Help! I need ideas, and suggestions with exercise

[33Love 0]

Good Afternoon,

I wanted to reach out to get some ideas and/or suggestions with exercises to help tighten that excess skin!? I have lost about 58 pounds since I was banded a few months ago, I see the excess skin and I want to obviously get rid of it or tighten it up.

Does anyone have any suggestions on certain exercises they did to do this? Exercise ideas for home and at the gym will suffice for me!

All input is greatly appreicated, thanks in advance.

Love

[mae7365 372]

Good old fashion exercises from elementary school - sit ups,leg lifts, arm circles, leg stretches etc. You can do them on the floor while you watch TV. So far, it's helped firm up my legs and abdomen. I'm also lifting 5 lb weights to help with the excess, hanging skin/whatever it is in my upper arms.

[33Love 0]

Thank you I will have to improvise on the sit ups since I can't really do those due to the lapband there is still much discomfort there.

[ProjectMe 909]

Just to add: don't forget to do squats. These can be modified so that you are just sitting down and standing back up. There's a few apps out there for push-ups, squats, yoga, etc. that I found were really helpful & free!

[BeagleLover 1,020]

Swimming is a great overall toner.

[CowgirlJane 14,261]

Exercise is excellent,tones the muscles and makes you look great...does not however shrink skin. I have some pretty saggy skin pix when I was in awesome shape....jus sayin

[Djmohr 6,965]

@@CowgirlJane, I was going to say the same thing. I was just trying on bathing suits for my trip this coming week and all my sagging skin is making me not to want to put on a bathing suit at all. I have lost 73lbs so far and have another 71 to go to reach my goal. I exercise regularly and I am seeing a lot of toning of my muscles which is great but the skin issue is a whole different issue. It could be because I am 51 and it just is not as elastic as before.

I have always planned on having plastics done but in the meantime it looks like I have a skin suit on.

Honestly, that is a great problem to have so I am certainly not complaining. I would much rather live with my extra skin that all of that heavy fat that was making my health miserable.

[Stevehud 1,790]

excess skin unfortunately, is a function of age, amount of weight lost and speed of loss, and age. yes I said age twice as it is doubly important, as we get older our skin loses collagen and elasticity that helps skin to bounce back so to speak. The older we get the less likely this can happen. This is why so many WLS patients opt for plastic surgery 18 to 24 months after surgery. it is very inevitable in many cases. although some people who are younger will have a much better chance of tightening up.

[sdocforce 55]

@@CowgirlJane, I was going to say the same thing. I was just trying on bathing suits for my trip this coming week and all my sagging skin is making me not to want to put on a bathing suit at all. I have lost 73lbs so far and have another 71 to go to reach my goal. I exercise regularly and I am seeing a lot of toning of my muscles which is great but the skin issue is a whole different issue. It could be because I am 51 and it just is not as elastic as before.

I have always planned on having plastics done but in the meantime it looks like I have a skin suit on.

Honestly, that is a great problem to have so I am certainly not complaining. I would much rather live with my extra skin that all of that heavy fat that was making my health miserable.

[sdocforce 55]

AMEN! A great problem to have. And I second your enthusiasm. Its a good problem, much better than short of breath, achy back, no energy, wanting to sit all the time. I'm contemplating when/if plastics myself. Trying to decide if I want to be in all that pain. But I guess I need to plug on a bit further see if I can maintain a lower weight than where I've landed this first time. I'm ecstatic. But I also stopped using my tool and started eating crap! so I'm bouncing about 5-7 lbs above my lowest since surgery!...UG just goes to show...IT NEVER GOES AWAY!

[BLERDgirl 6,417]

As many have posted a lot of factors play into excess skin. How much you lose, age, and even genetics all play a part. You can try and alleviate some of that with exercise and weight lifting. Some people also use creams and lotions to try and helps with the elasticity of the skin. Still others use compression garments. I think much like whether or not you will experience hair loss, it's a crap shoot. You can be as proactive as possible but there''s no guarantee as to whether any of it will work.

[33Love 0]

Thank you for all your responses, I know some sagging skin is almost inevitable and not that I have a ton but I really wanted more input on the exercise part to tone up not so much to be rid of all excess skin =)

[CowgirlJane 14,261]

ok, toning is a great topic - just be realistic it doesn't shrink skin!

Okay, I am a big advocate of "boot camp" style toning. I mean stuff like pushups, lunges, ab crunches, planks etc.

If you are reasonably fit, try Julian michales "ripped in 30 days" DVDs. 30 minutes - hard workout with lots of toning. My only advice is to do more warm up and cool down than she does - maybe just because i am old that i need that.

I am just starting "kickboxing" which includes punching, kicking a target PLUS those boot camp style items (pushups, planks, lunges, crunches etc). It really isolates those muscles!

If none of this sounds good, give me a hint what you would like to do. I have done different types of exercise over the last 3 years and have a good "portolio of ideas"

[BLERDgirl 6,417]

I think all exercise is good. Anything that gets the heart rate up and pumping. Variety is also great because it challenges your muscles and also keep you from being bored. I'm actually considering taking a Muay Thai class that just opened up in my area. I need to see the ortho and get clearance but I may give it a go.

Also yoga and pilates are both good toning workouts.