Has anyone rid themselves of loose skin WITHOUT surgery?

[ianmagus]

Hey guys, my name's Ian. I'm not going to go into full details on my background because I already have that information covered in my profile information and some journal entries on here, but long story short, I've lost ~120 lbs. since my heaviest and currently I'm in the best shape of my life. While I feel great and have really transformed my body, I'm still somewhat insecure about my appearance for one reason: the striae (stretch marks) and loose skin around my lower stomach area.

I spent some time on the forums when I first joined in 2010 but left after a few months and only recently came back to the site for reference and as a way to track my progress. During that time I checked out a lot of the posts in this forum and in an endomorph thread on one of the other forum categories on the site and picked up a lot of useful tips. Some of the tips I followed up on were specifically related to the matter of losing loose skin and I also followed up on this information off-site. The typical advice related to getting rid of or preventing loose skin was a) not to lose weight too fast, b) to use a brush or loofah sponge to scrub any affected areas regularly to get rid of dead skin and promote the growth of new skin cells, c) to stay hydrated and of course d) to exercise regularly and work on toning the area. Some information said it takes up to 2 years for loose skin to tighten back up. Other information claimed in some cases there was no way to rid yourself of loose skin, the only way to combat it was to rid yourself of as much body fat as possible in an affected area and while building muscle there as well, that the skin would essentially remain loose but would tighten up if the muscle in that area grew to fill the same surface area that used to hold fat.

Besides losing the weight, the one thing I've always wanted was to get ripped six-pack abs. When I was a lot heavier but lifting, I had rather large biceps, a wide chest, broad shoulders and huge quads and calves (in comparison to my current size), so although I've trimmed down and lost muscle in those areas in the process, I'm not too worried about being able to bulk those areas back up again. I haven't had much of an issue with loose skin around my arms because I've filled in enough muscle in those areas so the skin covers roughly the same amount of surface area it did at my heaviest when I had virtually no upper body strength. My legs are much smaller now, but I still wouldn't consider them small in comparison to the average guy my height and weight, as they were huge tree trunks before. I cut back on training my legs intentionally because my legs were so disproportionate to my upper body and torso. If I needed to fill in that area, I could.

It was suggested in dozens of articles that people only have a big issue with loose skin if they lose weight rapidly (more than 1-2 lbs. a week), but I lost 120 pounds over 7 years, losing about 20 pounds a year. The math may not seem to add up right, but that's because I yo-yo'd a bit between 150 and 170 for about two years as I was working double overtime shifts for months at a time at my temp job with SCEA during this period. I'd go through periods of about 3 months of non-stop work from 9AM to as early as 5 AM the next day, so there was literally no time for me to visit the gym (it only made matters worse that I was stuck sitting my ass in a chair testing games surrounded by boxes of donuts, cookies and pizza with a McDonald's as the only option nearby that was open during dinner breaks). Regardless of that story, although 120 lbs. is a lot of weight to lose, I did it gradually, so if the skin was going to tighten up, it should have been doing so gradually by now but although the fat has gone away, the lower stomach hasn't tightened up much at all, it's still about as loose as it was 5 years ago after I had lost 40 pounds, it just droops lower now.

What confuses me is that the trainer that implied loose skin was only a problem if you didn't put muscle back into the area didn't say a thing about the stomach area. It is probably physically impossible for me to ever fill in that area with even half as much muscle as there was fat around my waist. I've lost a lot of fat in that area and I still have more I can lose, but it's discouraging because as much as I have lost, the skin in that area is not tightening up. In fact, it looks progressively worse the more fat I burn off, getting more and more droopy like the skin of a Shar-Pei. It's frustrating because one of the main reasons I lost the weight was to increase my sex appeal to women and now it's a total wrinkled mess down there. I've been following all the tips that were suggested and I've been toning that area daily for the past year or so. It's giving my upper abs definition but it's not tightening the lower stomach area. I'm not seeing a flattened six-pack, I'm seeing a four-pack with a two-pack of raisins.

I know surgery is always an option, but part of this whole journey for me has been great because I did it all naturally just by changing my diet and gradually increasing the amount and intensity of my exercise, no lap band stomach surgery. Also, I don't have great insurance coverage at the moment and I'm also a hemophiliac (blood-clotting disorder), so surgery is generally a last-ditch effort (had to cancel removal operations for both my tonsils and all my wisdom teeth because doctors felt it could be too risky without additionally paying for RIDICULOUSLY expensive clotting agents). Is there anyone on the forums that has gone through similar large weight loss in the past and finally had the skin around that area tighten back up WITHOUT getting surgery and if so, how low did you have to get your body fat percentage down to and how long did it take for that area to tighten up? Any tips on this area? If it were my arms or legs I wouldn't care, but as the problem area is my swimsuit area, it's going to be front and center every time I get romantic with a woman and I already know it looks unattractive without them having to tell me.

(PS: I could use some help getting my rep back up...2 years ago I made the poor choice of agreeing with another member who suggested it was about time the US concluded our time in Iraq while that mess was still going on and there were some angry veterans who apparently disagreed and negged me hardcore, so that explains the huge negative rating and why I left the forums for a while. I'm not some dumbass troll and I'm more than happy to share any fat loss tips with those who ask. Thanks.)

[justmightbecraz]

At 5'11" and 141 lbs it's seriously time to bulk. I know that doesn't really answer your loose skin question, but honestly adding some mass back will help matters out, even in the lower abdominal region if you're including squats and deadlifts in your lifting sessions due to the strain it gives your abdominals and obliques to do their job of holding you upright with all that weight. You've done a great job getting rid of fat, but if you're really serious about getting everything looking good, replacing some of the space you've lost with a bit of muscle can only help.

[RRJ]

I only checked out your pictures after I read this and I was surprised at how little loose skin you have. Honestly, many people, including myself, have it considerably worse than you do. You are a very low weight for your height. I'm the same height as you and wouldn't dare consider dropping to 140 lbs. Keep in mind, you don't have to fill up your lower abs with the same amount of muscle as was fat. When growing your shoulders, traps, chest, back, etc, it will pull on the skin from elsewhere. You look like a case that could eventually end up with a six pack. You shouldn't expect rippling abs, previously obese or not, at the weight you are. You still have years of hard work ahead of you, I would suggest bulking. You should aim for something more like 170 lbs when lean.

Here is someone that was 260 lbs and your height, so he would have had to lose 120 lbs to get to 140. But instead he is lean at 195: http://bodyspace.bodybuilding.com/dkf10425/

Good luck, you look much better than you are giving yourself credit for.

[ianmagus]

Well, all the loose skin I have is around the area that's clothed in my picture. I don't think anyone wants to see it if they don't have to hahaha

Yeah, I know I need to bulk back up...I was at 180-200 for about a year and a half, was getting some nice size in my upper body area but couldn't get rid of my gut at the same time. I started dating a girl that wanted me to start working on my abs, said she didn't care for muscles, so I switched my focus. I know a lot of people here probably would never want to sacrifice their muscle, but I was willing to do it to cut out the fat around my waist by doing a lot of HIIT cardio. Unfortunately when I worked those long hours I lost a lot of my muscle while gaining weight back around my waist, but I'm not super worried about it, I've had the big arms before and I finally lost my gut. It will take time to bulk back up, but I'm an easy gainer, especially if I'm not watching the amount of calories I eat per day. I wanted to get down to about this size so I could build my way back up while making sure I kept the gut and love handles off...just wasn't getting the fat loss results I wanted when I was trying to keep the muscle bulk in my upper body.

[ianmagus]

hey ian ..
how are u bro ..
i checked a post of urs regarding loose skin ..
it was pretty old ..
i am guessing if u already got rid of it ..

if yes .. what was the procedure ?

i will be thankfull to u ... please help me out with this ..

thanks ..

I did manage to fix the problem temporarily, but without some sort of permanent "tummy tuck" surgery, it's likely to be something I'll have to fight against forever.

The problem is that with the abdominal area and obliques, we all want those areas to be lean and cut, we're not looking to fill them out with muscle like our chest or arms because we don't want our gut to stick out. When we get heavy and obese to the point that our skin starts to noticeably stretch and we get stretch marks, once we burn fat, the elasticity of the skin remains. It gets more elastic every year as we age, too, so it takes longer to tighten up. Most articles I've read say it takes as long as 2-3 years maintaining a constant slimmer shape for the skin to tighten up around the areas that have stretched out. If we add muscle back in that area, like in our arms, the skin won't have to tighten naturally, it will fill back out, just with muscle instead of fat. For our stomach and lower back, since everyone tones those areas instead of bulking them (even pro bodybuilders go for definition over size in the stomach area), the skin still hangs loose as long as we have extra body fat in that area.

It really sucks...if my friend maintains a size of 150 lbs and 15% body fat for 10 years straight, but I start at 250 and 30% body fat at year one and manage to get down to 150 lbs and 15% body fat by year 10, we'll both be the same weight and carry the same amount of body fat, but I'll look more out of shape because my skin won't be as tight. I might even get down 150 with 10% body fat, have more muscle mass and less fat, have my body be tighter and more cut in my arms and chest, but still have a little more droop in my gut even though I'm in better shape. The skin is still loose enough around my stomach that ANY extra fat will form little rolls in that area. They won't be as large as they would be if I had more body fat, but the skin is elastic enough that it still forms "mini rolls" and ripples with whatever extra fat is available rather than keeping smooth like my friend.

I went on the Kris Gethin 3 month DTP plan and followed it as strictly as possible and it helped a lot. I finally got my body fat percentage down to single digits and by the end I finally started to get the six-pack definition I wanted. However, even after getting down to about 9% body fat, there were STILL some unattractive little clumps of fat on my lower abs that I know would have been flat and smooth had I never been heavy in the first place. None of it was in areas that anyone would ever see unless they saw me totally naked (it was all around the crotch area under the swim trunks), but it was frustrating because the diet plan of the 3 month program isn't something people are meant to stick to for long amounts of time. To get the results, you need to cut out more carbs and fat from your diet than the body naturally needs...it works, but it takes a toll on your intensity levels and brain function by the end and you're meant to start carb-loading and bulking back up again when you finish the 3 months. You get cut, but by the end you usually can't lift as heavy as you used to and you gain definition but lose size. This can be an ego blow.

The worst part is about 3 weeks later, when I was working on regaining some of my size and lifting heavier again with fewer reps, I strained a muscle in my shoulder doing seated behind-the-neck shoulder presses because the press area at my gym doesn't have a bench that raises a full 90 degrees to safely support seated lifts. I tried to train a few more days after that but it was too painful and affected all my upper body lifts, so I had to take a month and a half off training upper body to let the area recover (it still hasn't fully recovered). Since I can't train lower body all the time, I was training less than usual and also adding carbs and fat back into my diet, I started to gain fat again and the first place it went was right back to my stomach and lower back. My stomach area is tighter than it was before, but not completely tight. I wanted to fix the problem so I could start working on gaining mass after leaning out so much, but it looks like I'll have to cut a bit more to get rid of that stomach fat again.

If you're trying to get rid of loose skin all over the body, just keep getting your body fat percentage down lower and lower every week and then once you get to a point where you're happy (which might not be until you hit like 5-6% and have no extra little bits of fat under the skin to form even mini-rolls). For the abs specifically, do more core work where you have pressure actively placed on your stomach...like doing Hyperextensions with your stomach resting on a medicine ball instead of a Roman Chair. The pressure on the stomach forces the skin tight right up to your organs, pushing the extra fat off to the sides. I found this method of training abs while forcing the skin as tight as possible in that area more effective for immediately creating definition and breaking up large portions of body fat stored as "fat rolls" than when I did the same amount of reps doing crunch movements, where the fat was allowed to rest on top of the abs as I contracted. Practice "vacuum" poses frequently by sucking in your gut for as long as you can hold it to keep your stomach tight rather than letting it sit loose and relaxed all the time. You can do this anywhere, especially while sitting around watching TV, playing games or driving. It's not the most comfortable, but unlike muscle and bone, most of the fat on your body isn't required to congregate in one area more than another for any functional purpose, it just settles in the areas of least resistance. It's not going to "burn" fat away from those areas, but it temporarily forces it elsewhere. The more active resistance you place on your abs, the less time your extra fat will be allowed to settle there and it will help you improve your posture and increase your flexibility/mobility around your pelvis. Practice stretching a lot, too. A lot of people can't touch their toes because they're stuck in a vicious cycle: they have too much fat around their gut so it affects their flexibility when bending at the waist. In turn, they never stretch regularly because they're embarrassed that they can't stretch all the way. They never increase flexibility in that area and force their fat stores to get out of the way. I used to only be able to bend to touch slightly below my knees for the longest time. I started to stretch every day and now I can finally effortlessly touch my toes without cheating. It just took time.

Also, try supplementing with yohimbine if you don't already because for some reason it actually works to stimulate the body to release more fat from the lower abs, just be careful because it tends to get you feeling a bit wired. It also makes you really horny while it's in your system, which sounds fun, but I found there are times that it's really not that enjoyable, when you're actually trying to work or study and your hormones keep distracting you. Plus, keep hitting that cardio for about an hour a day (you can split it into 30 minutes and two different times) and really blast it out as much as you can when you do it, don't worry about staying in "the fat burning zone". Even though you're burning a higher percentage of carbs than fat doing high-intensity cardio, in the long run you'll still probably burn more calories from fat at a high-intensity than you would going less-intense because you'll be burning far more calories as a whole.

Hope this helps, I'll post this up in the thread, too and maybe you and whoever else this helps can shoot me some reps in return. Thanks.