Exercise and excess skin...

[southernrootslbc 0]

I'm getting banded this Friday, and I'm kinda freaked out about the thought of all that skin just hanging around. I'd really rather not have PS; although, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. What I'm wondering about is how successful exercise is in treating excess skin. I've done lots of research on it. Some people swear that if you exercise enough the skin will eventually shrink; while others say that you'd have to exercise enough to completely replace the fat with muscle in order for you not to have excess skin.

I was wanting to hear it straight from people who've gone through it. I know that it depends on a lot of factors (age, genetics, etc.), but have you guys had any luck shrinking your skin through exercise? If so, how much and what kinds of exercise are you doing?

[Cindy C 150]

All the exercise in the world will NOT get rid of the skin! I was in the gym 5-6 days every week for almost 6 months in prep for my Tummy Tuck. He still removed a whopping 10 pounds of skin!

[njm 0]

I think it depends on you. Genetics, how much excess, etc. I had surgery on Wed, 8/25/10 and started at Curves the following Monday. At first I just wanted to develop the habit of going to workout, so I took it easy. I go a minimum of 3 times a week. I need to lose 121 pounds and have lost 76 of them. I am 56 today. I have NO hanging skin. I lost fast up front, but now try to keep it a 1 pound a week average.

I guess I would say, exercise, lose slowly, eat right and hope for the best.

[Jess55 97]

I really hope exercise can play a factor. I do 6 kickboxing classes a week and am losing slowly so I hope that helps. I'm 28 so I hope I have age on my side too. I'm not sure though I've been obese for over 10 years so not sure if my skin has had it. Time will tell, still have a ways to go

[CrazyKoKo 1]

For me no amount of exercise in the world mattered when it came to my stomach. My arms and legs seemed to shrink down in proportion with the rest of my body.. but all the extra skin on my lower stomach just hung there.. ick, it was so not pretty. Having two pregnancies and c-sections may have also been a factor in the extra skin after the weight loss.. I'm not real sure. What I am sure of is that I'm so, so, so happy I got the tummy tuck.. totally worth it!!

[Darlean6710 0]

I think it depends on you. Genetics, how much excess, etc. I had surgery on Wed, 8/25/10 and started at Curves the following Monday. At first I just wanted to develop the habit of going to workout, so I took it easy. I go a minimum of 3 times a week. I need to lose 121 pounds and have lost 76 of them. I am 56 today. I have NO hanging skin. I lost fast up front, but now try to keep it a 1 pound a week average.

I guess I would say, exercise, lose slowly, eat right and hope for the best.

[Darlean6710 0]

I think it depends on you. Genetics, how much excess, etc. I had surgery on Wed, 8/25/10 and started at Curves the following Monday. At first I just wanted to develop the habit of going to workout, so I took it easy. I go a minimum of 3 times a week. I need to lose 121 pounds and have lost 76 of them. I am 56 today. I have NO hanging skin. I lost fast up front, but now try to keep it a 1 pound a week average.

I guess I would say, exercise, lose slowly, eat right and hope for the best.

This is en

[Darlean6710 0]

I think it depends on you. Genetics, how much excess, etc. I had surgery on Wed, 8/25/10 and started at Curves the following Monday. At first I just wanted to develop the habit of going to workout, so I took it easy. I go a minimum of 3 times a week. I need to lose 121 pounds and have lost 76 of them. I am 56 today. I have NO hanging skin. I lost fast up front, but now try to keep it a 1 pound a week average.

I guess I would say, exercise, lose slowly, eat right and hope for the best.

This is encouraging as I am 55 and beginning to see sagging in arms and knees. I know i need to add resistance training and this message will get me goning as I am only doing a 4 mile daily walk. Thanks for the uplifting info.....hope it works for me as it did you. Thanks

[Mahinder Kumar 0]

You can tone and tighten your skin with exercise, but only to a certain extent. Skin is elastic, just like a rubber band. If you apply tension to it, it will stretch (like a pregnant woman's belly skin). If you release the tension, the rubber band (and skin) will contract back to it's original state. But if you stretch it too fast, or too much, it will eventually break. When skin "breaks", you get stretch marks - that means the skin has lost its elasticity.

[mousek 4]

5 foot 3 inches, 135 when got pregnant, gained 35 pounds. some years ago when i got back to my high school weight at the age of 39 120 pounds, stomach was hanging, stretched skin from when i had my baby in 1991. If i really want to have a great 25 year old body, i'm now 47 i would have to have a Tummy Tuck. all other parts of the body at my 120 weight were stunning, but not the stomach.

[kylady1966 0]

I'm getting banded this Friday, and I'm kinda freaked out about the thought of all that skin just hanging around. I'd really rather not have PS; although, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. What I'm wondering about is how successful exercise is in treating excess skin. I've done lots of research on it. Some people swear that if you exercise enough the skin will eventually shrink; while others say that you'd have to exercise enough to completely replace the fat with muscle in order for you not to have excess skin.

I was wanting to hear it straight from people who've gone through it. I know that it depends on a lot of factors (age, genetics, etc.), but have you guys had any luck shrinking your skin through exercise? If so, how much and what kinds of exercise are you doing?

Exercise helps...... It all depends on your age, the older you are the harder it is to reduce the skin. Exercising does help greatly but not a 100% fix just like Laqpband........ Good Luck

[Jachut 487]

The thing you ahve to remember is that if you're going to have excess skin - you ALREADY have it. That skin is already stretched out, those collagen bonds are already broken, you cant undo it with exercise, creams, slower weight loss, nothing. Its just down to genetics and luck. a good clue is stretch marks, if you have them, that skin isnt really going to snap back. If you're stretch mark free like I was, then you have some hope, but at 43, although I dont have an excess skin "problem", my body would look better and tighter if I'd never become overweight. But I'll take it, it sure beats still being obese. Try not to stress about it, none of us have perfect bodies and I think the key to happiness is learning to love what you have.

Exercise WILL give your body a better shape and create nice muscle that will fill out the skin a bit better though, we've all seen those crash diet after pictures where people have lost 500lb in 4 weeks and look like they've walked out of a concentration camp. That's the look you get when you lose the wrong sort of weight - too much muscle, proper diet and exercise, plenty of Protein, enough carbs for energy, some cardio and some strength training will preserve your muscle as much as possible (its unavoidable to lose some muscle with weight loss) and keep you shapely rather than scrawny.

[Acadia 20]

As I posted in another thread:

Skin is a living organ. It responds to what you do to it and to the tissues around it.

Losing weight slowly (2-3 lbs a week), weight lifting (building muscle), cardio (losing fat and providing oxygen to muscles), eating well, drinking a lot of Fluid - all help your skin to regain its elasticity and shrink up.

It's not a guarantee you'll lose all the extra skin, but it will minimize it dramatically.

Weight lifting and muscle building will be your best and most consistent option.

• Around one week out from surgery start walking regularly.
• Around three weeks out start body resistance exercises (squats, lunges, wall pushups, leg lifts, etc.).
• Around six weeks out you should be healed enough for heavy weights (if you can carry a 30 lbs bag of groceries without issues you shouldn't be lifting 5 lbs weights) - lift the heaviest weight you can for 8-10 reps. Don't work the same body part more than twice in a 7 day period, and never within 48 hours of each other. When you lift weights you tear the muscle, those 2-3 days off give the muscle time to heal and get bigger. If you do the same workout every day the muscle never has time to actually heal. You can also start pushups, situps, the plank, etc. now. You should feel good enough to do those.
• Add in heavy cardio, interval training, arc trainer, running, etc. But never do cardio before weights, always after weights, and never more than an hour.
• And consume Protein BEFORE your workout, at least 30 minutes prior. It will give your body the energy it needs to consume at the end of your workout after you've burned through the fat it can use - otherwise your body will start to consume muscle and you don't want that.
• If you aren't sure what to do, head to a gym and talk with someone there who looks like what you want to look like. They will share what they know with you. Don't be embarrassed, they'll appreciate that you are making a change.