[aliceINonederland]

I've lost quite a bit of weight over the last 6 months. I still have a bit to go, but was wondering about flabby arms....I still have them, and I hate them! Will they eventually go away? I'm in my late 20's, and have heard that the older you get, the less elasticity your skin has....needless to say, I am worried!! What have your experiences been with this?

Thanks!!

[mama2james]

Unfortunately I'm at the beginning of my weight loss journey so I can't give you a for sure answer, but I can say that I feel your anxiety too, my arms and legs are where I gain a lot of my weight and I'm nervous about my arms being saggy when I'm through. What I have heard is that skin can take more than a full year to shrink as much as it can after weight loss so don't despair yet. Also I know toning helps a lot! Triceps are probably an area to concentrate on to eliminate some of the underarm jiggle. Hope that helps some. Sorry I can't speak from personal exp. yet.

[Meg]

Alice, it depends on what you mean when you say flabby arms. If you're talking about excess fat on your arms, then yes, that will go away with weight loss. When you lose fat, it will come off from all over your body, including your arms. Unfortunately, we can't spot reduce by targeting one body part with exercise -- fat comes off in whatever order it wants to.

If you mean excess skin when you talk about flabby arms, that's a different story. If your arms were a lot bigger and now have empty skin where there used to be fat, losing more fat isn't going to make the skin go away. Sometimes time helps with skin tightening, but exercise won't make skin shrink either.

But regardless of whether it's skin or fat, lifting weights can be very helpful (and I'm talking full body workouts, not just for your arm muscles!) Weightlifting will speed up your metabolism and allow you to burn more fat. And building up your arm muscles can help to fill in skin that's loose from weight loss.

My suggestions are to add weights to your exercise routine, if you haven't already, and be patient. You may find that you don't have a problem once you reach your goal or if you wait for six months. If you still do, then you can consider other options.

Best of luck to you!

[aliceINonederland]

Thanks for your replies! By flabby, I mean extra fat. I have already begun using weights, so I guess you're right Meg, I'll just have to be patient....but it sure is hard!

[Daimere]

My mother said her arms were the last things to start to go away when after a few years of working on her weight.