Currently i weight nearly 240 pounds and i want to lose it but i have some questions in my mind.I have stretch marks on my arm - they are not visible and very narrow but there are a lot of them - and im scared that if i lose weight ( even with exersice , healthy diet and long term losing) my arms gonna look like bat wings. Is it possible to tone them up???????? Has anybody got the same experience?? im 23 years old and 5'8"

It is impossible to say for 100% certain how stretched skin is going to react. At your age, you have a very good chance of all your stretched skin bouncing back. The older you get, the less elastic skin tends to get. Genetics also plays a big role. Some people are just naturally more elastic then others.

Bear this in mind though..It is far better to have a healthy body, live a healthy life, have full control of your eating, and have bat wings, than to have an unhealthy body, risk diabets and a myriad of other health problems, let food rule your life, and have nice smooth arms.

In other words, if you have to choose between healthy and flabby, or unhealthy and filled out..I would suggest coming down on the side of healthy.

This.

I'm concerned about the loose skin issue too, as I've got over 100 pounds to lose and I'm 47. However, I'd rather be a slender, fit, healthy gal in a too-large birthday suit that where I'm at now. No question. Maybe I'll start saving for surgery now, lol!

I am seriously with you there Robin. I too hate the flabby. But I have resigned myself to it if it happens to happen. I figure that the hubby is the only one who will see the worst of it, and he loves me either way. With me, its not the arms. I have a tiny bit of hangy flesh there, but I see it shrinking very obviously, so I am confident that it will be, at least mostly, firm when I am at goal. With me, its thats damn apron. I can see that it too is shrinking, but it is not as noticeable a difference, and I fear I will always have a bit of it, and maybe a bit more than a bit. *sigh* I blame 3 c-sections. It certainly cant be all those reeses and funyuns.

I've lost and gained the same 50-65 lbs. now more times than I can count....a fact that I'm trying hard to change. Anyway, I have some loose skin on my stomach....like the apron TornadoSiren mentioned. Having had 2 kids really stretched out one side but the other side isn't so bad...so it's actually lopsided! Yikes! Well, I can honestly tell you that when I got down to my goal weight of 150 lbs., I looked great in clothes and my husband didn't complain either. Did I still have that apron of loose skin? Yep. Was I ok with it? Nope. Did I gain it all back? Yep. Do I wish that I had just accepted my body, loose skin and all? Yep. So that's the lesson here for me....I will accept my body's imperfections and just enjoy it as it is instead of searching for perfection that will never come.

What others said - it's impossible to tell what will happen to you as an individual. I'm nearly 24 and worried about similar things - more that my arms won't get smaller and all and I'll end up disproportionate and funny looking. But also as others said, I'd rather be healthy and fit and a bit disproportionate than what I am now - which truth be told, is not that great. 5 foot tall and a very chubby bunny.

No way to know what your skin will do, but you are young enough that it could shrink right along with your fat. I lost 100 pounds in my 20's and my skin was toned and firm when I was at goal weight. I am in my 50's now and well... to be honest not so much.

But what's the alternative? I spent ten years in the mindset that if I lost weight I would just gain in back again, so why bother.

The extra 100 pounds has ruined my health and in the end I find myself in the possition where my choices were to loose weight or die. So now, because I was making excuses instead of taking care of my self I will spend a year or more struggling to do something that I should have done when the first 30-40 pounds piled up!

I hope for your sake that you are not going to be using the potential of ending up with flabby skin as an excuse to do nothing!

Loosing weight can be overwhelming. Especially when you have alot to lose and are looking at the "big picture" so maybe you can start smaller and set yourself a "mini" goal, then another and another until you are where you want to be with you weight.

Consider starting with one (or several!) of the "Christmas Challenges" here, It has been very helpful for me.

Good luck!

I have the same thing on my arms...I'm 27. I have noticed that they have become a lot more noticeable as I have lost weight...whether that sticks around or not I will have to wait and see.
But I have to say what the others have said is true. I would rather have the elephant skin then look like I do/did. You are really only showing skin like what 10% of your life? You will look great in clothes when you reach goal and that's enough for me!

<3

i with the weight ive lost i have a horrible amount of stretch and sag on my stomach. it really got me down and discouraged for a long time. my biggest concern is that people wouldnt look at me and say "wow, she must have lost a lot of weight, good for her" but "oh, ew". which seems to be the general reaction. either way i look at myself in the mirror, and yes, there still is wor to be done but im so damned proud of how far ive come and how hard ive worked. thats all i need, not the approval of strangers.

but as far as what you'll see? well a girlfriend of mine lost a similar amount of weight as me. she looks like she's always had a tight stomach and arms and such. so it really depends. i will say, keep up with palmers coco butter though. it really has helped with stretchmarks.

My arms have been my most problamatic area...they continue to be flabby. But recently I saw some pictures of myself when I was at my fattest and realized that my arms have really toned up and slimmed down.
It just takes time to get to that goal image and a lot of weight lifting.

For me I just got into that work out routine and stuck with it and eventually the flabby arm thing bugged me a lot less becuase I knew I was working on it.

I agree with everyone...it's hard to say. I've googled that kind of stuff. From what I've read it will probably go back. I think if you are doing some weights that should tighten them up.