieting.)
I find this better to think than saying it's loose skin I'm stuck with.
But I'd like to hear what you guys think.

Your hypothesis is highly doubtful.
Here's mine - you didn't do any strength training while losing all this weight, so now you have lost too much muscle mass, and you are what around these parts we call "skinny fat".
Blame it instead on not getting any strength training during all that weight loss.
Don't waste your time (or money) with that ECA stack. That stuff might keep you hopped up for an all-night gaming session, but it won't do jack for your fitness, or your 'skinny fat' condition.
Instead, get yourself into the gym and start lifting weights. Get some advice from more experienced lifters on setting up a program. Read the sticky on strength training here on this forum - that'll tell you what you need to know.
Put yourself into a calorie surplus and get plenty of lean protein. Pack some muscle onto your body and as you fill out that saggy stuff will just disappear.

Yes, you will still likely have loose skin for some time, but continued strength training will help your skin snap back into place over time.

And don't forget - you're supposed to have some fat on your body. A lot of athletes still have 10% or more body fat.
 
Your hypothesis is highly doubtful.
Here's mine - you didn't do any strength training while losing all this weight, so now you have lost too much muscle mass, and you are what around these parts we call "skinny fat".
Blame it instead on not getting any strength training during all that weight loss.
Don't waste your time (or money) with that ECA stack. That stuff might keep you hopped up for an all-night gaming session, but it won't do jack for your fitness, or your 'skinny fat' condition.
Instead, get yourself into the gym and start lifting weights. Get some advice from more experienced lifters on setting up a program. Read the sticky on strength training here on this forum - that'll tell you what you need to know.
Put yourself into a calorie surplus and get plenty of lean protein. Pack some muscle onto your body and as you fill out that saggy stuff will just disappear.

Yes, you will still likely have loose skin for some time, but continued strength training will help your skin snap back into place over time.

And don't forget - you're supposed to have some fat on your body. A lot of athletes still have 10% or more body fat.

I'm sure a ton of my muscle was maintained.
I ate a crap load of Protein every day while on my diet. I lived on it.
Even if I was this skinny fat thing. That means there's still fat to lose. Doesn't it?
I know it's not loose skin because what I can pinch and grab is still really thick. I read, that if it's loose skin, it's kind of like the skin on the top of your hand and only 1 or 2 millimeters thick.
(JUST read that online.)
 
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You can eat all the protein you can shovel in and it won't maintain your muscle mass unless you work the muscles.
Anyway, what I am suggesting is that you need to add muscle - you already appear to have missed the boat on the maintaining part.

As for the 'skinny fat' thing - it doesn't necessarily mean that there is more fat that you need to lose. What it does mean is that you no longer have enough lean body mass in relation to your remaining body fat which, as I said in my last post, we are supposed to have in some quantity.

Is there a reason you don't want to do any strength training?
Cardio is unlikely to do much for you at this point.
 
You can eat all the protein you can shovel in and it won't maintain your muscle mass unless you work the muscles.

As for the 'skinny fat' thing - it doesn't necessarily mean that there is more fat that you need to lose. What it does mean is that you no longer have enough lean body mass in relation to your remaining body fat which, as I said in my last post, we are supposed to have in some quantity.

Is there a reason you don't want to do any strength training?
Cardio is unlikely to do much for you at this point.

I find it uncomfortable and painful.

Also sorry for reading every article I can find, but I read one that said:
To get rid of the skinny fat look, you need to:
A) Build muscle mass
B) Lose the fat

But you can't do both at the same time, so you have to commit to one and then do the other.

Also, being the only one who can have a firm grasp on his body, I feel 100% confident that at my current state, NO amount of muscle would firm my stomach up, there's simply too many rolls and it hangs down my pants or shorts when I sit down. My arms however, could be firmed up if there was muscle added. So I should choose what I want to do first.
 
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I find it uncomfortable and painful.

Also sorry for reading every article I can find, but I read one that said:
To get rid of the skinny fat look, you need to:
A) Build muscle mass
B) Lose the fat

But you can't do both at the same time, so you have to commit to one and then do the other.

Also, being the only one who can have a firm grasp on his body, I feel 100% confident that at my current state, NO amount of muscle would firm my stomach up, there's simply too many rolls and it hangs down my pants or shorts when I sit down. My arms however, could be firmed up if there was muscle added. So I should choose what I want to do first.

Yes - strength training is uncomfortable - if it is comfortable you aren't building muscle. Building muscle takes overloading your current muscle so that it has to develop.

Yes, you have to do both - build muscle and lose fat. You've already lost a huge amount of fat, so now it is time to build the muscle.
If you don't want to do that, well - sorry kid, you're screwed. That's what you have to do.

Now, the rolls hanging down - that's a classic description of loose skin. Start strength training and I would guess that it should be greatly reduced in about a year.
Keeping the way you're going will probably just make it more noticeable.
 
Yes - strength training is uncomfortable - if it is comfortable you aren't building muscle. Building muscle takes overloading your current muscle so that it has to develop.

Yes, you have to do both - build muscle and lose fat. You've already lost a huge amount of fat, so now it is time to build the muscle.
If you don't want to do that, well - sorry kid, you're screwed. That's what you have to do.

Now, the rolls hanging down - that's a classic description of loose skin. Start strength training and I would guess that it should be greatly reduced in about a year.
Keeping the way you're going will probably just make it more noticeable.

If it gets more noticeable then I'll stop.
Is it wrong to want to be skinny and not have people who like weight lifting force it on you and think they're always right?

You have NO idea how much muscle I have right now.
I want to keep what I have but lose the fat; and after studying, I'm fairly certain it's not loose skin. It's way too thick to be so and I can feel the fat under it.
If it was loose skin, my fingers would touch through the skin if I squeezed it.

So:
Lift to maintain while losing fat. Voila.
If it backfires then maybe I'll pick up some weights.
 
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Do whatever you want. You obviously just came here for validation of your ideas, which Kara and I weren't willing to give.

Good luck.
 
Do whatever you want. You obviously just came here for validation of your ideas, which Kara and I weren't willing to give.

Good luck.

You're doing the exact same thing. :\
The answer to all of life's problems isn't "lift weights", as much as you might like to think it is.
Accept that.
Do some studying on loose skin, subcutaneous fat and body fat percentage in relation to the aforementioned, don't center your knowledge around weights.
If you post here again you're just proving my point.

Here's some reading material for you:


 
I think if you will do regular exercise you can loose some more fats and can gain more muscles.Its better to do yoga also, your muscle will be toned and your skin will be firm.
 
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You're doing the exact same thing. :\
The answer to all of life's problems isn't "lift weights", as much as you might like to think it is.
Accept that.

What you're looking for is not a way to solve all of life's problems. What you are looking for is a way is to lose skinny fat. The way to fix that is to do resistance training. If cardio actually fixed that problem then after doing 120 pounds of cardio it would obviously have been fixed already. But has it?
Your other problem is you're a bit of a douche.:nopity: Weight training won't fix that!
But why take our word for it, keep running!
 
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What you're looking for is not a way to solve all of life's problems. What you are looking for is a way is to lose skinny fat. The way to fix that is to do resistance training. If cardio actually fixed that problem then after doing 120 pounds of cardio it would obviously have been fixed already. But has it?
Your other problem is you're a bit of a douche.:nopity: Weight training won't fix that!
But why take our word for it, keep running!

Bahahahaa.

Yeah. Sorry, you're not going to get the answer you want here. You'll get the truth and you'll get well researched information, but you're not going to get someone to blow smoke up your ass to make you feel better.
 
The answer to all of life's problems isn't "lift weights", as much as you might like to think it is.
Accept that.
The answer to the particular problem you asked about *IS* "lift weights".

Accept THAT.

Otherwise, continue to look the way you do and be miserable about it.
 
The answer to the particular problem you asked about *IS* "lift weights".

Accept THAT.

Otherwise, continue to look the way you do and be miserable about it.

You're so ignorant.
I have a LOT of muscle. So much so that I would find it unattractive to gain more (I don't like that bulked up look).
Sure I might have lost some during my diet but I still have a considerable amount. More than the average person, okay?
It's just being obscured by fat, especially in my abs.
There's a difference between loose skin, and still having a high body fat percentage.

And even if you are right, and I AM this skinny fat with a really low muscle mass.
What if I lose the fat that I DO have, and am boney/slim and I like that?
I don't need muscles to be happy, even if I'm a boney skeleton, I can bulk up whenever I feel I'm ready after losing the fat.
 
You're so ignorant.
Because name calling is the best way to get people to help you.

I have a LOT of muscle. So much so that I would find it unattractive to gain more (I don't like that bulked up look).
Really? The photo you posted doesn't show hardly any muscle. Perhaps the photo you posted isn't really you?

Aside from that, your own ignorance is showing: You don't get "bulked up" by lifting weights w/out putting some serious effort into it. Lifting weights to maintain lean muscle is not the same as "bulking".

Sure I might have lost some during my diet but I still have a considerable amount. More than the average person, okay?
Not if the photo you posted is of you. Not if you lost all your weight via cardio and did no exercise to maintain muscle. Just pretty much ... um .. NOT.

There's a difference between loose skin, and still having a high body fat percentage.
Yup. And if the photo you posted was of you, then you don't have a high body fat percentage. What you have is wasted muscles from lack of maintenance.

What if I lose the fat that I DO have, and am boney/slim and I like that?
I don't need muscles to be happy, even if I'm a boney skeleton
Obviously you're NOT happy where you are, or you wouldn't have posted here.

But, as I said earlier ... whatever. You'll believe what you want to believe. You're not going to get anyone to validate your incorrect and ignorant point of view.

I'm done with this thread. I'd much rather help someone who is willing to engage their brains and actually learn something.
 
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