Not to sound too gross or negative, but my loose skin looks like...loose skin. It looks like a soft, wrinkled, deflated balloon. When I lie on my side, the loose skin on my belly pools to the side like melted candle wax. It definitely looks different than flab (fat fills out the skin, loose skin is empty in my experience).
I had to ask a plastic surgeon what was skin and what was fat. The wrinkled up skin on my butt and thighs looked exactly like cellulite -- but was just "yards of skin", all wrinkled up and deflated. One clue was that it floated in the bathtub -- I don't think fat would do that.
Thanks, everyone! That has cleared that up quite a bit.
(I've just started maintaining, and I'm trying to determine how much of what I can pinch in the mirror is skin & how much is fat that I can afford to lose. This will affect whether or not I decide to lose a tiny bit more after my self-imposed "mandatory maintenance period" is over.)
I'll read through that FAQ, as it looks very informative at first glance. I love 3FC! <3
Have you considered getting your body fat percent measured? That would also tell you if you have more fat to lose or not.
I'm sitting at 24% right now, so there's definitely room to drop! I will of course be continuing to lift weights & exercise during my maintenance, so it's possible that my body composition might continue to change -- the next 6 months will probably be a good indicator for me as to what is skin and what is flab, I'm guessing!
Body fat % is going to be a better guide to fitness for you now than scale weight, so it's great that you know what yours is. You bet your body comp will change over the next six months with your exercise program, even if the scale weighs exactly the same! Let me tell you about Mel, one of our mods here -- she reached her goal weight and wasn't very happy with how her body looked. So she started a heavy weightlifting program a la BFL and dropped two pants sizes, even though I think she gained three pounds on the scale.
Yep, you can lose fat, build muscle and not see scale changes -- but see major body changes.
Body fat % is going to be a better guide to fitness for you now than scale weight, so it's great that you know what yours is. You bet your body comp will change over the next six months with your exercise program, even if the scale weighs exactly the same! Let me tell you about Mel, one of our mods here -- she reached her goal weight and wasn't very happy with how her body looked. So she started a heavy weightlifting program a la BFL and dropped two pants sizes, even though I think she gained three pounds on the scale.
Yep, you can lose fat, build muscle and not see scale changes -- but see major body changes.
That's great to hear, because that's exactly what I've been wanting to do since I set my weight goal -- switch the focus at this point from the number on the scale to % body fat & measurements. I feel encouraged now!
Loose skin or flab: how do you tell?
