OK, the skin may well be young and still flexible but I just think from looking at the pictures that it's a little too much to hope for.

I don't like to take chances and would rather fill out with muscle to fit the skin better and hope that nature helps a little too and the skins tightens a bit. I don't quite understand how he's supposed to influence the elastisity of his skin

Either way, I think we pretty much agree on the path he should take, just disagree on expected outcome

Orange DRILL THESE IN YOUR HEAD:


"Every little thing you eat counts and adds up over time to produce a cumulative result."

"The Body is a accumulation of its past"


"Success is a matter of a few simple disciplines, practiced every day.


"Failure is a few errors in judgment, repeated every day."


"There are never any good reasons for diet failure, only excuses"


"The fact is, there are no good reasons, only excuses, because you always have choices."

"You MUST be aware of the law of calorie balance."


"Your goal is to make the best choice possible from the foods available to you in any given circumstance."


Drill this in your head: too much of anything will get stored as fat and that calories are the most important factor in fat loss---and proper weight gain.

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Loose Skin And Weight Loss

Everything You Need To Know About Loose Skin And Weight Loss
By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
Fat Loss Secrets - Fat Burning Diet - Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle

I receive a lot of e-mail from people with loose skin or from overweight people who are concerned about having loose skin after they lose the weight. In fact, this is one of the biggest concerns and most frequently asked questions I receive from men and women who have a lot of weight to lose.

Just recently, I received this email from a reader of my syndicated "Ask Tom" fat loss column:

"Tom, I began a fat loss program using your Burn The Fat system and it worked so well I got down to 15 1/2 stones (from 19). However, this has caused me a problem: Excess abdominal skin. I didn't crash lose this weight, it came off at the rate of about 2 lbs. per week just like you recommended. Now I'm unsure of whether to carry on, as my abdomen has quite a lot of excess skin - I feel like I've turned into a bloody Shar-Pei! Does everyone go through this? Will the skin tighten up? I was overweight for more than 12 years. Am I going to end up needing surgical skin removal? Can you offer me any advice? I'm a medical student in the UK and my colleagues seem determined to proffer surgery as the only option."

By losing weight slowly and sensbibly, you can put the odds in your favor. The list of 14 points below will help you better understand the causes and potential solutions to this cosmetic problem.:

1. Skin is incredibly elastic. Your skin can stretch and expand or tighten and retract to a great degree. Look at what women go through during pregnancy. Some women do experience stretch marks after pregnancy, but obviously skin is remarkably elastic.

2. Elasticity of skin depends on both genetics and environment/lifestyle. Wrinkling and loss of elasticity is partly the consequence of aging (genetic factors) and also a result of environmental factors such as oxidative stress, excessive sun exposure, and nutritional deficiency. The environmental parts you can fix, the genetics and age part, you cannot. Advice: Get moving and change the things you have control over... Be realistic and don't worry about those things you don't have control over.

3. How much your skin returns to its former tautness depends partly on age. The older you get, the more an extremely large weight loss can leave loose skin that will not return to normal.

4. How long you carry extra weight may influence how much the skin will become taut after the weight loss: For example, compare a 9 month pregnancy with 9 years carrying 100 excess pounds.

5. How much weight was carried has a lot to do with how much the skin will resume a tight appearance. Your skin can only be stretched so much and be expected to "snap back" one hundred percent. With extreme obesity, the probability of there still being loose skin after weight loss is higher.

6. How fast the weight was gained also has a lot to do with how much the skin will resume a tight appearance. Your skin can only be stretched so quickly and be expected to "snap back."

7. How fast weight is lost also has a lot to do with how much the skin will tighten up. Rapid weight loss doesn't allow the skin time to slowly resume to normal. (This is yet another reason to lose fat slowly; 1-2 pounds per week, 3 pounds at the most if you have a lot of weight to lose, and even then, only if you are measuring body fat and you're certain it's fat you're losing, not lean tissue).

8. There are exceptions to all of the above; For example, people who gained and then lost incredible amounts of weight quickly at age 50 or 60, and their skin returned 100% to normal.

9. Creams probably don't work. There are many creams advertised as having the ability to restore the tightness of your skin. the late bodybuilding guru Dan duchaine used to recommend topical creams made with pycnogenol, which contain the antioxidant bioflavanoids called proanthocyanidins. But to the best of my knowledge, none of the topical creams are scientifically validated. I haven't even heard much anecdotal evidence that they work -- at least not permanently and measurably -- and especially if you have a lot of loose skin. There are definitely some topicals that will pull water from under your skin, but remeber, that is temporary. Buyer should beware with topical products. (as an aside, Ive also heard anectodal reports that skin brushing was helpful, but again, I am not aware of any scientific evidence proving this is effective).

10. Nutrition has a lot to do with the health of your skin. Essential fatty acids in particular are very valuable for many reasons, and one of them is for the health of your skin. It would be worth taking an EFA supplement such as fish oil, flax oil or an oil blend like Udo's choice. Antioxidants are also very important, so be sure to consume copious amounts of a variety of vegetables and fruits. Also pay very close attention to hydration. Drink approximately a gallon of water a day or a minimum of half your body weight in ounces. (By the way, whey protein is high in a powerful antioxidant called glutathione).

11. Exercise has a lot to do with how your skin appears after you lose body fat. If you use very low calorie diets, you are likely to lose lean body mass, and this is going to exacerbate the loose, hanging skin appearance. On the other hand, if you are exercising regularly and increasing lean body mass with weight training, you will be more likely to minimize the appearance of loose skin.

12. Get second opinions if you are considering surgery. If you're considering surgical skin removal, consult a physician for advice because this is not a minor operation, but keep in mind that your plastic surgeon may be making his BMW payments with your abdominoplasty money. (Surgery might be recommended in situations where it's not 100% necessary). Surgery should be left as the absolute final option in extreme cases.

13. Give your skin time. Your skin will definitely get tighter as your body fat gets lower. I've seen and heard of many cases where the skin gradually tightened up, at least partially, after a one or two year period where the weight loss was maintained and exercise continued.

14. Know your body fat percentage before even thinking about surgery. Loose skin is one thing, but still having a lot of body fat is another. Be honest with yourself and do that by taking your body fat measurement. This can be done with skinfold calipers or a variety of other devices (calipers might not be the best method if you have large folds of loose skin. Look into impedance analysis, underwater weighing, DEXA or Bod Pod).

Suppose for example, a man drops from 35% body fat all the way down to 20%. He should be congratulated, but I would tell him, "Don't complain about loose skin yet, your body fat is still high. Press onward and keep getting leaner and be sure to focus on strength training to increase lean body mass as well."

Average body fat for men is in the mid teens (16% or so). Average body fat for women is in the 20-25% range. Good body fat for men is 10-12%, and single digits is extremely lean. Men shouldn't expect to look "ripped" with 100% tight skin on the abs unless they have single digit body fat. Women shouldn't expect to have tight abdominal skin unless they are in the low to mid teens in body fat.

Except in extreme cases, you are actually unlikely to see someone with loose skin who has very low body fat and especially someone who has not just "lost weight" but has altered body composition by adding lean muscle as well. It's quite remarkable how much your skin can tighten up once your body fat goes from "average" to "excellent" and even more so when lean body mass increases. Someone with legitimate single digit body fat and a ton of loose skin is a rare sight.

So the key to getting tighter skin is to improve your body composition (muscle to fat ratio), and lose more body fat, slowly and sensibly, up to the point where your body composition rating is better than average (in the "good" to "great" category, not just "okay"). Only after you reach your long term body fat percentage goal should you give thought to "excess skin removal." At that point, admittedly, there are bound to be a few isolated cases where surgery is necessary if you can't live with the amount of loose skin remaining.

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Take these good points about loose skin to heart......Lets give diet and exercise a shot........before you consider the other alternative.


I will be posting again shortly.....



Chillen

Congrats on the weight loss.

How much weight lifting did you do during your weight loss? It seems like you did only arms, and missed out on the lower body. Perhaps your body dropped too much weight at one time. Did you have a lot of gut in the past? I think it really did a number on your skin.

The only way I think you can get rid of this would be to start bulking up, and doing things like squats and deadlifts. I think squats and deadlifts will help in stretching that skin back to the way it's supposed to be.

I don't think you have anything to fear as in waist line or anything. Bulking up can build muscles and reduce the amount of fat in your body.

Do you notice this anywhere else? Perhaps your legs?

Good luck, and come back with your progress.

I agree with Chillen. I think the skin will go back if you do it right with the diet and weights. I also think some running couldn't hurt too. If you dropped 100+ pounds, I would agree with everyone else in that you would need to have the skin removed via doctor. However, you weren't morbidly obese, and it just looks like you lost weight without doing much weight lifting (squats, dead lifts, and other lower/mid body exercises).

I say drop the dumbbells for a while, and start picking up on doing serious weight lifting.

Also, in your diet, I don't think you're getting enough protein, it seems. I think you're getting around 80-100g of protein per day. That's not a lot.

Perhaps you should consider getting Whey Protein, as well as increasing your Protein from natural food such as fish (salmon, tuna, etc), and poultry (chicken, eggs, turkey, etc). Cottage cheese, and yogurt are good things too.

And finally, I don't think you look *that* bad. I think you're fine. If you want %, you're at 80%. You have the weight gone, now you can do anything you want. You can bulk up, try to fix the extra skin, or just sit and wait. It's up to you.

First, THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE. You have all been really helpful. I am going to take the bulking approach.

I am going to eat 8 meals a day, all at about 400 calories. I will eat at 8am, 10, 12pm, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10. The 10:00pm meal will usually just be skim milk and whey. I am going to hit the gym 4 days a week. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday will be VERY light cardio days (as in about 10 minutes) and some core training.

Tuesday I will do chest and legs

Wednesday I will do the dead weights, good mornings and squats

Thursday I will do biceps and back

Saturday I will do triceps and shoulders

And I will hit them hard...really hard. Most likely 3 sets of 5. I'm going to really push myself with the weight.

On the light cardio ab days, I will do mostly things for the oblique area.

Ok, now onto the meals. Im coming up with combinations for 400 calorie meals. As soon as I figure these out, I will post my ideas. Meals will consist of cheerios, skim milk, lean meats, natural peanut butter, fruits and raw veggies (oh and whey whey whey!)

You guys have given me a lot of confidence...I mean I am only 21, I should be able to get this skin back in shape.

So in conclusion...

- Much more intense lifting

- Less cardio

- More eating

OH! And more sleep, no more 6 hour nights, from now it's going to be 8.

In a month I will post new pictures. So everyone be ready for November 16th!

Ok, here are some potential meals for me to eat throughout the day. Sometimes I'll be in class, so convenience helps.

* Skim Milk + Whey Protein

* 2 bowls of Cheerios with skim milk

* 2 pieces of whole grain toast with 2 tsp natural peanut butter

* Turkey breast and lettuce on whole grain toast

* Light Tuna and lettuce on whole grain toast

* Apples and raw veggies

* Pack of almonds

These are just some options for me to choose from. But I think if I follow a diet similar to this, 8 times a day, I should be good. Like I said, next month I will post pictures.

Actually, I think you should relax on the amount of days spent in the gym lifting. I think you should go 3x (4 max) per week and try to get a fbw for each session, rather than spreading it out. You do your growing outside of the gym.

I think chillen will be the best to answer your weight lifting questions. But I think overall, you should only do 3x and fbw.

Please read the above in bold.

I don't eat mayo, so that's not a problem with the tuna.

I can add in more vegetables, that's not a problem.

As for the cheerios, and adding in chicken and salmon, this is very hard as my school does not offer chicken and salmon, and I have no ways to conveniently cook them. The reason I list cheerios is because my school provides them, so they are very easy to eat.

Do you have means of buying your own food? You're in college or high school?

Does your school offer eggs in the morning?

Yea I can buy my own food, and unfortunately they don't offer hard boiled eggs in the morning :/

I forgot about cottage cheese, I can eat that for protein too.

Oh and I'm in college.

See, I take 6 classes, so some meals need to have a convience to them. I can be pulling out a salmon in the middle of class

Here's what you can do, on weekends, boil some chicken breasts, then freeze them. As you go to and from classes, just pop some in the microwaver.

Also, eggs don't have to be boiled. You can scramble them, which I do, with a light touch of extra vigini olive oil.

Also, if you want a good cookbook, I recommend, "How to Cook Everything." It's a pretty awesome book for college students and singles. You can learn quite a lot about cooking.