Abs, excess skin and body fat %

[Fiddleman 4,376]

Is it even possible for a post op to develop a six pack of abs that rival those of normal fitness folks? I do not see how with the excess skin around the stomach area. I have been eating clean , working out effectively for many months and still do not see the abs. However, I can start to see the outline of where they should be and I have veins everywhere on my arms and legs. Chest and back are very strong and powerful. I am wondering if others have had more success with popping the abs. If you have picture proof it is possible, please post a photo and what you did to bring them out. Maybe my body fat % is still too high at 15 %. Maybe I need to be more diligent about core workouts. I mainly do full body workouts.

[Ms skinniness 3,003]

Amazon113 has a six pack. Maybe you could contact her by PM. She can give you some ifo. I really need to work on this too...Like from scratch.

[bigcountryab 278]

Is it even possible for a post op to develop a six pack of abs that rival those of normal fitness folks? I do not see how with the excess skin around the stomach area. I have been eating clean ' date=' working out effectively for many months and still do not see the abs. However, I can start to see the outline of where they should be and I have veins everywhere on my arms and legs. Chest and back are very strong and powerful. I am wondering if others have had more success with popping the abs. If you have picture proof it is possible, please post a photo and what you did to bring them out. Maybe my body fat % is still too high at 15 %. Maybe I need to be more diligent about core workouts. I mainly do full body workouts.[/quote']

I have abs and I just do tons of core workouts. I also do Crossfit and functional strength movements. I'm not sure what my body fat % is so I can't help there.

[paper1875 5]

How much weight did you lose? And how long have you been working out?

[Fiddleman 4,376]

How much weight did you lose? And how long have you been working out?

I lost 180 lb from essentially 360 to 180 in about 7 months. I am at 1 year post op now.

Here is what my workouts have been over the months:

Month 1-4: walking and elliptical

Month 5-7: lots of running, started minimal lifting. Helped me reach goal, but also made me skin and bones in upper body. Others, be careful about too much cardio and impact on muscle.

Month 8-12: cross fit 2x a week, body weight exercises ( eg paleo fitness) 3x a week. Upper body is now powerful from lots of functional body weight exercises.

I do some core work as it is integrated with cross fit and full body weight exercises. However, I am thinking of adding two dedicated core workouts during the week, probably on the same day as cross fit but in the morning where cross fit is late afternoon. This might make all the difference. Then again, it might not if the skin is going to be an issue. It it not a huge amount of skin and does not hang. The best way to describe is that it is a small mound that is covering my abs. Tight on the side of my stomach area and on the small of the back.

Diet is ultra clean and I am on good supplementation stacks. Started taking creatine hydro daily after taking creatine mono was not really working ( wore off if not consistent with it because essentially just pumps muscle with water). Also Mono is harder for the body to absorb then hydro. Take optimen Multivitamin and amino acids (catalyst before and recovery shake after). Eating as much Protein as I can, about 170 g a day. My goal is to try and eat 7 x a day with about 40 g for at least 3 of the meals (shakes). The other meals tend to be between 25-30 g. I take casein at night and that seems to really have good results overnight.

Overall, I like the progress made in the last 4 months to get stronger and build a more athletic physique. However, the stomach is still a problem are for me. I would like to tighten it and pop those abs!

Thanks for any suggestions you have.

[Fiddleman 4,376]

I have abs and I just do tons of core workouts. I also do Crossfit and functional strength movements. I'm not sure what my body fat % is so I can't help there.

Thanks for sharing your photo as that is proof positive that it is possible to build up some abs as a post op. have you had any TT work or other plastics? I am anticipating your answer is no. Congratulations!

[Fiddleman 4,376]

I would not mind achieving this result:

http://screenrant.com/the-wolverine-hugh-jackman-photo/the-wolverine-official-photo-hugh-jackman/

[bigcountryab 278]

I would not mind achieving this result:

http://screenrant.com/the-wolverine-hugh-jackman-photo/the-wolverine-official-photo-hugh-jackman/

I don't know what TT is but I have had no plastics

[paper1875 5]

Thanks for the info. I am 3 and half months out and was told by my doc to do 4 days of weight lifting and to really limit my cardio. I have lost 77 lbs so far but I am noticing a lot of sagging skin

[Fiddleman 4,376]

I don't know what TT is but I have had no plastics

TT is an abbreviation for Tummy Tuck. I have read previously that some get an extended tummy tuck or trunkplasty to take care of the problem skin around the stomach. Not sure this is the route for me yet. I may get lucky and not need it, but the existence of this thread implies otherwise. There is a plastics discussion coming up at my support group this coming Saturday, so I hope to get some questions answered there.

[Fiddleman 4,376]

Thanks for the info. I am 3 and half months out and was told by my doc to do 4 days of weight lifting and to really limit my cardio. I have lost 77 lbs so far but I am noticing a lot of sagging skin

Yes, agree that cardio is good to limit if you want to preserve your lean muscle mass. I learned this the hard way. Fortunately, most mistakes can be undone, it just takes longer.

Regular cardio is good to melt away a large percentage of body fat, but one should be careful about doing so much cardio (endurance based) that the body enters a constant catabolic state.

Endurance cardio does have its place. For example, training for 5k, 10k or marathon or any other sport that requires a good sustained cardio response. For general fitness after losing most of the excess weight, tilting the scale towards resistance training or short bursts of HIIT training are going to yield better and more consistent body composition results. By short bursts of HIIT, I mean 20-30 minutes, 1-2 x a week.

Light cardio is also good during a warmup before getting into a warmup, say, jogging 1/2 a mile or rowing 500 meters.

Good luck in your weight loss and fitness journey.

[aroundhky 1,174]

I would not mind achieving this result:

http://screenrant.co...o-hugh-jackman/

If you do....you'll probably be as famous as Hugh Jackman. That dude is impressive!

[Phoenix79 452]

If you do....you'll probably be as famous as Hugh Jackman. That dude is impressive!

Only if you sing, dance and act too!

[Seanja 117]

Yes' date=' agree that cardio is good to limit if you want to preserve your lean muscle mass. I learned this the hard way. Fortunately, most mistakes can be undone, it just takes longer.

Regular cardio is good to melt away a large percentage of body fat, but one should be careful about doing so much cardio (endurance based) that the body enters a constant catabolic state.

Endurance cardio does have its place. For example, training for 5k, 10k or marathon or any other sport that requires a good sustained cardio response. For general fitness after losing most of the excess weight, tilting the scale towards resistance training or short bursts of HIIT training are going to yield better and more consistent body composition results. By short bursts of HIIT, I mean 20-30 minutes, 1-2 x a week.

Light cardio is also good during a warmup before getting into a warmup, say, jogging 1/2 a mile or rowing 500 meters.

Good luck in your weight loss and fitness journey.[/quote']

How much is too much cardio? I do 50 minutes including a cool down and it's about 750 to 800 calories burned. Then I lift light I don't wanna bulk. I want a toned athletic build is that to much cardio?

[bigcountryab 278]

How much is too much cardio? I do 50 minutes including a cool down and it's about 750 to 800 calories burned. Then I lift light I don't wanna bulk. I want a toned athletic build is that to much cardio?

I have seen better results since I cut back on cardio and increased strength training. I'm down to only two 5Ks a week. But I lift more and heavier