Loose skin, even if I'm young?

I know this topic is discussed a lot.. but I haven't been able to find any info on teenagers losing a lot of weight and dealing with loose skin.

I always hear "If you lose the weight slowly, it'll be better" so I'm going to try to slow my weight loss down. For some reason I can lose like 4 pounds a week when I'm eating 1500 calories a day. So I know I need to slow down a little. And I'm going to start weight training to build muscle to help burn more fat.

Anyway, my concern is.. I'm 18 years old and I have 100 pounds to lose. I've been overweight my entire life, literally. Is my skin too permanently stretched for it to tighten? I have a large frame so my weight is extremely proportional throughout my body.. but I don't know if that matters or not.

Any insight would be great. Has anyone here lost a significant amount of weight at a young age and not had many skin problems?

I'm just praying that my age will save me.

Weight Training is key.  It will really help tighten your skin up.  The good thing about being so young (i'm not that much older than you) is that your elasticity is better than if you were 50 and on this path.  Remember that muscle burns fat so if you are weight training you probably want to up the calorie intake.  From the research I've done, 1 to 2 pounds a week is healthy, anymore is a little too fast.  For men 1500 calories is the minimum.  Just be healthy, and stay on track you'll get better results that way.  Good for you on your current weight loss.  It can be hard to stay on track when people are so used to you being the way you've always been.  Keep up the good work!

Yeah I'm going to up my calories and do weights. Thanks for the compliements too! :)


Does anyone know from experience how do deal with loose skin?

no idea, but it's a fear of mine too, since i have 70 pounds to lose, and have always been overweight...

depends on how much elasticity your skin has.. depends on genes i belive, but im 22 and yes i have lose skin as a matter of fact i have noticed it since i was around 19. i went from about 300-305 to my current weight of 209 and boy do i have "wings" (arm fat) now.

I don't know about how to deal with loose skin, but maybe you won't have to -
I lost about 50 pounds when I was 23 to 24 years old.  I also carried the weight very proportionally (all over) and have fairly dry skin.  I ended up with a couple of really light colored stretch marks on my hips, but no loose skin anywhere.  I did not exercise a lot - just normal walking to classes and an occasional weekend hiking in the woods. 

Best of luck to you;  loose skin or not, I'm sure you'll be SO pleased with better health!!  Keep up the good work :)

I lost 60lbs at 20 (after being heavy for just 2 years) and had a little loose skin on my stomach and boobs.  The stretch marks that I have in those areas makes it much worse.  Have you been overweight your entire life?  I think that plays a role in whether or not you will have loose skin. 

Hey yall~ I was slightly over weight all my life, then I went from 174-140 slowly, but then I went from 140-110 in a matter of months. Verry quick and very unhealthy. I do have many stretch marks around my thighs, hips, and breasts. I went from a D-almost DD to a Push up bra B. I'm now am at 120, but I hate the saggy boobs (my skin around my breasts didnt 'stretch back', probably because I didnt excersize at all) and I have some 'bum dimples' as well. I also have loose skin in my armpit, so if I reach behind me my armpit looks like a vagina. (Haha No serriously!) What I'm trying to get at is excersize, gradual is good, and love your body. Its not going to change sudenly becuase you lost weight. You are still you. That was one of the hardest things I had to realize.

:)

Another Long drawn out post, brought to you by: Bordom at work.

hahahaha  love the endnote: "Another Long drawn out post, brought to you by: Bordom at work:

it's so true! 

hehe...i'm doing the same thing.....

Ahh!  I was waiting for somebody to ask this question...

2 years ago I weighed 230 pounds.  1 year ago, I weighed 195 pounds.  Now, I weigh 137 pounds, aiming for 124 though I think I might look really sick at that weight so we'll see.  I'm somewhere between 5'3" and 5'4", I'm 23 years old and a runner and in the greatest shape of my life (I've run 25 miles altogether in the last 3 days and I'm really not even tired...)  However, I also dealt with an eating disorder last summer and lost a good bit of weight really fast.  The last 20 or so pounds have come off nice and slow since November, when I decided that I was going to kick the eating disorder.  It was a hard decision to make.  I HATE my eating disorder, but I don't have any control over it.  IT controls ME sometimes, and I can fight as hard as I can and still it wins... though lately I've been doing better and I've been steadily losing one pound/week thanks to exercise and my new thyroid drug cytomel, which is not only helping me lose the weight but is also helping me kick my depression.

Anyways... I'm trying to decide if what is left on my body is fat or loose skin.  I'm so confused... my friends say it's loose skin, from the way it just hangs there.  I have it on my belly and my inner thighs, maybe a bit on my underarms though not much because my arms are dinky and I'm trying to buff them up so I don't look so sickly.  This is going to sound gross... but what I have on my stomach is about 3 large handfuls of stuff that I can put in my hands and stretch off my body.  The same thing on my thighs... they're so flabby!  My thighs do not go with my lower legs, which don't have any excess skin, just lots of muscle that I've built from running.  Perhaps some of it is skin, and some of it fat?  I mean I know I'm in the healthy weight range for my height now, but I'm at the upper end of it so it could be fat... I dunno!  I've been overweight pretty much my entire life so this is quite a different body shape than I've had for a long time.  Will it go away or am I stuck with it?  I heard that since I'm kind of on the younger side that it will eventually adjust to my new body... anybody know anything about this?

Mel I'd like to know the answer too! Congrats on your weight loss and good luck with coming out of the ED. 

the flabby skin usually has quite a bit of fat left in it.  once you lose that fat you should try and workout those areas.  try to engage as many different muscles as you can.  over time, some of it will firm up.  maybe not all, maybe all, just keep working at it.

http://www.dumbbell-exercise.com/tighten-loos e-skin.htm

Thanks for the link Jewels. 

Your skin will go back to normal on your body...just its not something that will happen in a month or two (and not even in a year or two if you have lost a lot of weight).

Building muscle is replacing where the fat was with muscle, so it fills you out more... but if you have lost a lot of weight, you still just need time.

No reason to slow down your weightloss though. You can always wear clothes that cover up the problem spots while you wait for it to go back to normal.

The older you are, the slower your skin will stretch back also... so if you lose a TON of weight, you might be looking at a few years for things to go back (really depends on age, and then its still different from person to person...but again, its not something that happens even remotely fast).

I lost a LOT of weight (about 70lbs) at the age of 24 and my skin seemed to tighten up along with the weight loss, but I do have stretch marks, mostly around my hips and stuff.  The skin seems to be fine though.  I'm noticing this time though that my arms are getting wings, so I've started using my punching bag and I'm hoping that will take care of it!

Awesome! That makes me feel better

if that the folds of skin hanging off her body had absolutely no fat left underneath to diet away, every inch of this skin would hang in sheets as thin as folds of paper.

its not pure skin.

This is my biggest fear too.

I'm 21, and have been over weight ALLLL my life, and have 100lb to lose.

Two years ago i did lose 50lb, and my skin was fine, though i was always pinching it to make sure lol. (I did pretty much NO exercise)

Sadly i gained the 50lb back after leaving weight watchers, but this time im not skipping one meeting :)

I already have stretch marks so i dont really mind having a coulpe more.

I had a baby a couple years ago and am still working on losing that baby weight. I am at the same weight now that I was when I got pregnant, but I still need to lose about 30 pounds till I am at my goal weight.

But my stomach is a lot flabbier now, are you guys saying if I do a lot of stomach work it should go away eventually?

I hope so, I used to have a flat stomach, I hate wearing pants that fit, but my flabby tummy goes over the top!

If it makes the people with stretch marks feel better, skinny people get them too- I've always been on the thin side and I have them all over my butt and hips, from growing quickly as a teen. They faded to white by my late teens, but I'm now 32 and they're still there.

I bet lots of famous people have them as well ;-)

when i was 15 i was 240 pounds and i was fine with my weight till my freshman year,it was the name calling that got to me, kids are cruel,but they were my motivation to lose weight, but i lost 60 lbs by the time i was 16 and i had stretch marks on my hips and a little on my arms but i didnt really notcie any lose skin till i lost another 15 lbs, and now its really noticable on my belly, but with lots of weight training, it has tighten up a little and i asked a body builder about it and he said it will tighten up with time,especially cuz im young, but i dont think i can do anything about the stretch marks i have =(