Questions about doing away with loose skin...

[Yankeeyz]

Hey im brand spankin new to this site, and need help from some knowledgable people. Lemme give a quick background... Last August I decided to begin losing weight and get myself into shape. At the time I started I weighed in at 320 pounds. For the past year I've been changing my eating habits and working out religiously. For the first half of the year it was strictly cardio. Within the past 5 months I've gotten into weightlifting. Ive since built up a decent amount of muscle, and will continue to do so. As of this week I weighed in at 208 pounds and look pretty good. My problem is I havealot of loose skin due to the fact that I was pretty big when I started. What can I do about this?? Is there some kind of a topical ointment I can apply to my skin? Or due I just have to let time take care of it?? Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated....

[Tobey]

Hey bro,
First off, welcome to the board and congradulations on you weight loss. You should really be proud of yourself, keep up the hard work.

I have trained people in the past and a few of them have encountered the same problem that you are now having. I find myself leaning toward basic gentics to a degree on this issue as there are those who did not have lose skin and others that did. I guess it really depends on how far the skin was stretched. Unfortuneatley, there is no real rememedy for this problem outside of surgury that I am aware of. Don't be discouraged though. The techniques that doctors have now can really be amazing and to be honest, as hard of work as you have put into your training it would be a shame to let this get in your way. Comestic surgury is not all that big a deal. My girlfreind has had several comestic proceedures in the past and I have one planned in January. ( Nose job) Anyway, check with a local plastic surgen. ( Spell?) The consultation fee is useually minimal ( less tha 50 bucks) and it is worth it just to see where on the financial side of the operation you stand. At least you will have a good idea and can make a informative decission on weather or not you wish to proceed with the operation. If streatch marks are a problem, you can try rubbing vitamin e oil on them. I have heard in the past that this works really well for some, but I have no personal experience in this myself.
Good luck.
IC