Help! I'm losing inches everywhere but my arms! I'm fitting into pants that I never thought I'd be able to fit into (way cool ) and into sleeveless tops I never thought I would be able to fit into (also, cool ) but as soon as the shirt has sleeves I'm screwed! I have to suffer with my old shirts instead of the cute new ones I know I could fit my tummy and boobs into only because my stupid arms are so big.

Does anyone have any good exercises, miracle foods, a really good plastic surgeon w/ liposuction?

I'm getting pretty desperate because I have to be shoved into a spagetti strap pink monstrosity in a few months (I'm a bridesmaid in a close friend's wedding) and I really don't want to be the girl w/ the bat wings.

Thanks for all your help!

If you find a way let me know!!!! My are 16 inches right now and looks gross with the folds of skin underneath. Tanning will help you look smaller but I dont really know what to tell you for the skin. I've been doing the butterfly machine at the gym and the pullover, it defientely makes me sore in those problem areas.

I remember when I was at a lower weight, walking and briskly swinging my hands back and forth really helped me lose weight all over. You could also lift at a very low weight of 5lbs to maybe give some definition? Anyways, I was reading that losing weight is 70% about what you eat, and 30% about how much you excercise. So keep on doing well with eating, and do a least 30 minutes of cardio 4 times a week and I think you'll be good to go. The people at the gym are usually really helpful, ask around there as well. <3

Good tips here. the only thing I would add is to work on your triceps to build muscle and tone them up. There are a bunch of different exercises for your triceps. Overhead extensions are one of the best I think. Diet has a lot to do with it too.

Congrats on your success!

Cardio, cardio, cardio! and a good diet. that is how you lose fat, and that is how you get those arms to shrink. for sure do some arm work and tone up your muscles, but fat loss is what is going to make the difference here.

sadly, one of nature's many cruel tricks is that you can't really control where you gain and lose weight. and problem areas are going to be the last places that you lose fat. I can tell you that you are not alone- my area has always been my middle. even when i was in the gym six days a week, and my absolute thinnest and fittest- i still had a squishy middle. I would say tan a little, and also talk to the bride- if she is a dear friend, she will want you to feel pretty while you stand with her on her happiest day ever- i bet you could find a pretty wrap or something to go with your dress and she would be okay with that. then you can cover up your arms, and feel more confident, and no one is the wiser! I am the voice of experience here: I am squeezing into a periwinkle monstrosity in 4.5 weeks!

I think almost everyone has a trouble area (or a few) that are hard to come off (for you, it's the arms, for others, it can be the belly, buttocks, thighs, etc.). My only recommendation is keep up the good work! Eventually your arms will catch up with the rest of your body. Also, add some toning exercises for the arms (particularly the triceps); no, you can't "spot reduce" the fat there, but having more well-defined muscles in that area can help it look firmer.

Well, you may be able to get the fat to "shrink" or turn into muscle but excess skin will always remain. And there is nothing that you can do about it. It sucks.
The ONLY thing that I could do was get an armplasty (excess skin cut out) of my upper arms. Now they look pretty great and a lot of the stretch marks were snip snipped out at the same time so....... two in one!

Tone, tone, and tone some more. Even 3 pound weights will make a difference. Let's be honest the upper arms aren't exactly a spot that gets worked on a daily basis.

I know exactly where you're coming from. With the original 30 + pounds I lost, I had no change in the arms. They were still flabby and wide. Now that I made a conscious decison to resistance train 4 days a week, they're a toned 9 1/2 inches around.

I just want to clarify though again (I feel it needs to be said, I wish somebody had told me) that if one is starting out with more than 50lbs to lose then you need to be prepared for extra skin baggage. And NO amount of toning is going to take away stretch marks, or creams, or lotions, or potions, or exercise.
I just don't want you to feel like you haven't tried hard enough with lifting weights if your arms are still big and flabby at the end of the day. Because that just might be something that you will not be able to help without surgery.
I feel like I felt that I "hadn't done enough" and I go and see my doc and he says..... "Hun, you can't do anything about this extra skin by exercise alone. It is unfortunate but true."

I don't have any words of wisdom or advice, but I just wanted to say I'm the same way. You're not alone. I've lost weight and inches all over, but I've only lost 3/4 inch from my upper arms. Just keep going and don't be discouraged. I'm sure you'll look great in your bridesmaid dress. You've lost a lot of weight! Congratulations! Keep it up!!

haeyu14, I would suggest:

Keep doing what you're doing, eating-wise, to continue losing weight. As has already been said here, you can't spot-reduce, but as you continue to lose body fat you will eventually lose fat from your arms. Everyone's body loses from different places. e.g. my body lost from my boobs and upper body first, my belly and hips last (which is where it goes back first, too - I type as a glare down at my little belly pudge keeping me out of my 'skinny' pants, lol).

Cardio is key to weight loss - as I'm sure you've read/heard/etc. Continuing, or increasing, cardio will help, and you will continue to lose body fat.

Weight and strength training your arms now will help to tone your arm muscles. This will help make them more shapely now, if they're still larger, and as you continue to lose weight your muscles will tone. Also, muscle burns more calories than fat, even at resting, so increasing your muscle mass now will help your body burn more calories even when you're sitting down not doing anything. Which will help you continue to lose weight. If you don't have access to a gym, you can get some simple dumbbells at a lot of stores, walmart, target, etc. You can even lift bottles filled with water or soup cans or milk jugs of water. There are online resources where you can look up some simple exercises like curls, tricep dips (the tricep is the muscle on the back of your upper arm that is where the "bat wing" effect takes place). Also perhaps the "Ladies Who Lift" forum could offer you some suggestions. As you can tell, I am a big advocate of strength training.

Keep up the good work, and congratulations on the wonderful progress you've already made.

~Megan

Hi haeyu14, and congratulations on your weight loss!!

Unfortunately I don't have anything to say other than what has already been said... I once read that everyone has a fantastic set of biceps and triceps, they're just covered by fat. Until you lose the fat "blanket", you probably won't see much of a difference, even if you did work your arms with weights as often as possible. (That's every second day, btw... never work the same muscle group two days in a row.)
So, cardio is the way to go. But try to move your arms as you are doing your cardio. If you can, try out a class that has an all-over workout that also works your heart, such as boxing or other martial arts, boxercise aerobics etc. Those types of classes can also be low-impact. Push ups, if you can do them, are also good - if you keep your arms closer together it works your triceps more. Tricep kickbacks, hammer curls, shoulder presses - all of these will help eventually. It's better to use free weights than the gym machines as well, since you work more stabilizer muscles in the process.

But don't feel discouraged, no matter what. Everyone loses weight differently... I personally hate my bat wings!! lol And I've boxed for years. I just have to lose the weight. So it's a slow process, and you may need to have surgery to remove the excess skin, as ShrinkingChica said. Be proud of yourself for how far you have come!!! And if it makes you feel better, you can see if you could get a stole or a shawl to wear with your dress, and I'm sure you'll look fabulous!!

Thanks so much for the encouragement and ideas! I do a good amount of cardio, so it's good to know I'm doing the right stuff. Lifting weights isn't one of the things I tend to do though (every time I try I get bad high school flashbacks of that manditory PE class I had to take... *shutter*). I guess I'm going to have to suck it up and do it, though. It can't be as bad now as it was back then... i hope.

Lifting weights is definitely better now than it was during high school. The main reason being it's on your own want to. It's not manditory. I mean sure you'll see better results if you do weight training, but no ones going to fail you if you don't. Just be careful though weight training can be addicting and even bordering on fun!!

crazynette... i'm not so sure i believe you about weightlifting becoming fun... but i'm willing to smile and nod.

My next question is... what kind of weights do i need?