loose skin

bigmark3d · Jul 11, 2008

ok i had a quick question. I use to be really fat and high in bf, and I have a bunch of stretch marks on my chest, shoulders, lats, and stomach, and some on my legs. No matter how hard i try to lose bf some of that skin never tightens up. did i stretch my skin to far from the muscle? also is there any way to fix this. I asked a doctor one time and he said lipo but he was a general doctor didnt really think he knew what he was saying. the only way it looks better is if i fill out and bulk up, but I want a lean look. any insight would help.

PHIL HERNON · Jul 11, 2008

YES

bigmark3d said:
ok i had a quick question. I use to be really fat and high in bf, and I have a bunch of stretch marks on my chest, shoulders, lats, and stomach, and some on my legs. No matter how hard i try to lose bf some of that skin never tightens up. did i stretch my skin to far from the muscle? also is there any way to fix this. I asked a doctor one time and he said lipo but he was a general doctor didnt really think he knew what he was saying. the only way it looks better is if i fill out and bulk up, but I want a lean look. any insight would help.

YOU NEED TO HAVE IT CUT OFF.........PLASTIC SURGERY

phatkid77 · Jul 11, 2008

id like to see pics...this too worries me big time, im getting really nice and lean, but around my belly button is still holdin on...getting smaller, but im scared to death of REALLY bad loose skin, abit i may be able to deal with, im HOPING there is still 15lbs of fat there (sad eh? lol) but i do have stretch marks so, who knows...guess ill find out on the stage...

however, if its not too bad, i think there is a mini tuck, where they dont need to tighten the muscles i think..

phats

maldorf · Jul 11, 2008

PHIL HERNON said:
YOU NEED TO HAVE IT CUT OFF.........PLASTIC SURGERY

Yeah. Like in a tummy tuck, they end up cutting a band of skin kinda like a belt around your torso and then suturing the skin above it to the skin below it. Stretching the skin tight again. Pretty nasty scar from what ive seen.

oldfella · Jul 11, 2008

Over time your skin will kind of shrink back a bit. But if you have an excess it will never tighten back up. Phil is correct, the only remedy for this is Plastic Surgery. Maldorf is also correct, you will have a permanent scar runing the circumference of your waist line. Although modern procedures have improved dramatically since the bad old day of lipo and tummy tucks there will still be a scar.

Mal I have actually seen a couple of women in my gyms over the years with this scar. Not pretty is al I will say! Buit the new ways of doing things is much better and the scar is really thin and can be overlooked.

abadseal · Jul 11, 2008

Surgery's about it.

I've worked with many plastic surgeons on abdominoplasty's and liposuction and the #1 thing you can do if you're considering getting the procedure done is get the lowest bodyfat achievable first. A lot of people that are having the surgery done feel they can pig out the last weeks before the procedure and their results aren't that great because the surgeon had trouble estimating how much to take off. Get nice and lean that way there is no doubt about the proportions that need to be excised. And all in all it's nothing really. The scar is dependent on how much is to be taken off and from exactly what areas but usually can be hidden pretty well or at least faded nicely with tanning.

tomuchgear · Jul 11, 2008

quick fix that will help a little coco butter. same stuff girls use while prego to prevent it as much as possible. cocoa and shea butter can help. not going to make this huge amazing diffrence but to my understanding it does help. my wife, and i have had two children she has not stretch marks to speak. she used a product from bath and body works, and palmers. palmers you can get at walmart. she smelled like a tanning bed for nine months but not stretch marks.

tomuchgear · Jul 11, 2008

for quick clarification if its real bad all the lotion, and collagen repair will do no good. if it is bad enough that you need surgery then the only fix is surgery. sorry i should have clarified that.

Demonox14 · Jul 11, 2008

bigmark3d said:
ok i had a quick question. I use to be really fat and high in bf, and I have a bunch of stretch marks on my chest, shoulders, lats, and stomach, and some on my legs. No matter how hard i try to lose bf some of that skin never tightens up. did i stretch my skin to far from the muscle? also is there any way to fix this. I asked a doctor one time and he said lipo but he was a general doctor didnt really think he knew what he was saying. the only way it looks better is if i fill out and bulk up, but I want a lean look. any insight would help.

I wouldn't sweat it.. I have strech marks on my lower stomach and sides and lats and shoulders... back.... lol! when you dial in .. my skin tends to tighten up slowly but it gets there... don't sweat it till your like 8-10%bf... then you might have a problem.. but the more muscle you have the tighter you skin will get.....

tomuchgear · Jul 12, 2008

on topic i think

couldnt you use seo to tighten it up. like if your abs were a problem no matter how lean you get you cant get dialed in. in theory wouldnt a run of syntherol help with that? am i way off base here? i mean if the muscle were to get bigger it would pull the skin tighter so in theory. eh i dunno i maybe over thinking this.

Jimbo · Jul 12, 2008

Im just like you with loose skin. I cant afford plastic surgery so I did something drastic. Switched to powerlifting. Big gut, no problem

maldorf · Jul 12, 2008

oldfella said:
Over time your skin will kind of shrink back a bit. But if you have an excess it will never tighten back up. Phil is correct, the only remedy for this is Plastic Surgery. Maldorf is also correct, you will have a permanent scar runing the circumference of your waist line. Although modern procedures have improved dramatically since the bad old day of lipo and tummy tucks there will still be a scar.

Mal I have actually seen a couple of women in my gyms over the years with this scar. Not pretty is al I will say! Buit the new ways of doing things is much better and the scar is really thin and can be overlooked.

Havent witnessed the scar in person, just on TV. THe show was filmed recently too, so the surgeon must have been using modern technique. The people look great in clothes though.

buselmo · Jul 12, 2008

bigmark3d said:
ok i had a quick question. I use to be really fat and high in bf, and I have a bunch of stretch marks on my chest, shoulders, lats, and stomach, and some on my legs. No matter how hard i try to lose bf some of that skin never tightens up. did i stretch my skin to far from the muscle? also is there any way to fix this. I asked a doctor one time and he said lipo but he was a general doctor didnt really think he knew what he was saying. the only way it looks better is if i fill out and bulk up, but I want a lean look. any insight would help.

I'm sorry, but out of the 10 billion people (maybe i'm exaggerating just a little bit here

) that told me that they had loose skin, i've only seen 1 person who genuinly had loose skin... and that's because he lost 48 kg in less than 3 months (his diet was 1 liter of juice one day, and water the other, jogging for 2 hours, and swimming laps for 2 hours everyday... needless to say... he didn't look healthy... in fact, he looked dead)...

anyway, I have a very hard time losing the last bits of fat on the lower part of my stomach (only lost them once... a very long time ago)... and everytime anyone sees them they're like "yeah, that's loose skin"... get down to 4% fat, once you see striations in your quads, shoulders, and triceps, your abs are ripped to shreds, your christmas tree looks like it has fingers on it, and you still have something dangling off your body... then yeah, it's loose skin.
but it's as easy as hell for anyone to say "yeah, it's been 2 weeks since i've progressed, so i guess i'm at 1% fat right now and this is excess skin... i should just quit and have surgery"... not directing this towards you in any way... but this is the attitude i always see from people who are at 25% fat and think they have a six pack but all the loose skin is covering it up.
spend 6 months dieting down slowly to 4-5% fat, then evaluate. that's my advice