Help me and my excess skin problem!!

[TunaMan]

ahhh hello, well i need help. I'm in highschool going to be a senior and it's summer time now. 9th grade i was a fat kid like 220 lbs. I hated it so i changed my view on life and started to man up and lost 44 pounds thru diet, running, and lifting. I was amazed and so were other people. I recieved the respect from all my peers and everything was life changing..girls, parties, school, everything! Anyways, i really want to continue what i started and get the ultimate body persay..but i have this excess skin problem on my stomach with stretch marks and i hate it. I just need some ideas from some people who know what to do..i workout almost everyday in the morning @ my highschool with my best friend...Intensely .. and cardio and jumproping and for the most part i eat really good and drink a lot of water. ive come along way but my ego is down with this whole stomach stuff. My friend has amazing abs and it makes me jealous AHHHH! help please thanks

[Darkhorse]

First of all, congrats for losing the weight instead of just accepting it!

I had a friend in the Marines who lost a ton of weight. He had the same problem you've got now..Lots of access skin hanging around the waistline. Only way I know to get rid of it is with surgery. There won't be nothing you can do naturally to make the extra skin disappear.

[ChinPieceDave667]

How long ago was all this weight loss? Also one thing you could do to help is work on thickening your back, especially lower. The new muscle you get will fill in the empty area that use to be fat. This will help a little but all around getting bigger will help fill in where the fat use to be.

[verbatimreturned]

I somewhat agree with 0311 on this topic, yes surgery is definatly an option depending on the amount of skin that was left there, but then I consider your age. You could maybe continue to grow and your body could take care of that excess skin?

[Eric3237]

Some of it could fill in and depending on age the skin MAY bounce back. But unless your muscles are the same shape as your fat there is still going to be pockets of loose skin no matter what.

[TunaMan]

im 17 years old and im about 6'0 180 or so..maybe a little lower.. but like i can't afford surgery? ahh...im trying to just accept it but comeon..your telling me surgery is the only way to go? it has to be beatable?..i hate the skin to the max it sucks...its hard to just accept it because i want abs like those guys on magazines and such..i've seen life stories where there big and fat and get abs...but they never say they've had surgery...i dont know really it sucks but i guess eating good makes me feel good, i have a really built/tight chest and love working out..i dont take supplements but should I? i dont know i need some help kinda..thanks for the info though

[Eric3237]

The reason the skin gets loose is because it loses some of it's elasticity. The longer your are overweight and the bigger the less likely that it will be able to regain it's tightness. It doesn't sound like you were overweight all that long. You're still very young also. Sooo, there is a chance that it will bounce back somewhat.

Look at it this way. Sometimes when women give birth they are left with loose skin. For many women it bounces back but for some women it doesn't or it takes longer. And some women seem to be left with hardly any loose skin in the first place. So nobody can predict exactly what will happen. Only time will tell but for many surgery is the only option. You say there are stretch marks so that doesn't really bode well. I know that sucks to hear.

[Eric3237]

Now I hesitate to do this because I don't want to give you false hope. But...

Sometimes what appears to be JUST loose skin is actually flabby skin. the difference is that when you say loose skin you assume that its just thin excess skin hanging there. But there can be some very stubborn subcutaneous fat that the body is very unwilling to shed. Also if you loose a lot of lean body mass while deperately shedding fat that can add to the flabby appearance. If you can put on enough lean body mass and get your body to burn more fat it's just possible that it can help the skin return to normal. But that's a BIG MAYBE. There are plenty of people out there willing to tell you anything if you give them some money but nobody can guarantee you.

[TunaMan]

yeah..thanks for all the help, its just sick to look @ ughhh like i can grab it and its just nasty apdkasdjs haha..its not horrible i guess though..i think im descent..its just i dunno i feel weird about it, but like when im with my friends and were chilling in the hot tub or w/e they say it looks fine, i constantly look in the mirror and judge my self and such and then i feel a bit happier just because i know it was 10 x worst before..but man do i ever wanna just get rid of it all and have 100% confidence taking off my shirt.. ahhh :/

[verbatimreturned]

Originally Posted by TunaMan

yeah..thanks for all the help, its just sick to look @ ughhh like i can grab it and its just nasty apdkasdjs haha..its not horrible i guess though..i think im descent..its just i dunno i feel weird about it, but like when im with my friends and were chilling in the hot tub or w/e they say it looks fine, i constantly look in the mirror and judge my self and such and then i feel a bit happier just because i know it was 10 x worst before..but man do i ever wanna just get rid of it all and have 100% confidence taking off my shirt.. ahhh :/

You are your worst critic, if your friends say its fine chances are it's completely fine. You should be proud of yourself from losing the weight. I'm sure with time it will shrink, your still young like me. Just keep on working out and see what happens