Hi everyone! I'm new around here, and just looking for some input.
I was overweight for 10 years or so and when I turned 19 I decided it was time to get fit. I lost 40-50 lbs in 6 months or maybe less not sure, most of it was by crash dieting,never went to the gym(I know this was stupid). I hit my goal weight 3 months ago So, I decided to join the gym then and have been doing weight training and cardio 5x a week.
My problem is I have some type of belly, I'm not really sure if its fat or loose skin. It hangs when I lean over. I dont see how it could be fat since I'm 5'8 and 135-140 lbs(19 year old). I cant help but constantly stand in front of a mirror and look at it, its totally killed whatever self-esteem I had left.
I uploaded some pictures, if it is loose skin I have a few questions
Is it really bad? Will it go away with time or am I stuck with it forever?
I'm eating right, I'm lifting, doing cardio, heck I'm even using skin firming lotions!
Any help is greatly appreciated!

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It looks like loose skin to me, but with you being so young it may bounce back. If you crash dieted and lost the weight quickly your skin may not have been able to keep up. It may take a while to bounce back so keep with eating right and exercising. I know it's hard after all your effort not to have the flat belly you anticipated, I'm worried about it as well but I would rather deal with some extra skin or scars from a tummy tuck than be stuck in an unhealthy body.

Drink lots of water, exercise and eat right for awhile and most of it will probably tighten up.

It looks like it has some fat attached. skin is so thin... it appears to be weighed down by a little extra fat. When you crash diet you tend to lose some lean muscle. I have known people who were able to lose that. They can still pinch the skin and stretch it out but it doesn't hang loosly like that.

It definetly looks like loose skin.

If you really are so concerned about it and it is affecting your self esteem there are procedures which can help. A tummy tuck in your case will help you get rid of this and give you a flatter stomach. Plastic surgery may sound like extreme to someone but if your self esteem is affected and you lost all that weight and still dont feel good about yourself you can definetly think of this as an option. You dont have to be stuck with this forever.

Pinch the area. If you feel fat between the fingers, then you have some weight to lose in that area, which will tone it. If you pinch and your fingers touch -- skin is extremely thin -- then you have loose skin.

Its just loose skin. Unfortunately its part of loosing dramatic amounts of weight. Most of the time when someone is overweight for a considerable amoubt of time it doesn't make much difference how fast or slow the weight comes off. You loose 100lbs you will have some extra skin. Its just part of it.

The fact that you are still so young is a bonus. Given some time(12-24months) with continued training and exercise and some of it will pull back. How much is completely a guess. Anyone saying differently is lying to you or has no personal expeirence.

A tummy tuck would be one way to go. I had one myself and im just 3 1/2 months out. My body is still changing even now and from what I hear will continue to do so for awhile. If it will help give you some idea of what a real TT before and after looks like i'll gladly post my before's and afters.

I also had a thigh lift as well. I was 445lbs at my heaviest now im 195lbs.

Okay even though you haven't posted that you would like to view a before TT and after I had a overwelming responce through pm's asking for them after the above post. So i'll post a few for you.

First thing you must know is that major surgery like this takes time to fully heal and the swelling to go down. Not only that coming from a huge weightloss like I was mixed with my high intense training my body is still changing and my skin is still tightning even now. They say you still see major changes about once a month until the 6 month mark. I am currently 3 1/2 months out myself so im prolly about half way there.

Which would explain a few things. For one my fitness level is rediculously high now. For someone to carry my BF%(7.4) they have full defenition in their delts/abs/lower region. The only reason I don't is due to my skin. For the first month post op I really didn't have any ab defenition but, now slowly overtime as the swelling go's down I get more and more. My surgeon says this trend will continue and with my workouts being what they are she says in another 6-8 months I'll prolly look even different than I do today. That being said I really can't complain. I mean afterall a year ago I was 400lbs ya know?

The one thing it doesn't look like you need but, in retrospect I prolly did was a fully body lift. I got talked outta doing one by my surgeon(as well as the tightning they usually do on the ab muscle itself) because of my youth and my workout schedule. She claims it really wasn't nessesary and that even though my body looks werid now in a few years my pecks should come back up and everything should fill in nicely.

I personal don't agree but, we will see. I hate the way my pecks sag. Its my next project. Im gonna start benching pressing and increase the size of them to pull them out and therefore tightning the skin in that area helping pull them up.

Word of caution these pics are significantly graphic and not exactly something you wanna see at work and what not. I still have a ways to go in my mind but, I gotta be happy with where I am.

*warning view at your own risk*
http://weight-loss.fitness.com/befor...-months-6.html

fat sits in a layer beneath the skin, so yeah when you have excess skin bunched up you have excess fat also. I have the same thing, im waiting a year or so then doing the surgery

Ironman and Wishes, you are both positively inspirational! Thanks very much for the pics you have both posted on this forum; I review them when I need encouragement.

Great pics Ironman. You are gonna look great on the beach after a few more weeks of working out and as the scar begins to fade. Thanks for posting those, has helped me alot

Looking good man keep it up

Did this ever go away for you?

I think your best bet is a tummy tuck to get rid of the excess skin. If you can afford it, plastic surgery really isn't that bad. My grandma had the procedure and she said it was a piece of cake. You'd be down for about two weeks. Make sure your doctor is board certified as a doc and plastic surgeon and has NO bad reports. Remember, if your going to do it, cheaper is never better!

this is a really old thread and the author probably isnt around the forum anymore. i would like to say that my opinion is any surgery should be a last resort. i know alot of people use it as a tool but i thoroughly believe you will look better, feel better, and be much healthier if you do it through exercise. there are limits though.