Excess skin!!!

[crankle2004]

I dont know, he said that sit ups help build muscle and it will make your stomach stick out. Not sure how true that is....My aunt did situps all the time and her stomach never stuck out, in fact she almost had a six pack.... ensive

[BikerGoddess]

Situps alone won't make your tummy flat or take up excess skin (based on personal experience and from what I've read). Full situps are considered bad for the back. Crunches or pilates are thought to be more effective.

Building muscle may temporarily increase bulk because muscles grow faster than you can lose fat, but it doesn't make you look fatter. And if you keep doing it, you'll look way better toned than if you just lost weight.

Laura

[Sprocketjones]

Of course there are absolutely tons of rumors about excess skin, how to get rid of it and where to get it cut off...

1. You can't excercise away skin - you can firm the muscles underneath, you can build the muscles underneath, but you can't excercise it away.

2. The amount of shrinkage of actual skin is fairly determinant of how you've treated your skin and your hereditary predominance...some people have really elastic skin - some people tanned most of their lives

I can't vouch for this so I might just be adding to the skin rumormill...but I was told that if you have a lot of excess skin after dramatic weight loss that it takes a good 5-7 years to notice enough sloughing that it's tighter...which is gross to think of.

The people I know personally, have all decided they went through the pain of losing it, they'll go through the paying to get rid of it.

-Stacie

[Donnie]

I know where you're coming from on that one. My daughter weighed in at 11pounds 11 ounces. My tummy (and my bladder) have never been the same! I've lost 49 really fast and I have a really horrible hanging basket. At least now it hangs down and not out.
I have pretty oily skin and I have really started working out, so I am hoping for the best!
I also started mowing our acre by hand instead of the riding mower.
Feel the burn!

[Spookybell]

If you do sit-ups or crunches, suck in your gut as if you were trying to pull your belly button to your spinal cord. Keep good posture as you do each exercise. This will build your abs to the correctly inverted and attractive muscle. If you don't pull your belly in, your abs will build in a protuding form. That would be a bummer. I often see women at my gym with a great body but a gut that makes them look a bit swayed back. My trainer said it's from doing crunches wrong. Good luck!

[txred]

The right idea is exercise, especially with the rapid weight loss. I am 25 and preparing ---hoping to run a 10K. Having an athletic past, I am in the process of lossing 50+ pounds and the issue of loss skin and stretch marks come up all the time. Especially as women our bodies change all the time, but i do know when I lost 20+ pounds before, exercise was key. That seems to be the problem when people loose a lot of weight fast and not have exercise, loss skin will appear. It is just not about the weight loss, it is about being healthy believe me, being skinny and unhealthy is not worth it. :nod

To get the stomach muscles back in shape try 45 seconds of crunches see how many you can do in those seconds. Break for 30 and repeat crunches another 45 seconds. To properly do a crunch pretend you have an orange under chin, hands are behind you head, elbows straight( make sure the elbows stay level with your head). Bring the crunch by pushing the back bone to the floor, that is how you know your proper doing the crunch and you WILL feel it in your stomach. Try to do a 2-3 sets by doing different versions of crunches, like propping your feet on a chair, legs crossed in the air, or regular crunches.

All of these suggestions are just from my experience, but have seen results from.

txred
250.4/245/sz 10-12

[mklap1]

I have stretch marks on my stomach and legs, plus cellulite on my legs that I don't think I can do anything about. I've had 3 kids. That said, I'm showing a lot of muscle definition (not a six pack, but you can see some muscle) since I've been exercising my abs regularly. So I think exercise helps improve the appearance although I don't think my skin will ever be what it was....it's a little deflated and wrinkly when I bend over.

I do think people have more skin issues when they lose quickly. Going slower gives the skin a chance to catch up to the changes in body fat.

Melissa