Help! Question about skin sag.

I am 39 yrs. old, two children. Top weight was 230 pds. I am on a permanent kick and loving it. I have lost 33 pds. so far and am down to 187. I would like to get into the 140 lb. range and set that goal for the end of the year. I have been working out ALOT by walking during lunch hours and treadmilling 30-60 min. almost every day. Now the saggy skin is showing up on the bottom of stomach, upper/inner thighs and under upper arms. Being a single parent I cannot afford surgery. I hear all kinds of stories, but I don't want to let this get to me. If I keep working out and doing what I'm doing. Can the skin recede on it's own with hard work and patience and not surgery? The articles I am reading seem to come from women who panicked within a year of the loss. If so, can anyone provide any tips to help with this?

Congratulations on your weight loss to-date!  Just remember when dealing with the saggy skin that it's still far better then being obese!!!

How long did you carry around your excess weight?  That will be one of several factors in how well your skin responds to exercise and weight loss.  Your age puts you on the borderline for your skin's elasticity, which diminishes as you get older.

From what you said in your post, I'd guess that you will have a little bit of excess skin to deal with, but much of it should respond to your workouts.  And if it doesn't, well..... like I said, it's still better then being obese!!!

Keep up the exercise and see what happens.  If you only carried the excess weight for one or two years, it should respond much better then if you carried it around for more then 20 years like I did.

I was more than 210 for well over 20 years. I was hoping that continuing exersize and eating right would do the trick in time, but feeling good about myself for a change is making a world of difference.  But, I know you're right, it is better to not worry about being obese, and the numerous health risks that run in the family is what finally hit me across the head. Especially when I lost my father recently (who was not that overweight at all) from diabetes. Thank you for the advise and encouragement. 

Hi there Janl777.  Unfortunately I'm in the same boat. Difference is, I'm older and was much heavier than you were. I kept the extra weight for about 5 years. But with exercise and diet changes, I've lost 123 pounds. Which is saying a lot when I'm 185 right now. Anyway, the good news is, that the skin sagging isn't severe. But, I too am hoping that all my exercise will lead to a little firming action.

I'm very sorry to hear about your father. Good job on your own health improvements. Keep up the great work!

Saggy skin is a problem but agree w/ above posters....much better than being obese.  I carried weight around for a few years.  I am 50 and have lost 113 lbs.  Im within 5 lbs of my goal.  The legs and arms are toned w/ strength training but the lower abs are a mess.  2 c-sections and loss of muscle in the lower abs...yeah, there's a skin sag.  Unless I find a surgeon who is willing to do a freebie, I'll be having that skin sag for the duration. 

Much better than being obese though!

This link helped me when I started to feel a little discouraged about skin sag:

http://www.dietgirl.org/dietgirl/2007/09/dg-b y-request-l.html

Congrats on your progress!!!

Thank you for all the advice. I have the stretch marks, did one c-section and one natural child birth. I read the article from dietgirl, andI thank you for that, it was very helpful. I will not get discouraged, but will keep doing what I am doing and add more weight lifting to the routine. Any recommendations? I don't want to lift too much, but would like to develope a routine with that.

When I lost all my weight initally ( I Lost 100 pounds, but unfortuantley got married and happy and gained 80 of it back, hence why im on a diet site again) I used Palmers Cocoa butter firming lotion, and stretch mark lotion. Its not a miracle cream, it doesnt tighten skin to as you were never overweight, and it doesnt do it over night. But, it did help ALOT!! I noticed after a year of using the creams, that my strech marks are alot less noticible and my skin isnt as wrinkly and saggy as it was initially. Its a great product to use. But you have touse it twice a day every day, and it will be months before you see any slight result. But you WILL see reuslts. And if you keep using it, you will keep seeing the benefits! I swear by the stuff!

Would you mind telling me what you eat every day?  My stats are very close to yours and if you've already lost 33 pounds...I would very much like to know HOW you are doing it?  And how long has it taken you?  I am doing a high protein shake drink twice a day and then eating very minimal in the evenings, and I can't do this much longer.  I need FOOD.  I want to exercise also.  IDEAS, PLEASE???  Thanks so much!!!

Your exercise appears to be just cardio exercises.  Try some weight lifting

I would agree that even a basic weight training program 2-3 times a week will help out a ton here.  I on a quest to lose 96 pounds and i'm nearly half way there.  I lost 42 pounds thus far with a program that has me run/walking 3 times a week, weight training 2 times a week and the walking at least 30 minutes on those off days.

After about pound 30 I had skin sag appearing under my arms and bellow my navel too.  I started at 296 if you were curious.

Hope that helps.

Felix

Original Post by desperatetoo:

Your exercise appears to be just cardio exercises.  Try some weight lifting

I usually eat about 1/2 cup cheerios in the morning and maybe with a 1/2 banana, or other fruit. I really hate breakfast though. I work all day, so I pack and lunch of a salad with spinach, tomatoes, onions, and a little chicken. I love the packets of seven seas salad dressing and put it on ice. I like Lean Quisine dinners sometimes or just have something small for dinner like another small salad. If I am hungry, I love to keep small sugar free fruit packs. I go walking up at the track at a local park during my lunch hours when I can for about 1/2 hr. and then eat and head back to work. I also have a old treadmill at home that I refer to as my family member and loved one!! HA! I have learned that I have trained my stomach to not want so much food, you get used to not wanting to eat so much, and I used to hate exersizing and it was once a struggle to get moving. Now I seriously love exersizing and must say that I have become adicted to it. Eating right and exersizing. When I first started this, I went to my doctor and he perscribed Apidex. I got ten pills to start and then threw them away after the made me higher than a kite. I KNOW IT IS THE WRONG WAY TO GO ABOUT DOING ALL OF THIS. I got stared the right way  (eating right and exersizing) and lost now 40 pounds in 3 months. I also did try Palmers lotion with elasin and unfortuneately I am allergic (figures). Any other recommendations????

Also, someone mentioned natural cocoa butter to me. But where can you find it?? The baking kind, not the kind in lotion products. And, does anyone know if it really works?

Hello, I mentiont the palmers cocoa butter lotion. If your allergic to it, I would recommend looking at the other firming lotions. They all help to a degree. Look at the ingredients and make sure your not allergic to any. Also, im big on natural products also. I use seaweed soap for showering and it works great also. I dont know if its a combination of the soap and lotions I use but it works for me. I lost 105 pounds And I hardly have any saggy skin or stretch marks. When I tell people Ive lost that much weight they call me a liar because i dont have any skin or stretch marks to prove it! So I use the seaweed soap, and I use a cellulite firming lotion. I use it all over. And it has seaweed and sea plant extracts in it. I also buy a firming oil from this company, and put a few drops in my lotion to give it an extra boost. I use vitamin E oil, (pure oil) on my stretch marks, and i put a few drops of the firming oil in it also. Its a lot of skin care regimens but its so worth it and you get used to the routine. I shower with my soap and use my lotion them put the E oil on my strech mark places. Plus it also helps my skin stay so very soft!!!  I dont know how much you want to spend, its alittle expensive. The lotion goes for about 13 a bottle, the soap is about 6 a peice (but it lasts FOREVER! Ive had the same bar for 5 months now!!!) The firming oil is about 12 for a little bottle, but you only use 5 drops per bottle of stuff your adding it too, and ive had it for 5 months also and I still have half left! The website is http://www.totallyyou.com if your interested in checking it out. I used palmers for about 3 years then switched to the all natural route, to see if it would help also. Ive been doing it for a year now and ordering these products and i dont regret it at all! THere amazing. So if you want, check it out! Hope that helps some!

Just FYI @ the wallmart in the health/beauty section they sell sticks of coacoa butter for 99 cents a piece... they are usually hanging on the end of the isles, and i hear they are really helpfull with moisturizing and strechmarks

Hope this helps