Hi!

Are there specific exercises I should be doing to help with the weight I am losing? I know that I need to do arm exercises to hopefully fill some of my stretched skin with muscle, and crunches to help firm and flatten my stomach as it becomes smaller. I also know that I am likely to have loose skin no matter what I do, since I am hoping to lose 110 more pounds, making a total of 150 lost. However, are there any specific exercises I should do to help reduce the amount of loose skin?

In addition, I'm finding that my back is having a hard time adjusting to the lost weight! It's been swayed and bowed for so long trying to hold up my huge stomach and pendulous breasts...now it doesn't know what to do with itself! Are there any exercises I can do to help my posture and help "resettle" my back into a healthy position?

Thank you!

Exactly, Jack. If you are pregnant beachgal you shouldn't be losing weight right now. But, you can make sure that you don't gain anymore than you need.

Hey Laurie!!

Guys, Laurie isn't pregnant yet but she is getting herself healthy so she can have a healthy pregnancy!! I've praised her over and over for that!!

Now, Laurie, I have the same thought line as you about the loose skin lol, I'm starting to notice my arms "pucker" so I'm lifting weights and trying to firm it up and hopefully it will work. But I also read somewhere that, the whole loose skin issue really depends on your body. I already told my hubby that when I reach my goal weight and if I still have loose skin on my tummy, I'm getting a tuck lol. Laurie, hang in there girl, you know I'm here for ya! You are doing awesome!!

Michelle

It sounds odd, but stabilizing your abdominals really helps the back, especially the "obliques," the abdominals on either side of your waist. And a strong lower back is really important, especially the "erectors" next to the spine.

But you have to be very, very careful in this area if you are overweight and out of shape, as any injury there can really set you up for trouble. IIWY I'd start out with simple crunches and toe touches, and not hundreds of them, either. And don't propel yourself through the motion, go slowly and with control.

You can also just walk around with your stomach sucked in. It sounds weird, but if you do that all day long, day in and day out, it definitely has an effect.

Dancing is another fun way to develop the core. Doing "The Twist" works well. Be careful with it-- I've done a number on myself more than once dancing too hard. Just too much fun.

Thanks so much for the wonderful advice! I'll definitely keep up with my (to my thinking) moderate sit up plans...about 50 crunches every other day along with 15 side touch crunches for each side (twist elbow towards knee while sitting up).

Yup, thanks, Michelle...I'm not pregnant yet, though I would *love* to be...my body is way too overweight to healthily support a baby. So I'm losing this weight to ready my body for that most special of blessings! Of course, I'm especially worried about the loose skin because I know that if I have it, I can't have a tummy tuck until I have all our kids. But I also realize that if it happens, it happens. I'll just have to deal and know that I'm pretty no matter what skin is flapping around! I just want to know that I did all I could to tone what I have.

Is it true that crunches are more beneficial than sit ups? My Cooking Light had an article saying that sit ups are just as beneficial, but they carry the possibility of back injury if you do them improperly. I'm definitely not powerful enough in my stomach to sit all the way up yet on my own. So I'm sticking to powerful, slow crunches, trying to suck my belly button into my spine with each one.

I totally agree with you on the tummy sucking in all day thing, Seek! I've noticed that I actually can pull my tummy in with my muscles now, where as before I started SBD, my muscles were so weak and my tummy so big, that I could not! I feel much better when I sit tall and such in that tummy, so I try to do it as much as I can all day.

Thanks again, guys! I really appreciate your patience and willingness to share your interest and knowledge about exercise! :

Laurie, You know, the other day I read something about full fledged situps making a come back in the fitness world, so who knows what todays trend is lol. I like crunches better though. Seek is absolutely right on the abs supporting your back and helping with good posture, when you tighten your abs it promotes good posture in your back. As you sit at your desk tighten your abs and pull your shoulders back, and there you go!! Wonderful posture!!

Michelle

Hmmm, I haven't heard anything good about full sit-ups. My suggestion would be to get a Stability ball (aka Swiss ball) and do a lot of the core strengthing exercises on it. If you get one made by "Thera-Band", there's a great little booklet that comes with it showing about 20 ab and lower back exercises. Doing anything on one of them forces all your core muscles to work hard to keep you from rolling off the thing. Also, it's much easier on most people's backs for doing crunches than the floor.

Mel

OMG!! I totally forgot about the balance ball!!! You will totally get an awesome ab workout on one of those!!! Man oh man I felt like I had been clubbed 100 times in the belly with a metal bat after I tried it!!

Michelle