[xty]

hi krampus

6 months ago I would have said my legs and batwings. but they have really improved a TON.

for almost 2 years I have been working out 3xweek with a bootcamp style trainer. basically I feel like I had to build up more muscle than a not formerly obese girl. Combined with the last 6 mo of final fat loss, the muscle started realllllly showing thru and even seems to make the areas of loose skin look better due to muscle.

the other thing that helped a TON with my legs was lymph system work, specifically the dry body brushing. it decreased the water logged look on my calves. they are still super gigantic but they just look strong to me now.

my only real remaining problem area is my a$$ it actually looked better with a tad more fat, but im working to add muscle there and even in the last 2 months Ive seen an improvement.

many people losing weight short themselves on the needed aspects to develop muscle...so my best advice is to workout smartly to build muscle (I barely do cardio even) and to eat the right/enough foods to build muscle.

[Ashley89]

thighs and butt *sigh*

[Eliana]

At my highest I was mortified by my rear end. That's where all the fat landed when it had nowhere else to go. It was enormous...it's own shelf.

Now it's my belly. I'm quite happy with it clothed, but unclothed it's not so pretty. And now that I'm getting divorced...*sigh*. It would be nice to have my old flat belly back. In inches I am only 29 inches around at the naval which I'm quite happy with! But it folds over.

[Wildflower]

I hate my arms. They are huge and puffy and while they are strong, I dunno, years of childhood competitive swimming plus weight lifting has left them gigantic. I get so jealous of girls who have skinny stick arms, even if they can't lift a bag of groceries.

[mca10]

My legs. I see everything else shrinking but my legs are still so big. My thighs are currently 26-27". I'm about 40 lbs from my goal but I'd like to know for those of you who have lost a lot do you think mine will shrink to a smaller size as I near my goal? I'm so scared that I'll be 120 lbs but have my current legs.

[kat999]

Originally Posted by mca10

My legs. I see everything else shrinking but my legs are still so big. My thighs are currently 26-27". I'm about 40 lbs from my goal but I'd like to know for those of you who have lost a lot do you think mine will shrink to a smaller size as I near my goal? I'm so scared that I'll be 120 lbs but have my current legs.

A lot of leg appearance will be affected by what kind of exercise you're doing. I have to do a lot of cardio or else my legs don't show much improvement, even if I suddenly look like I have little twig arms and a tiny upper body. If you instead do a lot of weight training, you have to watch it a little. Keep to lower-body work like pilates and yoga, and stick with weight training mainly in the upper body to give yourself a nice hourglass, balanced look. If all you want is a long and lean "dancer's body" all over, cardio and toning that only involves bodyweight rather than freeweights (i.e. pilates and maybe Callanetics) are your best bets.

[mca10]

Thank you Kat999! I haven't incorporated any weights into my workouts yet. I briefly did yoga for a couple of months and did some upper body weights but decided that I wanted to be in the 130 range before I really started toning so that I wouldn't get bigger on top of fat. I only do cardio for an hour every single day. I walk between 3-4 miles and do intervals of very steep stairs (40 flights total) and I skip a stair each time to make it feel more like a lunge. The fat seems to hang more loosely than it did when I was much heavier. It's weird to see what size my leg would be without the fat since it literally hangs off. I've just started incorporating some running into my walks.

Is it possible that they won't go down even if I lose 40-45 more lbs. (currently 162)? Before I gained all the weight I was extremely active. I worked out almost twice a day for about 4 hours. I also was a pitcher so I that was another workout each day as well. My legs weren't tiny back then but they were pretty much all muscle but they weren't even close to what I am now. I think I was around 140-145. So I know they were smaller at one time, but does that mean they have a chance of going back to that 9 years later?

Thanks again! This is my first time ever dieting and no one I know has ever lost a large amount of weight except my boyfriend who started this with me and he's lost 42lbs and is at his goal of 150.

I guess I'm just scared of what's to come.

[kat999]

Originally Posted by mca10

Thank you Kat999! I haven't incorporated any weights into my workouts yet. I briefly did yoga for a couple of months and did some upper body weights but decided that I wanted to be in the 130 range before I really started toning so that I wouldn't get bigger on top of fat. I only do cardio for an hour every single day. I walk between 3-4 miles and do intervals of very steep stairs (40 flights total) and I skip a stair each time to make it feel more like a lunge. The fat seems to hang more loosely than it did when I was much heavier. It's weird to see what size my leg would be without the fat since it literally hangs off. I've just started incorporating some running into my walks.

Is it possible that they won't go down even if I lose 40-45 more lbs. (currently 162)? Before I gained all the weight I was extremely active. I worked out almost twice a day for about 4 hours. I also was a pitcher so I that was another workout each day as well. My legs weren't tiny back then but they were pretty much all muscle but they weren't even close to what I am now. I think I was around 140-145. So I know they were smaller at one time, but does that mean they have a chance of going back to that 9 years later?

It sounds like you're doing all the right stuff. I know you want to shred down before you tone up, but sometimes if all cardio is burning you out, yoga really isn't going to tone you so much that you're building muscle on top of fat. In fact, you may see some reduction in inches as you lose fat (even if the scale doesn't budge).

Depending on your age and environmental factors, it may take a while for your skin to realize it's not wrapping itself around a larger person, and its elasticity may be a little sluggish. That's certainly normal, but it also is proof that one shouldn't strive for weight loss to go so fast that you've got extreme amounts of that loose skin. Observe what happens to gastric bypass patients, or women who give birth to a LOT of babies all at once: usually they have to get loose skin surgically removed, and I'm sure you don't want that! (Although your current weight is not so high that that would even be an issue.) Still, slow and steady will see your skin react a little better.

[mca10]

Kat999 - again thank you for responding it makes me feel so much better to hear that from a stranger than those who see me everyday and just want to support no matter what.

I don't have any issues with loose skin on my legs -yet. The only loose skin so far is on my breasts and I'm ok with knowing I'll have some and will work hard to shrink it naturally as much as I can but if it stays it stays it's so much better than being overweight.

I'm not looking to lose faster because it's not realistic to lose more than the 2 lbs. a week which I'm currently doing. Also my starting weight was 242 and now I'm 162. My legs have shrunk a ton, like 10" per leg, I'm just wondering if they will continue.

I love my workouts/cardio and luckily haven't felt burned out, but I do feel my body wanting to go harder so I add stuff to make it more challenging.

My bf calls these last 40ish pounds the big pounds meaning that since I'm closer to weight I'll actually see the difference. Have you noticed that with the 17 lbs. you've lost? Also may I ask how long it's taken you?

[pinkflower]

My stomach. I had 2 9 pounder c-section babies, so the loose skin is bad. My stomach looks pretty flat, in clothes, and good naked (except for a little flap of skin), but if I'm doing yoga, in loose shirts, I hate looking down and seeing my loose skin hanging there Fortunately, if I wear tight work out clothes, it holds it in so I don't feel self conscious at the gym.

My bat wings are my next problem spot, but they're getting better with every push up and heavy weight work out I do! I love strength training, it has made losing weight so much easier and my body is nicely reshaping itself, so there is hope!