When I started losing weight, I weighed 296 and my goal is 150. I carry most of my weight in my stomach and have a large amount of overhang. The weight is coming off and my stomach is beginning to shrink some but I am quite concerned over the amount of flab I will have there, on my upper inner thighs, under my arms, and under my chin. For those of you who have lost great amounts of weight, does the flab just get smaller? I'm assuming it doesn't go away completely, especially where major damage has already been done. Is there anything you can do about it outside of surgery? I know this is a long way in the future, but I'd hate to lose 150 pounds and still hate my body and I don't know if a tummy tuck (etc.) will be doable.

I have some flab like that on my tummy - first time I successfully dieted and lost over 40 pounds, I got that and it never went away. Since I started doing weight resistance training i.e., toning exercises, I haven't gotten anymore "flab" spots, so I guesss that helped.

the important thing to do to counter act is weight training. As you lose weight you have to gain muscle to tighten it all up, if you do this there will be much less flab. I just had this discussion with my personal trainer yesterday.

I have a lot of flab on my arms, very excessive. I work them out with hand weights. Like was said, about the only way to help it is to gain muscle. I hope that since I'm not very old (I read somewhere that skin has more elasticity when you're younger, I'm only 16, 17 in July) I have minimal left over flab. But I think it would be worth it just to get the weight off.

Weight train!!! The added muscle will take up some of the space under your skin that was vacated by fat. Plus, it will be a lot firmer than the fat ever was.

Also mosturizing your skin well might help too.

Hi ICPC!

Congrats for taking yourself into the jorney of the rest of your life! The flab you speak of is really skin. It isn't flab at all, and though weight training will increase your muscle mass, and burn fat, I'm sorry to say that there is little hope for skin. I imagine that I will soon be facing the same issues as I progress.
With skin there is a point of no return. It can only be stretched out so far before it losses all of its elasticity. The simple truth is that morbidly obese people end of trading excess fat for excess skin. I don't know which one looks worse. Anyway, I have already started my tummy-tuck fund as well as my boob-lift...lol...I mean damn-it...after all this hard work to shed these pounds I want to look good!

It's a bummer, isn't it. My neighbor, a thin, jogging addict, has this problem with her tummy from her pregnancy and she's determined to get a tummy tuck. Says it's the only solution. Anyone ever done this? The idea sort of makes my tummy turn... :o

Thanks, you guys, for responding to this. I had my threads set for two weeks and just now found this again. I do believe there is only so much we can do about the extra skin, but the weight training makes perfect sense to me. I just started the ab crunches on the strength-training machine, and I can really feel my stomach muscles working. I bet that will help alot. Thanks, Sue

use weights and maybe even join a gym ( curves or something ) and start to work on the excess skin/fat as quick as you can.
but as you have said before you may need/want surgery - but I would do as much as I can on my own first :)

Beth :not:

The slower you lose the better chance of the skin to move with the weight lost. The bottom line is you can only spot tone not spot lose. Just keep at it and be glad for the health benefits of weight loss. If the skin is still a problem at goal. Find cute clothes and lingere or think about surgery.

Yoga is awesome for the mucsles, too - keeps the flexible and toned. If you're really feeling buff and want a change of pace, try some beginner's power yoga - whoa, do you feel it! but it's awesome and doesn't wreak havoc on your joints. 8-|