How to get rid of flabby skin from pregnancy

[motivatedd]

I have a friend that had a baby about 2.5 years ago. She was and still is very thin.... I'm guessing about 5'6"-5'7" and somewhere between 115-120 lbs. So, when she was pregnant, her belly stuck straight out -- she didn't get wide at all. I guess it really stretched her skin out and made it flabby/wrinkly if you know what I mean. She's in really good shape but still has the flab of skin on her stomach. She said she does cardio about 4 times per week and ab workouts about 3x per week. Since she knows I work out, she asked me how to fix it. I told her that I wasn't sure and would ask around with some people that may have experience with this issue.


So, has anyone here had a baby and had to deal with the excess skin issue? How can she get rid of it?



Thanks!

[sonti]

2.5 years... surgery, probably.

I have loose skin on my belly too, but I'm only 7 weeks post-partum. Part of it is time, diet, exercise (building muscle rather than losing more weight), and then the rest of it is accepting that our stomachs may never look the same again. I also carried the baby completely in the front ("all baby") and unfortunately that is a side effect of it

[kfisherx]

I agree that it is probably a tummy tuck or mini-tummy tuck thing. Sorry but that's most likely the case.

[jentanne]

Well, cardio and ab workouts are not going to just magically target her belly fat. Is she skinny fat? If so she can probably lose a lot of it still with exercise. It is possible to be really thin and still have high body fat. I had/have kind of the same problem but the leaner I get the less noticible it is. If she starts eating clean and adding in some weight training she will probably be able to make it look a lot better at least without surgery. If you look at my before pics you may see what I mean. My pics from summer of last year are when I got really lean and it is almost invisible there.

[Amanda76]

I had a flab of skin on my stomach that was was wrinkly and saggy when I stood and would flop out of low rise anything when I bent over or rolled to the sides. Gross. I wouldn't say my lower abs are perfection now (still have stretch marks and I don't believe I've gotten lean enough for long enough for extra skin to even have a chance to shrink to hold fat back as well as it did when I was a teenager), but they improved immensely with nutrition and weight training (hardly any direct ab work, either!). I got down to 110 pounds running 8-10 miles at least every other day and placing a secondary focus on weight training (upper/lower body split, too many reps 3-4x a week...I did work abs more often back then too, since the lower was my ugliest bodypart). My kangaroo pouch didn't improve and actually looked worse in some ways (like I had melted!) as my weight got that low.

As I became more involved in a bodybuilding lifestyle (ditching the cardio, focusing on nutrition for fat control, focusing on compound lifts 3-5x a week and getting plenty of rest) my lower abs actually began to improve...to the point that I've got pictures with my stretch marks showing now. No way in hell you'd have seen that several years ago because in addition to stretch marks I had elephant skin. Now I'll actually show people my stretchmarks when they make comments like "I wish I looked like you...oh, but just wait until you have kids." Oh really? Well check this out...and let me tell you what this mess USED to look like! LOL And all this improvement took place about a DECADE after having my daughter (she's almost 16 now). Being as low in weight as your friend is, I doubt her goal is to get as HYOOGE as I want to, but there are lots of places she could stop along the way if she focused a bit on gaining lean mass over the next year instead of trying to shrink a belly on a body that doesn't have anything left to loose.

I have seen women with enough oddly loose skin (or fat and skin combo) hanging of a relatively lean body that I don't think anything other than surgery will fix it. So I'm not saying your friend may not end up having to see a surgeon. I'm just saying there are things she can do if she wants to avoid/can't afford that right now.

[motivatedd]

thanks for the replies.

Well, cardio and ab workouts are not going to just magically target her belly fat. Is she skinny fat? If so she can probably lose a lot of it still with exercise. It is possible to be really thin and still have high body fat. I had/have kind of the same problem but the leaner I get the less noticible it is. If she starts eating clean and adding in some weight training she will probably be able to make it look a lot better at least without surgery. If you look at my before pics you may see what I mean. My pics from summer of last year are when I got really lean and it is almost invisible there.

she's not skinny fat at all... she's very fit. if i had to guess, i'd say her bf% is 15 or so.

her diet is relatively clean, but she eats a LOT of carbs.

[motivatedd]

Amanda, I did mention that she could try to put on some lean mass in hopes that it would fill out the loose skin, but she wasn't too keen on the idea. she likes having a small frame and doesn't want to bulk.

i wonder if she would change her tone if it was the only way to get rid of the loose skin?

[Amanda76]

Amanda, I did mention that she could try to put on some lean mass in hopes that it would fill out the loose skin, but she wasn't too keen on the idea. she likes having a small frame and doesn't want to bulk.

i wonder if she would change her tone if it was the only way to get rid of the loose skin?

Probably depends on how she feels about looking more defined (in the long term) at all. Her overall body composition will change a little. As I said, taking the approach I took does not mean she's going to end up as "big" as I am now. I've been doing this for years with a goal of looking more and more like a bodybuilder. I could have stopped trying to build after my first bulk cycle and just maintained the look of my second progress picture...maybe just trying to lean up a bit beyond that if I wanted to.

Maybe ask what it is she likes about her small frame. My waist, for example, is still the size it was when I was 110 pounds so long as I'm under 130 pounds. I still wear the same size pants and skirts but I had to purchase different cuts in a few things because my glutes are rounder and make short skirts too short in the back and my legs have a bit more shape to them and things like skinny jeans won't fit over them without having the hips and waist look like a gaint bucket around me (good inch or two gap all the way around). Even after that first bulk, I had to purchase new "fitted" shirts because my shoulders and back had gotten to wide to be comfortable anymore (stretchy shirts still fit, but a little differently). Basically, I created more of an hourglass shape than a "straight up and down" shape...which to me, is a good thing. Of course, genetics plays a big role in how you'll grow. Just because I was so "successful" (in my eyes) during my first bulk doesn't mean she has the potential to develop in quite the same way I did over the same period of time. Or maybe she'd even get "better" results faster, having MORE potential than I do.

If she wouldn't mind looking more defined over time, gaining 5-10 pounds would likely do her good (none of us have seen her, but 115 is almost underweight for someone who is 5'6" and IS considered to be underweight for someone who is 5'7"). And then, of course, most of us here would probably hope that she ends up liking the results so much that she'd continue wanting to develop her body. LOL If she wants to look like a stick with "shapeless" limbs (I don't mean that in a bad way as that's what some people prefer), surgery may be her best route to avoid ending up with more definition anywhere she doesn't want it.

[jentanne]

she likes having a small frame and doesn't want to bulk.

LOL!! I wish it was that easy. I don't think I look bulky and I can deadlift and squat my bodyweight which I know is not saying much compared to what other women here can lift. Just saying let her know she is not going to get big man muscles.

From what you are saying though I would say the only option is surgery. If she really is that leaned out but still has the skin. Although I still stand by my skinny fat comment, you say she isn't but also say she does not have a lot of lean mass ??? Unless you have actually seen her naked, skinny fat can be hidden, lol

[SRWild]

I have a friend that had a baby about 2.5 years ago. She was and still is very thin.... I'm guessing about 5'6"-5'7" and somewhere between 115-120 lbs. So, when she was pregnant, her belly stuck straight out -- she didn't get wide at all. I guess it really stretched her skin out and made it flabby/wrinkly if you know what I mean. She's in really good shape but still has the flab of skin on her stomach. She said she does cardio about 4 times per week and ab workouts about 3x per week. Since she knows I work out, she asked me how to fix it. I told her that I wasn't sure and would ask around with some people that may have experience with this issue.


So, has anyone here had a baby and had to deal with the excess skin issue? How can she get rid of it?



Thanks!

I think I'm in a similar boat. I've never been one to diet or count calories, I always just go with whatever seems natural. I have two children and my youngest is three. I have loose skin/fat on my belly that hangs a little bit. I have never been overweight or lost a noticeable amount of weight except with my pregnancies.

I'm 5 ft 5 in tall. I hovered around 150 lbs before having the kids and after my first seemed to even out around 130 (Which seemed reasonable to me because I didn't work out much during the pregnancy and probably lost some muscle.) I don't remember what weight I hit with the first pregnancy but for the second one I was 201 lbs the day before they induced me. I haven't really weighed myself much since my second child. Right now, I'm 140 lbs.

I enjoy working out and tend to do a variety of things. I haven't really been able to run since having the kids but I still do different types of cardio. I like strength based things like pushups and situps too, and sometimes even mix them together (such as alternating one minute each between jumping rope and other exercises.) I don't really have a regular exercise regime, per se, I just do whatever I'm up for.

I'm not overweight and have good muscle tone. If you feel down through the loose stuff on my belly you can tell that my abs are strong. My friend who is into the whole calorie counting, weight watching types of things has calipers and checked me out. I'm not confident about the accuracy, but she says I'm 11% body fat.



A quick internet search suggests losing weight or building muscle to tighten up loose skin but I'm pretty much already good in that department. It also recommends vitamin C, good hydration, and lotion--perhaps I'll try those.

If anyone knows something that may help out, I would appreciate it.

[Jodie10]

I have a friend that had a baby about 2.5 years ago. She was and still is very thin.... I'm guessing about 5'6"-5'7" and somewhere between 115-120 lbs. So, when she was pregnant, her belly stuck straight out -- she didn't get wide at all. I guess it really stretched her skin out and made it flabby/wrinkly if you know what I mean. She's in really good shape but still has the flab of skin on her stomach. She said she does cardio about 4 times per week and ab workouts about 3x per week. Since she knows I work out, she asked me how to fix it. I told her that I wasn't sure and would ask around with some people that may have experience with this issue.


So, has anyone here had a baby and had to deal with the excess skin issue? How can she get rid of it?



Thanks!

Probably not as much flab as it is torn abdominals. My guess is that her abs tore away from the connective tissue and that is responsible for the sag. ie., there isn't much to hold the skin tight anymore, as the supportive structure underneath is compromised.

Has she checked herself for diastasis? Finger test is the standard method-or if she leans over and her stomach muscles 'hang' down, she has it. A good question for her OB is why they haven't checked her for it after the birth of her child....