New Member: Have Question

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Brandon E.

New member
Hello. I am a brand new member on here. I am only 15 years old, but I really needed to get this question out there. I am a male, by the way.
So over the past six months or so I've lost about 50 pounds. Here's the thing, I've lost weight just about everywhere, and even my stomach is much, much slimmer. However, I still have this 1-2 inch "overhang" on my belly that is very annoying and I cannot seem to get it to go away. My diet consists mainly of turkey, chicken (grilled or baked), many a fruits and vegetables, some red meat here and there, non fat Greek yogurt, oatmeal, and that's about it. I've cut out all fried food. I've cut out all sweets. I do eat bread rarely, if at all. My exercise consists of basketball practice (usually 1 1/2 hours long), or going to the local ymca to do running and some lifting. Any suggestions on what I can do to get rid of the "overhang"?
 
Hey Brandon and welcome here! It's hard to be sure over the internet but could that "overhang" be excess skin? I wouldn't normally expect it from 50 pounds lost (congratulations, btw, that's awesome!) But it might be possible if your weight was previously concentrated around your midsection. At 15 your best bet is probably to stick to your new/improved habits and wait for the next growth spurt to sort things out. All the best!
 
LaMaria said:
Hey Brandon and welcome here! It's hard to be sure over the internet but could that "overhang" be excess skin? I wouldn't normally expect it from 50 pounds lost (congratulations, btw, that's awesome!) But it might be possible if your weight was previously concentrated around your midsection. At 15 your best bet is probably to stick to your new/improved habits and wait for the next growth spurt to sort things out. All the best!
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Alright. Thank you for the advice!
 
I agree with LaMa. Exercise & maintaining a healthy diet will most probably do the trick. Just keep working on that. Your skin should be elastic enough at your age to spring back into shape & a growth spurt will certainly help. Well done on losing that 50lbs & welcome to the WLF forum Brandon.
 
Here to give an update and to see if anyone has more info to share. I've kept up the diet and exercise has changed a bit since basketball is over. I'm getting ready to go into baseball season but in the mean time I am going to the YMCA and running 3 miles and then shooting hoops (nothing intense like practice was, just to keep me moving). No improvement really at all with me stomach, if anything it seems a bit larger. I am trusting the process as I've made so much progress from where I was, but I'm starting to freak out cause it is just very annoying. It's weird because it is literally a "pouch". I don't know how else to describe it. Like all around my sides and stomach is fine and then it just puffs out near my lower abs. I am trying so dang hard to get rid of it but it just will not go away. Any more advice?
 
Hey Brandon.

You are still very young, but yes that does seem like excess skin from weight loss (I am no expert, but that's my guess). That being said...do you do any abs exercise? It's not that bad that you can't get it toned...do lower abs exercise, all over abs exercises - I personally do it every day at least one exercise for my abs, even if it's not a problem area, it's not a huge impact area so it's easy to get it done. Keep working on it...try planks and increase your time as you get better - if you pair that with cardio, and continue to eat healthy, then you will be in tip-top shape in no time. ;-)
 
CaliGirl said:
Hey Brandon.

You are still very young, but yes that does seem like excess skin from weight loss (I am no expert, but that's my guess). That being said...do you do any abs exercise? It's not that bad that you can't get it toned...do lower abs exercise, all over abs exercises - I personally do it every day at least one exercise for my abs, even if it's not a problem area, it's not a huge impact area so it's easy to get it done. Keep working on it...try planks and increase your time as you get better - if you pair that with cardio, and continue to eat healthy, then you will be in tip-top shape in no time. ;-)
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Thanks for the advice! And yes for about a month I've been doing ab stuff like planks, Russian twists, sit-ups, etc. No results yet but I just remembered my parents have an exercise ball and after looking up some lower ab exercises with the exercise ball, I think given another month or so, I can see the results start to show.
 
Brandon E. said:
Hello. I am a brand new member on here. I am only 15 years old, but I really needed to get this question out there. I am a male, by the way.
So over the past six months or so I've lost about 50 pounds. Here's the thing, I've lost weight just about everywhere, and even my stomach is much, much slimmer. However, I still have this 1-2 inch "overhang" on my belly that is very annoying and I cannot seem to get it to go away. My diet consists mainly of turkey, chicken (grilled or baked), many a fruits and vegetables, some red meat here and there, non fat Greek yogurt, oatmeal, and that's about it. I've cut out all fried food. I've cut out all sweets. I do eat bread rarely, if at all. My exercise consists of basketball practice (usually 1 1/2 hours long), or going to the local ymca to do running and some lifting. Any suggestions on what I can do to get rid of the "overhang"?
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Ok, first of all...GOOD JOB, MAN!!! Dude, you have lost a TON of weight so far and you should be proud of yourself. I know I am!!!

Secondly, the whole "overhang" thing you're worried about can only be solved in one way - you need to lose just a little more fat but, at the same time, build more muscle in your abdomen. The shitty thing about the human body is that we can't pick and choose from where we lose our fat. However, if you exercise your abs it will build muscle, definition and firmness. And, if you continue to burn through just a little more fat your "overhang" as you call it will eventually disappear, being replaced by the muscle you have building underneath.
 
Update: So I went to the doctor last Thursday and was 5'5" 132. I am 15 just as a reminder. He said I was doing fantastic and to keep it up. The overhang problem persists, but I continue to do everything in my power to rid of it. Is it possible it is caused by too much sugar? I am not consuming many, if any, unnatural sugar but I am eating quite a bit of fruit and veggies each day, so I'm wondering if I am overeating them? Just a thought.
 
I agree with others that it is excess skin. Keep in mind that it could take a year or two for things to tighten back up. Your skin can be amazingly resilient, bur you have to give it time to snap back.
 
Brandon, you are doing very well & I do think it will be loose skin. Eating fruit & vegetables will not be the cause. Give it time & keep up the good work.
 
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