To Tummy Tuck or Not to Tummy Tuck

[tfpriest]

To Tummy Tuck or Not to Tummy Tuck:

My lower abdomen is severely pissing me off. I've lost 120 pounds now. I look at way better pretty much everywhere.

Lower Abdomen. Sucks.

Ive got another 20 lbs to lose, sure, but every pound I lose it gets worse.

Sucks so much.

Looks good when I can tuck it in my underwear... check out my examples.

Sucksssss. You have no idea. (Unless of course you got the same problem)

Its going to be at least a year until I can save 5,000 for surgery.

Is it worth it?

[infidel2]

To Tummy Tuck or Not to Tummy Tuck:

My lower abdomen is severely pissing me off. I've lost 120 pounds now. I look at way better pretty much everywhere.

Lower Abdomen. Sucks.

Ive got another 20 lbs to lose, sure, but every pound I lose it gets worse.

Sucks so much.

Looks good when I can tuck it in my underwear... check out my examples.

Sucksssss. You have no idea. (Unless of course you got the same problem)

Its going to be at least a year until I can save 5,000 for surgery.

Is it worth it?

holy **** congrats on the progress! Sorry I've got nothing but broscience for ya.

[Carpathia]

In your case it definately looks worth it. Good job on the weight loss.

[ejthomp]

Sounds like another goal to shoot for!

Lose 20 pounds, save $5k, get tummy tuck!!!

Hope it happens for you. You deserve it! Nice job.

[DSUP]

Eh. I'm sure it's frustrating but you're young and I would just keep going lean for a few years and see what happens. It may just go away on it's own and, if it does, you'll have saved yourself some money and not suffered the risks associated it the surgery. It will definitely take some time.

[buckstar0814]

Dude awesome man, just awesome!!! Must feel great.

I think If I was in your shoes I would start saving for the surgery. If it takes you a year then you can see how you progress with the skin tightening up. If it seems like it will on it's own then buy yourself something nice with the money, if it doesn't then if I were you I would get the surgery. It would drive me nuts to loose that much and have that constant reminder that it's not quite over yet.

Keep in mind this is just my opinion and I have a great need for instant gratification. The thing I would have to weigh out here is what is worse, the loose skin that may shrink up a little, but could take years, or the scar from the tummy tuck? Do lots of research and find before and after pics of people who have gone through what you have.

Good luck in whatever decision you make, either way, you have earned it!!

[chud50]

Eh. I'm sure it's frustrating but you're young and I would just keep going lean for a few years and see what happens. It may just go away on it's own and, if it does, you'll have saved yourself some money and not suffered the risks associated it the surgery. It will definitely take some time.

i've never heard of excess skin just disappearing.

[luv2pump]

Finance it and DO it.

[Fozzy13]

How long did it take to lsoe the weight? Did you start lifting as soon as you began to lose weight?

It doesnt look too bad...i used to be 250 and my lowest weight was 165, my main weight was 175 after i started lifting and recently went up to 190 cuz i got lazy but im working my way back down to 175, hopefully 170 but my body looks completely terrible cuz of loose skin and fat.


Also, i dont think you need to lose 20lbs..you look pretty lean. It looks like you need to build some mass though with a clean bulk.

[cheeseandrice]

if you are 22 your skin is still pretty damn elastic.. losing more weight WILL help! there is still fat under that skin. i agree with buck. keep cutting, keep saving the money. see where you are at in a year.

for right now, dont stress it.

[trance__dreamer]

yea...the last pic is EXACTLY what mine looks like. (you can't really see it in my pics, though.)
however, it's gone down to almost nothing; TWICE now.
but as i'm typing this, it's back. 1st to come back & last to leave.

i highly suggest keeping strong & continuing to go @ it. eventually, in theory, it SHOULD go down. i never thought mine would. but it did. as i said, it did twice now.

it's embarrassing as hell during sex. & it makes shopping for clothes a nightmare. but those 2 things just provide incentive for repeatedly busting ass in the gym.

if you wanna talk about it in a p.m. or something, jusy lemme know. i can probably help you feel better about it; eh? =)

[Champ3113]

srry for dumb question. does every 1 get that when losing weight? if not how do you get it?

[trance__dreamer]

srry for dumb question. does every 1 get that when losing weight? if not how do you get it?

most pple on here have it. the women, not that i've seen. but the guys...yea. (ahaha. i'm shaped like a guy. shaddup. xD) but yea...it makes me feel a bit better. but it's still horrible. however, i do love other parts of my body immensely! =)

http://bodyspace.bodybuilding.com/tr...n=progresspics <--- you can see the "f.u.p.a." thingy in a few of my pics from aug '08.

[BunkMoreland]

i've never heard of excess skin just disappearing.

elasticity. young people have a lot of it. it takes time. dont make any rash decisions until you've spent a year at your target weight. drink plenty of water, exfoliate your skin daily. maybe use a cream that has cocoa butter or aloe vera.

[cheeseandrice]

srry for dumb question. does every 1 get that when losing weight? if not how do you get it?

no. typically only when you lose ALOT of weight (100lbs +) or you are old and your skin is not as elastic as it used to be

[thedead]

While it is drooping, it kind of just looks like fat. The loose skin I've seen tends to look thinner. Also, trace's post seems to indicate that you might be able to tighten up once you lose that last bit of fat.

So, yeah, I generally agree that you should keep cutting while saving up for potential surgery. Good luck and keep us updated.

[Fozzy13]

elasticity. young people have a lot of it. it takes time. dont make any rash decisions until you've spent a year at your target weight. drink plenty of water, exfoliate your skin daily. maybe use a cream that has cocoa butter or aloe vera.

no. typically only when you lose ALOT of weight (100lbs +) or you are old and your skin is not as elastic as it used to be

most pple on here have it. the women, not that i've seen. but the guys...yea. (ahaha. i'm shaped like a guy. shaddup. xD) but yea...it makes me feel a bit better. but it's still horrible. however, i do love other parts of my body immensely! =)

http://bodyspace.bodybuilding.com/tr...n=progresspics <--- you can see the "f.u.p.a." thingy in a few of my pics from aug '08.

woa...did you have any type of surgery to remove xtra skin? you lost a lot of weight and dont look very saggy.

[DrBermant]

To Tummy Tuck or Not to Tummy Tuck:

My lower abdomen is severely pissing me off. I've lost 120 pounds now. I look at way better pretty much everywhere.

Lower Abdomen. Sucks.

Ive got another 20 lbs to lose, sure, but every pound I lose it gets worse.

Sucks so much.

Looks good when I can tuck it in my underwear... check out my examples.

Sucksssss. You have no idea. (Unless of course you got the same problem)

Its going to be at least a year until I can save 5,000 for surgery.

Is it worth it?

Congratulations on the weight loss so far!

Being patient can be of great value. Early surgery followed by further weight loss often results in more loose skin and drooping tissues. This can be a disaster.

My advice for my patients is to get to a weight / body fat they are comfortable with before considering surgery. Then the skin needs to adjust. It can take 6 to 18 months for loose skin equilibration after a gastric bypass. Then explore the compromises of Tummy Tuck vs. more extensive Body Lift Surgery. Loose skin of the chest also can be a factor that may warrant Male Mastopexy.

Until then Body Shaping Garments can offer a temporizing solution for contouring (while they are being worn.)

Hope this helps,

Michael Bermant, MD
Learn More About Tummy Tuck Abdominoplasty Surgery

[tfpriest]

How long did it take to lsoe the weight? Did you start lifting as soon as you began to lose weight?

It took roughly 3 years at a pace of roughly 40 lbs per year. Started different lifting routines approximately 1.5 years ago. Really started getting into it about 10 months ago.

Also, I believe I do still need to lose some weight. Im ~206 lbs right now and I think my BF is still around 20%. I'd prefer to get myself down to 185 @ 10-14% and see what it looks like then. Will probably take another 2-3 months depending on how bad I mess up on the holidays :P But, I'd prefer to start a clean bulk once I've reached my target BF%. I feel like if I started now I probably wouldnt be able to see the progress as well because of the layers of fat still covering.

I think I will start saving over the next 12-18 months and see what happens. I dont want to go through all of my 20's with the gross abdomen though, ya know. I'll throw some more pics up when I get down to ~10% in the next few months.

[ZidaneValor]

I would wait. 3 years of training (and 10 months of serious training) is not that long in the grand scheme (if for instance, you kept lifting until 50). The human body is a miraculous thing, and has the ability to heal itself.

I know you're young (so am I) and want to have a great body to show off for all of your progress, but just be patient. Even if it took 5-7 more years, you would still be in your late 20s. Plus, imagine how much more muscle you could use to fill it in the loose skin after 7 years.

Just give it time. You'll be fine before you know it.

[trance__dreamer]

The human body is a miraculous thing, and has the ability to heal itself.

...

Just give it time. You'll be fine before you know it.

^^ this! =)

[Tiffany_P]

Read this thread:
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=5349103

There seems to be some hope that by getting down to single digit fat levels, the skin problems correct themselves. Makes sense to me, since skin itself is actually quite thin, and the rest is just fat.

[DrBermant]

Read this thread:
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=5349103

There seems to be some hope that by getting down to single digit fat levels, the skin problems correct themselves. Makes sense to me, since skin itself is actually quite thin, and the rest is just fat.

Unfortunately it is not as simple as that. There is the surface skin, the connective tissue supporting the skin which contains the fat, and then the deeper structures like fascia covering the muscle.

Here is a Drawing of Normal Female Breast Anatomy showing the skin, fat, supporting structures.

After massive weight loss, the skin envelope and the supporting structures have stretched, sometimes so badly that the connective tissues have broken (stretch marks on the skin). Those with such issues can feel the difference in the elasticity of the stretch mark injured tissues compared to normal skin. This also occurs in the Superficial Suspension Fascia System (SFS).

Getting the fat in the SFS down to reasonable levels is a great first option. However, once reduced some still have a great deal of hanging tissues (skin and SFS). After Weight Loss.

Getting the fat to single digits may help for some, but not for others.Loose Skin Comes in Many Different Degrees.

I just saw some disgusting concentration camp video from World War II and those terrible corpse victims had no loose skin. They also had no muscle mass. During horrible starvation the body resorts to cannibalizing it own body parts (muscle, SFS, connective tissue) for survival. So eventually weight loss can lead to tightening of skin. Such starvation is devastating to the body and not a viable option.

Some do not need to go to such extremes to see skin shrinkage, yet many others are stuck with folds of flesh that are a major emotional burden.


Hope this helps,

Michael Bermant, MD
Learn More About Tummy Tuck Abdominoplasty Surgery

[ChrisWorrell]

srry for dumb question. does every 1 get that when losing weight? if not how do you get it?

it honestly depends on what you start at. Me personally I started losing weight at 5'10" and 210 pounds, so it isnt something i have had to worry about even 40 pounds down.

[RUDEMIX]

OP, I am in the same boat but during some research on this site I found some info that I am now trying out. Basically you go into an 8 week CLEAN bulk then a 4 week VERY CLEAN cut. I am just finishing my first bulk and getting ready to start the cut. The (Bro)Science behind this is that as you build muscle it will start pull the skin tighter. I may be way off base here but hell it is worth the work to see and also avoid any surgery.

[Mad_Mike]

OP, I am in the same boat but during some research on this site I found some info that I am now trying out. Basically you go into an 8 week CLEAN bulk then a 4 week VERY CLEAN cut. I am just finishing my first bulk and getting ready to start the cut. The (Bro)Science behind this is that as you build muscle it will start pull the skin tighter. I may be way off base here but hell it is worth the work to see and also avoid any surgery.

The muscle won't pull skin in. Muscle isn't physically attached to skin (not in a contractile sense anyways), the skin sits above, enveloping it. However, your bulk & cut will help things by filling in some of the loose regions with muscle. The nice thing about fat is that it is much more dense than muscle. If you gain 30 lbs of lean muscle, it will occupy a lot more space than the 30 lbs of fat you lost. The unfortunate thing is that losing 30 lbs is much easier and quicker than gaining 30 lbs of lean muscle.

[ZidaneValor]

The nice thing about fat is that it is much more dense than muscle. If you gain 30 lbs of lean muscle, it will occupy a lot more space than the 30 lbs of fat you lost. The unfortunate thing is that losing 30 lbs is much easier and quicker than gaining 30 lbs of lean muscle.

You have it backwards. Fat is less dense than muscle. Muscle density is 1.06 g/ml and fat density is (about) 0.9 g/ml.

30 pounds of fat will take up more space than 30 pounds of muscle.

[Tiffany_P]

Unfortunately it is not as simple as that. There is the surface skin, the connective tissue supporting the skin which contains the fat, and then the deeper structures like fascia covering the muscle.

Here is a Drawing of Normal Female Breast Anatomy showing the skin, fat, supporting structures.

After massive weight loss, the skin envelope and the supporting structures have stretched, sometimes so badly that the connective tissues have broken (stretch marks on the skin). Those with such issues can feel the difference in the elasticity of the stretch mark injured tissues compared to normal skin. This also occurs in the Superficial Suspension Fascia System (SFS).

Getting the fat in the SFS down to reasonable levels is a great first option. However, once reduced some still have a great deal of hanging tissues (skin and SFS). After Weight Loss.

Getting the fat to single digits may help for some, but not for others.Loose Skin Comes in Many Different Degrees.

I just saw some disgusting concentration camp video from World War II and those terrible corpse victims had no loose skin. They also had no muscle mass. During horrible starvation the body resorts to cannibalizing it own body parts (muscle, SFS, connective tissue) for survival. So eventually weight loss can lead to tightening of skin. Such starvation is devastating to the body and not a viable option.

Some do not need to go to such extremes to see skin shrinkage, yet many others are stuck with folds of flesh that are a major emotional burden.


Hope this helps,

Michael Bermant, MD
Learn More About Tummy Tuck Abdominoplasty Surgery

Thanks for your thoughts and expertise. With all due respect though, none of the people in the photos in your link are anywhere close to 10% bodyfat. Also, bodybuilders DO get to leanness levels of halocaust victims (I realize this may not be practical for everyone though). I would love to see a very lean person with loose skin who is in need of surgery. Do you have any before and after photos of someone with <10%? Also, since the OP is not that lean yet, isn't it worth it for him to try getting to that level before resorting to surgery?

[DrBermant]

Thanks for your thoughts and expertise. With all due respect though, none of the people in the photos in your link are anywhere close to 10% bodyfat. Also, bodybuilders DO get to leanness levels of halocaust victims (I realize this may not be practical for everyone though). I would love to see a very lean person with loose skin who is in need of surgery. Do you have any before and after photos of someone with <10%? Also, since the OP is not that lean yet, isn't it worth it for him to try getting to that level before resorting to surgery?

Yes, I do encourage my patients to lose weight to what they are comfortable with first, let the skin adjust, before considering surgery. Most of my patients do not want a body fat that low. The most common comment is "I tried a few additional pounds of weight loss, but did not like the look nor how it felt." There are quite a few with that low a body fat on my website.

This patient was in the low teens body fat, but still was losing weight. This shows the problem of the loose skin on the chest, which was that patient's major concern.

Yes, many of my bodybuilders with gynecomastia have very low body fat, some of them (not posted on site) also lost a great deal of weight. However, not all patients give me permission to use their photographs. Others I may yet get a chance to post.

Hope this helps,

Michael Bermant, MD
Learn More About Tummy Tuck Abdominoplasty Surgery

[Tiffany_P]

This patient was in the low teens body fat, but still was losing weight. This shows the problem of the loose skin on the chest, which was that patient's major concern.

Thanks, that's very helpful (and very unfortunate for whoever has that condition).