Major fat loss and loose skin

[bigmatt33]

I started out at 265 with 33% body fat. I am now 229 with 11.5% body fat. That 58 lbs of fat lost and 22 lbs of muscle gained. I had a very large gut when I started and it is almost gone. However now I have a lot of loose skin on my stomach. I had a consiltation with a plastic surgen. He is recommening either a tummy tuck or something called a beltectomy that goes all the way around. I was wondering if you all knew of anyone who had this problem.

[lucabratzi]

First congrats on the transformation and life change.

How long has the weight been off? Reason i ask is ur skin is remarkable w elasticity. Losing 50+lbs is alot to lose I'm just curios if surgery is necessary. If it came off quik i might wait to see if it tightens up naturally. Is there really that much extra skin? A friend of mine went from 350 to 215. His skin surprisingly is tighter then expected.

Sorry I can't tell u which surgery is best cause I have no first hand experience.

[bigmatt33]

well the whole process has taken like a year and a half so there wasn't any quick changes. I am going to wait a few months if I get the surgery. when I pull my skin I can pull my skin 2 to 3 inches away from my body.

[Henryhill470]

well the whole process has taken like a year and a half so there wasn't any quick changes. I am going to wait a few months if I get the surgery. when I pull my skin I can pull my skin 2 to 3 inches away from my body.

Pics ??

[ma_fighter]

Pics please, I went from 256lbs to ~170lbs over roughly the same timespan as you (6' tall) and that's me in my avatar right between 169-170lbs, still 13-15%bf I'm guessing. Thats NO muscle gained to help fill out the skin, and 87 lbs lost.

It may very well be that you have a lot of excess skin, that needs surgery to go away, but it may also very well be that you have more bodyfat than you think.

If possible, get full body pics from the front, side and back. If you dont want to show your face, just edit it out.

[likelifting]

Age is a key factor as well. I'm old. I lost a lot of weight around my midsection and the elasticity of skin isn't as great as when you are young.

[likelifting]

I'll prolly go have some elective surgery around my midsection (skin removal) but I'm going to pay a top notch guy. I don't NEED it, I want it.

[bigmatt33]

I am 31. I had my body fat tested with a really nice machine. I dont have a six pack but you can see my abs. I am going to try to figure out how to post pics.

[likelifting]

Its the 3rd icon from the right. Run ur cursor over it and it'll say 'insert image'. Then you can post from a URL or computer.

[bigmatt33]

[ma_fighter]

That does not look like anywhere near 11% bf to me.. I'd say you can still drop a good deal of fat. Not that easy to tell from that particular image though.
If possible, try to get some more. Full upper body as well as the legs.

That being said, it does look like you've got some loose skin as well, not *that* much really, but I'm seeing some stretchmarks, and thats not a good thing though.

It'll take time for the skin to firm up again, so I wouldn't waste any hard earned cash on surgery right now if I were you, I'd wait it out for another 4-6 months and watch for improvements first, and cut a bit more.
Some peoples skin will bounce back easier than others, chances are you share the same kind of skin as your mother, so you could always ask her how long it took after her pregnancy/ies to tighten up again, if she did.

[lucabratzi]

I agree w ma fighter. Keep cutting and wait it out for atleast 4-6 months. Keep at the hard cutting.

It does look like u have some extra skin so if in the end u want to go through w it all the power to u.

[bigmatt33]

the idea of the pic is to show the excess skin not whether or not I am at 11.5% body fat. The test was done by an experienced trainer/ body builder competitor. I am actually pretty happy with my definition on all of my body except my abdominal area. The surgeon said this, "You actually have very little fat on your abdonminal area, this is all skin. You do still have a little fat on your love handles. If you do loose more it might help your love handles go down but you will not have defined abs with this much extra skin." He also pointed out that my love handles look bigger than what they actually are because the skin is loose there too.

I wanting to know if any of you or someone you have known has had this problem. Before I went to the surgeon I went to my dermatoligist to see if he could help. He said it was to bad for him to help much and referred me to the surgeon. I have a lot of stretch marks and plan to go back to my dermatologist to have laser resurfacing done. I also plan for the time being is to keep cutting and trying to build up my core. It seems that the more I cut the worse the skin looks.

[jimmy726]

Don't feel bad I'm in the same boat man I lost 100 lbs in a year and look like a loose zebra lol

[testluva]

HGH Theraphy helped me firm up my skin. I also went from 35% BF to 15%. Eight months of HGH and it tightened up. Also my skin cuts heal up twice as fast now. I'm in my 50's and did the same transformation. Keep it up Bro. My pic also looked pretty close to yours.

[ma_fighter]

Not to burst your bubble there mate, but of course a surgeon is going to tell you that you'll need surgery. Thats how he makes his living.
Your chest, arms and upper body does not look like 11% either, and even though the picture is not to determine your bodyfat, if you DO have more fat than you THINK you do, that's part if why you have no definition of your abs. Thats the only reason I'm pushing the subject.

But having lots of stretch marks means that you dont have very elastic skin, as they're actually scar tissue in the dermis due to over stretching. And chances are higher that you will eventually need surgery.

A tummy tuck, as far as I know, means removing only the excess skin below the nave,l in the abdominal area. I dont think a tuck would do much for the lovehandles.
Laser resurfacing will make the stretchmarks a lot better, I cant say if this is merely a cosmetic effect or if your skin will regain some elasticity though.

Good job on the weightloss btw!
Best of luck

/Maf

[bigmatt33]

Well the beltectomy is like a tummy tuck but it goes all the way around so it would tighten up the skin around the love handles. What has my worried is that the more I loose to worse not better it looks. Sure I want to cut up a little more. I will get my bf tested again on another machine. When I sit down I have skin that falls over my belt and I'm not sure how much this will tighen up. It will be several months before I even think about wether or not I will get the surgery. I want my body at 10%. In the mean time I am taking cjc-1295, maybe the extra gh will help a little. Also I will be building up my core to be as big as possible.

Maybe I should add that at my highest weight I was 305.

[MBear]

I know this is an old thread, but I have the same problem. Went from 260 to 170, and then back to 230. Alot of it's muscle. Wondering how the out the out come of this is, and how much did it cost.

[Cheifjuana]

I know this is an old thread, but I have the same problem. Went from 260 to 170, and then back to 230. Alot of it's muscle. Wondering how the out the out come of this is, and how much did it cost.

Went bro 230 to 128, now I'm 160 and gaining lean

[Brazensol]

When in my early/mid 40's I dropped from almost 250 down to 175 in about 12 months and my skin had no problem shrinking along with me though it did seem to lag a bit behind. I'd give it some time and see if it shrinks... And yes, then I went and got fat again! For the last time I might add. Not as bad as before (230'ish) but again my skin is shrinking with me and I'm now at 182.