Belly fat..from hard to super soft and jiggly :/ A little worried...
 

oh gosh, Today as I was undressing and getting ready to take a shower, I was somewhat shocked to see my tummy...

I've been doing my low-carb journey now for 27 days and have lost 10lbs. I've also lost a few inches around my tummy (the largest area around my belly button), as well as a few inches around my waist, slightly higher up.

The majority of the fat that I store is primarily in my tummy and my upper arms.
When I started the circumference around the fattest part of my tummy was a shocking 58 inches...damn near the entire tape measure. I cried when I first took my measurements...My waist was 51 inches...:(

My tummy had always been hard, firm to the touch...but now, after just losing 10 lbs, it is very soft and is 'hanging'...honestly, it looks very gross.

Is this what is supposed to happen when you start burning fat??
Does the hard fat deposits get softer??

I'm going to have to really start getting more serious about strength training, working on specific muscle groups, working on some abdominal exercises, as well as upper arm exercises so I can try to improve these two areas.
If I continue to lose weight..which is what I want and need to do..I'm afraid that my tummy will droop even lower..
I don't want to lose a lot of weight only to have loose skin hanging everywhere.
I'm not looking for 'rapid' weight loss results...and even more so now considering what is happening to my tummy already after just 27 days.

Does anyone know if this is a normal occurrence as you start to burn fat and if so, is there anything else I should be aware off so that I'm somehwat mentally prepared for it?

Today was a real eye opener...and one that has me re-thinking my current exercise plan, one that includes daily strength training.

It takes a while for skin to tighten after one has lost all excess weight. It will most likely not catch up while in the process of losing the excess weight.

I've only lost 10 lbs so far and my skin, flabby area's have already started 'drooping' and become very soft..

I've created a weekly exercise routine, which includes a combination of aerobic & strength training that I will be starting tomorrow.
I'm going to get a handle on this so that I can 'tone' and strengthen & tighten up my muscles and flabby areas, at the SAME time as I'm shedding the pounds, rather than 'waiting' until I've reached my desired weight.

I'll probably increase my daily calories as well so I have enough 'get up n go' (energy) to allow for the additional exercise that I plan on doing.

I think your fat cells are emptying out. They fill up with water in place of fat, making it jiggle. PErfectly normal.

Well, I just spent a few hours researching 'body' fat as well as watching a video of a young man who lost 160 lbs very quickly and as a result is now having to undergo surgery because of the large amount of loose skin he is now left with.

It was quite shocking and somewhat sad to see this young man's body, in particular, the massive amount of loose skin that he had.

I can only imagine that it would be somewhat depressing to have worked so hard to lose all of this weight only to be left with this type of reminder hanging from your body.

As I suspected, rapid weight loss, regardless of what type of diet you are doing, will lead to excessive, loose & saggy skin.
Also, losing muscle as well as fat will also cause the skin to become loose.


While I understand that there may be no way around in preventing 'some' loose skin after the weight has come off, especially if you have a lot of weight to lose, I did learn that there are a number of things I can do to minimize the overall amount of loose skin. I am on the right path by realizing this NOW, and understand exactly what it is that I have to do NOW...rather than waiting until later....or not doing anything at all.
I need to focus on replacing the 'fat' that I am losing with lean muscle so that there is no 'void' being left.

I've already listed my exercise goals for the next few weeks in my journal and have incorporated both aerobic & strength training into my daily routine.
I will be slowly increasing my goals every few weeks as I build up my endurance and overall strength.

this is in part why I'm okay with what some people would call slow loss. A pound a week or so is great with me. I think a lot of people read stories about rapid weight loss on atkins/LC and really want that for themselves but I certainly don't.

I know what you're saying about the hard fat turning jiggly. In my own weird (and kinda morbid) thoughts I imagine the fat dying, and the blood supply receding from my fat cells or something and that's why it gets jiggly right before it goes away. :lol:

While you're losing 'dry brush' your skin (google it for how) and use a good moisturiser - this is supposed to help with the saggy skin issues. Not sure if it does because most people only start to worry after weight loss, once they have the saggy skin.

Thanks for the info leemack :)

You're making a wise choice. Please also do as much 'core' work as you can. I didn't do that as I was losing and now its not what I'd like it to be. :o
Pilates and or yoga both will help.
I now see it this way, our muscles had been holding up a large amount of extra weight. As we lose fat, those muscles are a bit stretched out and need to contract. Doing Pilates and or Yoga can help with that a lot.

There's no way you're going to gain enough muscle around your waist to fill 58 inches, nor is that a desirable goal. Many posters here have written about this phenomenon. Fat goes from hard, tightly packed to that squishy fat, and then the fat burns up but the fat cells thing, "I know this goon. If I'm patient, I'll get more fat to store here, so better keep the unit open. And it fills up with water to maintain cellular structure. After a certain point, that strategy is abandoned, the water is released, and the cell goes whoosh and empties out. Over time the skin tightens up a lot.

Those people you see with the huge amounts of sagging skin have usually lost it very quickly and with limited nutritional support as an outcome of surgery. Sad thing is that if they'd give it a year or two, there's an excellent chance that some of that would tighten up. For those who need it, surgery is a godsend, but for most of us, Vitamin T (time) is also a solution.

Some of the things that you can do at this time will be, yes, exercise, but also drinking lots of water, eating food that is as nutritious as possible. You mentioned living in rural CA, which means abundant opportunity to grow your own fruits, veggies, chicken, to fish, to hunt. Research supplements that will help nourish your skin (skin as an organ, not the top layer exposed to air). Be patient, love yourself, and accept that there's a lot of changes, some of them good, some of them hard, that accompany a large amount of weight loss.

I remember one poster writing that she didn't care if she she had so much leftover skin she had to hold it up with duct tape, band-aids, and safety pins, or fold it over three times and tuck it in her sweat pants. She was moving out and moving on.

We all wrestle with the skin problem, and then make our own peace with it and move on. I can say that in the past when I'd dropped about 100 pounds and kept it off for a few years, my skin tightened up quite a bit. It takes longer the older you are, but these are our scars. We've been in a battle, fighting to get our lives back. Love yourself.

thank you Kathleen for your reply..
I think you may of misconstrued my initial post/question a little, lol...but that's okay.
Just to set the record straight though, I'm actually very patient, and love myself just fine and DO accept that I will experience changes, some good, some bad, if I'm able to lose this weight...

I'm simply just trying to find ways to avoid and/or minimize certain scenario's like loose skin before they happen....rather than waiting until it has already happened. That's all..and yes, while it is concerning, believe me, I'm not sitting here day in and day out worrying about it or making myself sick over it.

I'm not looking to replace my 58" TUMMY (not waist) with muscle or bulk up like Arnold Swaz'hisface' :lol: :lol:
Far from it...

As far as living in 'rural' CA..and those 'abundant opportunities' you think I have around me..sorry, but I'm sitting here almost choking on my morning coffee from laughing so hard. Great exercise for the abs I may add... :P

Perhaps up in rural North CA ...but those kinds of abundant opportunities out in this part of the Mojave desert are very few and FAR....well except for the sunshine and heat, we definitely have an abundance of that. We also have an abundance of coyotes and rabbits out here where we live....unfortunately, even the suicidal rabbits are protected by federal law out here on the PRESERVE (dropping hint bombs as to my exact location, lol).

Our small community (population 12 people) did get together and TRY to raise chickens one year with permission of course, and in a very well built chicken coop I might add...
A few weeks later...a pack of coyotes ATE them..come to find out most of the desert critters around here are also doing low-carb. :lol:
Our neighbor kept a goat for a short time (without permission)..until it was killed and DRAGGED right out from his back yard by a mountain lion.

Needless to say, as a community, we have chosen not to 'raise' our food anymore. It's alot easier to drive the 197 miles (round trip) to the grocery store every few weeks.

:)

Yikes, lo-carb!....sounds like you are in out in the wilderness.....mountain lions and coyotes eating your chickens and goats! Scary............we have coyotes too but my neighbor has been successful with his chickens. Thankfully no mountain lions :thup:

Anyway, I too have the soft, saggy areas now....not just belly, but upper arms, thighs, everywhere. Looks pretty gross, and I have another 70 or so to go.....maybe more. My weight loss has been slow.....50 pounds over 1.5 years.

I try to keep my skin moisturized with a really good body lotion each day, and the fats in our diet can't hurt.

I'd rather be a bit saggy than obese......hopefully it will work itself out with time, exercise, diet and lotion.......I've also read about "dry brushing" for your skin health but have not tried it yet.....I plan to get a body brush and tty it.....can't hurt!
:)

i take a little excess skin over 432lbs of messy mass.

Yes that is what happens. The skin does firm up but not completely. You'll find that day-to-day it looks a bit different. I have fun with the idea saying my belly button looks like grumpy cat. My son calls me the flying squirrel due to all my loose skin. To get rid of that look like we were painted by Salvidor Dali there is skin reduction surgery.