super-fat arms wont go away... help!

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  • I store a LOT of fat in my arms compared to the rest of my body, as you can see in this picture:



    which is very upsetting because having such fat arms adds to my frame and makes me look even bigger than I already am. how do I make the fat go away? How much weight do I have to lose for my arms to match my body? That's me at this current weight (136.5 lb)

    also when I lose weight I'm going to have no boobs whatsoever but still fat arms. Isn't there ANYTHING I can do about this? I'm desperate, i'll do anything. It's kinda putting me off weight loss because I know i'll lose my boobs but my arms will stay.
  • Unfortunately, there's just no way to predict where your weight is going to come off. That being said you can certainly help the appearance off your arms even if you can't change the size of them.

    I have big arms too. Right now they measure at 14" although they can get up to 15" after heavy lifting while they're retaining water, on a good day they might get down to 13.5". I used to hate my arms but since I've started heavy lifting even though they still won't fit into all the shirts I'd love to wear, when I flex them I have muscle plus they look so much more shapely than where I was before. I'd even happily wear sleeveless shirts (just don't own any at the moment due to $$) because I feel that with the definition they look way better than without.

    Part of it too is finding clothes that go well with your arms. I personally like either 3/4 length shirts or sleeveless (I prefer ones that are somewhat gathered at the shoulders, now square ones because then they cover up my shoulders, which are one of my better features). Cap sleeves are just about the worse.

    As for weight loss, well, that's for you to decide. At your height/weight you probably don't need to lose weight to be healthy. However, exercise is ALWAYS good and heavy lifting can certainly help reshape your body. I won't guarantee that you won't lose your boobs, because I really don't know how your body will lose BUT I will say that a well-fitting bra will do wonders.
  • I think i'll need a super padded push up bra if I lose as much as I want to.
    Is liposuction my only option? Because I will seriously save up for it if thats what it takes to have normal arms like everyone else Sometimes I imagine putting a giant syringe in my arms and sucking all the fat out.

    Its so hard to find nice clothes to wear. All the nice tops I like are singlets/sleeveless and I HATE showing my arms, but its way too hot to wear a cardigan or jacket over the top. Same with dresses, all the nice ones are sleeveless or boob tube. And yeah, a lot of the tops I can't even fit my fat arms into but the top is loose on my bust/waist. It's not fair
  • Liposuction is NEVER the only option! You haven't even lost the weight yet! You can't know that you will lose the boobs, it all depends on the composition of them, if they are fatty or breast tissue mostly and that is highly individual.

    I suggest you try the weight loss plan you set yourself on, and definitely do strength training, and I'm talking real barbells, not the pink 5lb weights. I had heavy arms before I lost the weight, but by the time I could lift a 15lb dumbbell, they had shrunk to 12" and now less than that in my avatar pic, along with the muscles.
    It's a personal choice, but the knife (and lipo is major surgery where they scrape the fat off your skin!) is never my first choice. You're young, you've already got a great body, you just can't see past your arms (which are not that bad to begin with) this is definitely something to try fixing with training and diet, and then if you are still not satisfied you can do lipo anyway - you haven't lost anything and the lipo will reveal all the muscle definition you built working out!

    ETA: you are meant to look like you, that may not be the "normal" or "ideal" you are looking for, but it is you, and at some point we all have to make peace with the way we are genetically and the limits to what we can do about it. Even with lipo, you may not look the way you picture as ideal - and what do you do then? More procedures?
  • Nooooo lipo is the very last resort, if weight loss somehow doesn't make my arms look normal, and if I have the balls (which I probably wont lol).

    So you had big arms before your weight loss? They look so lean now, thats awesome! But were yours at least in proportion with the rest of your body?
  • Quote: normal arms like everyone else
    Your arms aren't abnormal. They look fine, nice and curvy like the rest of you, not out of proportion, just an overall pleasing shape. Human beings vary widely in shape; whoever it is you are thinking of as "normal" isn't any more or less normal than you.

    Quote:
    And yeah, a lot of the tops I can't even fit my fat arms into but the top is loose on my bust/waist. It's not fair
    Life isn't fair, and off-the-rack clothes are definitely not fair. Very, very few people fit well into off-the-rack clothes. Each and every one of us has some parts (or several parts) that are problematic with off-the-rack clothes. I have a relatively large bust and small waist, which pretty much means that no off-the-rack shirts fit me properly, and I have trouble with pants as well. That's life.

    I think you should focus on not being so unnecessarily critical of your so-called "fat arms" because it's not going to get you anywhere. Work your program, do lots of strength training to burn fat and improve your muscle definition if you want to, but for goodness sake stop thinking of yourself as some kind of freak with abnormally huge arms. It just isn't so.
  • i have the same problem.... i hate my arms .... even my tshirts i find myself covering them with a sweater cause im embarassed.... needless to say i dont even know where to begin with my bingo arm. and as for the boobs you may not lost them... have you lost any amount since uve started dieting? cause i dont lose all that much when i lose weight and i have DDs im usually on the cuff of a D and DD when u lose weight.... my suggestion wait until your finished losing weight when it comes to your boobs... as for your arms just keep strength training as you go i guess....
  • Wow. Talk about a visual reminder of just how hard we are on ourselves. Those are not "super fat arms."

    I think you look great!
  • Honestly? You look fine. Your vision of your ideal arms may not be possible for you. Your arms may just always be "bigger" no matter how small you get. It's sort of why we sometimes see 110lb women running in here complaining about their stomach pudge or something like that. Some parts of us will always annoy us.

    I know how you feel though. I hate my stomach right now. It's a wrinkly, flabby mess. I'm hoping that if I maintain for a while and do some ab exercises that it will firm up, but I'm not sure that if more fat loss will really help it.

    I also have trouble buying off the rack clothes because I have broad shoulders and most fitted things (blazers, jackets, etc.) do not allow for that. I need to go up to a Large when I should be wearing a small or medium just so they fit up top! Shirts I can usually get away with depending on the material but sometimes I'll have to get something larger and then deal with a baggy waist. It's annoying but off the rack clothes are made to fit the most amount of people possible, not our unique circumstances.

    Regarding my arms though, I've found that weight lifting has really helped my arms because I used to have HUGE arms. Here's a recent comparison from my blog...although I'm 10lbs lighter than that after photo and my arms are A LOT smaller now.



    I need another photo of me at 136lbs so I can compare even more. Don't have one unfortunately.

    I lift weights a lot. I use 10lb free weights whenever I go to the gym and I'm going to buy 12lb ones today because they don't have any at my gym. I lift much heavier when doing some serious weight training and I'm always adding more to challenge myself.

    These last 10lbs I've noticed muscle definition in my arms and lots of fat loss. My arms are about 11" now although I do need to measure them again.
  • thats a pretty good difference. So what kind of exercises do you do with free weights? Shoulder presses? Curls?
  • PS sorry for whining guys, I just really don't like my arms. they look thicker than my calves :/
  • I think by the time you get to your goal, you will have no problem!
  • I also carry weight in my arms. I second everyone's suggestion to weight lift. When I lifted and ran religiously, my arms got toned and I LOVED wearing sleeveless clothes.

    You may not ever have rail thin arms, but you can make your body look the best it can by continuing on the path. You may be surprised - they could end up being your favorite body part!
  • Quote: thats a pretty good difference. So what kind of exercises do you do with free weights? Shoulder presses? Curls?
    A little bit of everything really. I try to make sure that I exercise all parts of my arms. Triceps, Biceps, etc. The gym I go to is really great about incorporating weight lifting into all of the classes. So even when I'm there for a spin class I get some strength training in along with cardio.

    A lot of times I'll get to the classes early and instead of just sitting around and talking I'll do some curls and other exercises with the free weights. I figure that every little bit helps!

    Quote: I also carry weight in my arms. I second everyone's suggestion to weight lift. When I lifted and ran religiously, my arms got toned and I LOVED wearing sleeveless clothes.

    You may not ever have rail thin arms, but you can make your body look the best it can by continuing on the path. You may be surprised - they could end up being your favorite body part!
    I love the muscles in my arms!! Totally worth lifting and I feel super strong (I need a new photo because they are not present in the one above when I was 146 pounds).

    I also feel like I can punch someone in the face!
  • I have big arms too and they are still a matter of concern to me but honestly, I am learning to liev with them. I am happy with my size now - Size 8 - and if I lose anymore weight I dont think I am going to be happy. So i am now focusing on weight training.

    We can't spot reduce - that's the reality. We just have to learn to love our bodies and treat it as best as we possibly can.