Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Loose Skin?

Is this a topic you have wondered about? Me too. I use to read people's blogs and see how much weight they have lost and wondered.....do they have loose skin? If so, where is it? Especially people who have lost over 100 pounds. It occurs to me now that I am one of those people I used to wonder about.

Loose skin is not always obvious. The lady at my gym who had gastric bypass surgery and lost 200 pounds has lots of loose skin hanging from her arms (poor thing....she works her ass off). Some people have so much extra skin on their stomachs that they have to tuck it into their pants (you know you have seen it on TV). It seems to me the only cure for those is cosmetic surgery.

For those of you who do not know, I have lost my weight slowly with lots of exercise. I am down to my last 10 to 20 pounds (I think). I have lost enough weight that now I can really play with shaping my body (this is actually fun). Over the last four months I can really see toning in certain areas. I no longer have back fat or fat on the high side of my hips (it used to be part of my shelf butt). My face and neck have slimmed. My arms are looking almost normal now (a bit muscle-y but they still need more toning). My legs are athletic (but I will take that) for the most part.

As I have lost weight and thought - I want to lose another 30 pounds - I tried to think of where it would come from. That was always easy. Until now. There aren't many places left. Thighs and stomach. I thought for sure I had another 20 pounds I could shed from there. Until......I bent over the other day and saw my sagging stomach. It was wrinkled and waggily like an EXTREMELY elderly butt. This is when it occurred to me. This might not be just fat.....this maybe that loose skin people talk about. It is hard to know the difference. Also, my inner thigh has some swag to it.

I am not ready to say it is definitely loose skin (I can always have hope). So I have decided to try to work on toning those areas for a while to see if that helps. I workout daily with strength training 3 days per week. I am working on making a new routine for myself. I am going to take what I know...add in some new, harder crap.....give it a good stir.....pull it out of my ass....and hope for positive results. I am going to try some of the strength training and toning from P90X. I have heard nothing but amazing things about this program so maybe it can help me as well.

I am also going to be changing my cardio a little. I happened upon a class yesterday that was supposed to be turbo kick boxing (600 calorie/hour burn) but it was being substituted with body combat (900 calorie/hour burn). Not really what I was looking for since I am still recovering from the Mud Run but it was great! It was cardio but there was one song that had us doing 104 push-ups. Talk about dripping on the floor. I think it maybe what I need but I am may need to join another gym for it. Oh well. The results maybe worth it, right?

Do you have any loose skin? Any suggestions on how to fix it without surgery?

Also, I am looking for some good low-fat recipes for Thanksgiving sides. I have a few weight-watcher ones from the past that are great but I thought you all might have some super-tasty suggestions.

I know this post maybe TMI, however, I wondered about it so why not be honest? I will take the way I feel today with a side of loose skin over the way I felt before.

14 comments:

M said...

Great topic! Now youve got me thinking about it...ugh, I cant stand loose skin though! And that cosmetic surgery for it has got to be expensive.

Let us know how the toning thing works out...take pics, not to show us but so you can see the difference for yourself. And then report back to us, hehe.

Erin said...

instead of mashed potatoes, you can try mashed cauliflower...the taste and texture are VERY similar, but the latter is much healthier.
i also served a roasted mixed veggie side with yellow squash, zucchini and carrots instead of sweet potatoes and green bean casserole.

Christine said...

ugh, I think I will have loose skin, beats skin full of fat I guess. I hope in your case that it goes away. Sounds like you have a plan though. Keep up the good work.

Karen said...

I know exactly what you're talking about. Sounds just like what I have on my stomach. While I am not pleased with it and plan to keep working on my core/abs and doing interval cardio, I don't think I could ever have cosmetic surgery. Surgery (of any kind) terrifies me!

I think part of this whole process is learning to love who we are and what our bodies look like no matter what. I will do my best with my workouts and be happy with what I have and be thankful for all my body can do!

jo said...

Thank you for writing this. I love real life stuff. I worry about loose skin. One reason I'd never have surgery to lose weight.

Even though I'm only down 55 pounds, I already have loose skin on my inner thighs. Yuck. My legs are really shaping up, and I work them hard, and I hope that the skin will wither away. I'll probably have it on my arms and tummy, too.

It is a concern, but I'd rather have loose skin that fat-filled skin!

Congrats on being so close to where you want to be. What an inspiration you are!

I've heard great things about P90X, too. I hope you'll share your experience with it.

Ihaven't even planned T-day yet, so I have no recipes to share.

Linda Pressman said...

I always thought my loose skin came from waiting too long to lose weight - I lost my 90 lbs when I was 40-41 years old so I thought at that age it was too late to have resilient skin. Except for that stomach thing, which I hear that even skinny women get from pregnancy (hello!), everything else has looked very good. I've worked out this whole 9 year period.
If it was the kind of skin where it's debilitating, hanging off your body, like they show on TV, that's different. But, hey, when I turn myself upside down, everything looks kind of bad!

BEE said...

i swear by spanx
just try to hide it the best you can if you dont want surgery
i dont want surgery so i go with spanx all the way lol
best of luck

Mrs. S. said...

I do have loose skin on my belly as well-but it is mostly from pregnancy. If you continue to work out it really should slowly start to look better. The body has to heal at it's own pace.

Good luck with P90x-I have the orgininal P90 & it is pretty great. I am starting to use it again along with cardio at the gym.

Carissa said...

Ugh i worry about this... from what I've read your skin can take up to 1 yr after you're done losing weight to tighten as much as it will. If there's still loose skin after that, the option is pretty much cosmetic surgery.

Diane Fit to the Finish said...

It's been 12 years since my 150 pound weight loss and skin is an issue. It's not fat, it's just some skin. I did see it shrink for about a year after I lost weight, but now it is what it is.

The thing for me is that it's really cosmetic and I look fine in clothes. You can always look into plastic surgery to correct any issues that bother you. Please don't let it get you down though - you have accomplished so much and have been an inspiration to hundreds of people.

big_mummy said...

wish i had good advice re:saggy skin, i blogged about my bingo wings not long ago lol.

thanks for the image of your wrinkly butt though :)

Apex Zombie said...

I've got some loose skin going on. There's still a bunch of fat in there, but I can see there's going to be a lot of loose skin. That wrinkly old butt visual is so true!

I don't think there's any way to fix it without surgery except giving it time to shrink back a bit.

And like you, I'd much rather have loose skin than be the way I was before.

Anonymous said...

Spanx are great for loose skin. Also, try HIIT: High Intensity Interval Training. There's lots of info on the web. Easiest way is on a treadmill with alternating running very fast and then walking for total of 20 or 30 mins. It really burns off the fat...worked for me. P90X Plymometrics is also a great fat burner. I love it ! When I started running stadiums (also HIIT) I lost some fat fast.If you have a high school or college stadium near you. Always good to mix up those workouts and your body responds. LOVE your blog.

wildfluffysheep said...

i seriously love your attitude and commitment to the weightloss shit. seriously.

i am not at the thinking about loose skin stage yet. its quite a way off. lol you'll have it all figured out by the time i reach that stage. so il keep reading. :P