Nice post Mossy.
And I am fairly in agreement with all you say in this one. Your statement:
"Strength training and many use running, too -
are two of the only ways to build up all of the surrounding muscles supporting your skin."
is not a clear statement. Do you mean they are the only way or those are two of the many ways?
And I make mistakes like that in my writing all the time, so I am not picking on your syntax.
However muscle does not support the skin in the sense of not allowing it to sag. Skin and muscle have two very different objectives in the body. Muscle is to provide motion to the body via contracting or extension of the muscle cells. Skin provides the body with protection from bacteria, helps keep the moisture in etc. Rapid gain of weight in many cases, especially the last trimester of pregnancy often stretches the skin faster than it can grow resulting in the stretch marks many women --- and some men have. Rapid gain of fat or/and muscle can also result in stretch marks.
Rapid loss of girth (due usually to loss of weight) result in the skin not being able to keep up with the loss.... In some people. Not all. Fortunately for me I am one of the latter. I have never known anyone that had to have excess skin removed but I have heard about it enough to be familiar with it.
My cousin's wife got pregnant in her thirties. She was hugely overweight, obese. The doctors told her to lose 40 lbs during her pregnancy. And she did. It was odd seeing her shrink and getting closer to her due date, but she did and got the 40 lbs off before she delivered. That was some years ago, in the late fifties. No diet stuff at all, she practiced push-backs at the table to achieve that loss. She was also fortunate that her skin shrank, not that it really needed to, she put most of that back on in the next few years but never got as heavy as she was. She ate the same foods as we did also and cooked for us, but she ate way less. And I do not recall her doing any type of exercise outside of cooking and house work. She did not even go for walks.
Now, when I did basic training in the military, that was an education in weight management. I watched closely... I wish I had of taken notes but I only watched the miracles happening. I watched huge very overweight guys, especially a few Hawaiians that lost 50 lbs during the 8 week.... two month training course. That is over one lb per day loss. And I watched skinny little weak twerps add muscle mass and become healthy looking strong men. I saw most of the average weight guys, like I was, add muscle and weight, toning up, bulking up. I gained 25 lbs during that time myself, going from 155 to 180 lbs. Over half a lb of weight gain per day.
Regardless of what the public is told, our military has fine food. (what the cooks do with it is sometimes a different story though) And plenty of it. I knew nothing at all about calorie counting them, but my estimate is that I took in over 7000 calories per day during our three meals. No going hungry in there.
One of the Hawaiian guys did have a lot of loose skin from the huge weight loss.... and it was fat he lost to. And he added muscle mass. I felt sorry for him though because the military's clothing was not nearly as good as the food. Military boots have no support. We had to run everywhere we went. When we left the barracks we had to run to wherever we were going. His feet broke down. And they did not even allow him a break. They ruined his feet...
And a lot of guys ruined their feet the same way. It was as if they did not care the least about what happened us in some matters and in others took superb care for us.
Calisthenics twice a day for over an hour. Six mile hikes carrying full gear and our rifles. We marched, usually double time everywhere we went. No rides. No weight equipment, no weight training whatsoever. Practically all of our exercise was calisthenics and running.
Watching the bodies change and adapt was a college education if one paid attention.
And this was for around 14 hours per day. We seldom got more than 6 hours of sleep. That is enough, you get the picture. Rapid weight loss is very possible with the retention of muscle mass and even adding more muscle. Rapid gain comes the same way. Fat loss can be with or without loss of muscle depending on how it is done.
B F R
PS: I was kinda bored and writing this kinda filled the time.