Building muscle from scratch?

[RickS44]

Hey, was wondering if you guys can help me out with something? Didn't really know where to post this but I think this is the right section. I'll fill you in on my background.

Around a year ago I used to be excessively over weight, 26 stone to be exact (364 pounds). Long story short, I finally succeeded in losing weight and sticking to it. I now weigh 13.12 (194). So overall I've lost around 12 stone (170 pounds) of weight and I'm still losing.

Now, here's my problem. I imagined with losing all this weight there would be some problems with my skin and it's elasticity. I'm 22 years old so hopefully that helps with this type of thing. It's not in terrible condition but it's not good either.

So, I've been reading up on loose skin and I found this article on it. The guy claims that until you build back the muscle you will have lost when losing weight your skin will not restore to it's natural position. So I was wondering if there was any truth to this?

Here is the article http://www.bodyfatguide.com/LooseSkin.htm

I've been lifting weights now for about 2 months to help in losing weight and hopefully maintain whatever muscle mass I have left.

I'm planning on losing about another 20 pounds. Then I want to start building muscle. Any advice on what type of training program would be right for me and what I want to achieve would be really helpful. I'm basically looking to build up muscle so that I can carry on losing the rest of the stored fat on my body I.e the fat stored in my stomach and chest.

Thanks for your help, it is MUCH appreciated!

- Rick.

[RickS44]

Can anybody help with this?

[Bnizzle163]

I'd go with a starting strength program such as Rippetoe's

Use the search function towards the top of this screen or look at one of the stickies.

[Bnizzle163]

Building muscle will definately only help.

[Radok]

Gaining a good 30-40 pounds of muscle will definitely help some. Still doesn't cancel out 170 pounds of loss though. On the bright side, I have them on my inner thighs because my legs have grown a ****load from squatting, and I can hardly see them at all anymore. When they start they look bad, but then after I stay the same size for a while they seem to fade. Maybe yours will fade away some.