Avoiding loose skin - weight loss / question

I am very overweight and have a lot of weight to lose. One thing I am concerned about, and I know this is just aesthetic, is loose skin.

I've seen pictures of bodybuilders who have lost a large amount of weight, had loose skin while they were thin, and built muscle that somehow tightened up the skin.

So my question is - should I get to that point in my fitness journey where I minimize body fat and have loose skin, and THEN build muscle?

OR...

Should I cut weight until loose skin STARTS to appear, build muscle to fill it in in, and repeat until I am lean and muscular?

I don't want to try the first approach and build muscle that does not fill in the loose skin or cause it to tighten. And I'm not sure if the second method would be effective. But the former is what I've seen works.

TL;DR

In short, I am overweight and my goal is to build a lean, muscular physique and minimize loose skin. So what method / order of burning fat and building muscle would be most effective?

Bonus question: Do you have any personal anecdotes of yourself or someone else who has lost weight, dealt with loose skin and tightened it? Please, do tell. I would not be insecure about having loose skin, but I would prefer not to.

All responses are highly appreciated and I want to say my sincere thanks in advance.

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Stuck at 169 (5 7') for the last month. How do I reach the goal weight of 145?

Hello friends,

I'm a 23 year old male, and I started my weight loss journey at 220 pounds, after spending two years in college over eating and stressed out. Using intermittent fasting and OMAD and working out at the gym since January(mostly cardio some weight lifting m), I now weigh 169 pounds. However, I'm stuck now.

I've tried keto and found it too restrictive. Alternate fasting causes my weight to drop to 165 before jumping back up again 169-170. I've been 10000 to 15000 steps a day because I didn't want to risk going to my crowded gym. I'm eating between 1500-1700 calories a day. I'm finding it difficult to fast for some reason, even though I did it since January. It's probably because I'm cooped up at home since COVID-19. How long should it take to go from 169 to 145? Should I go lower than 145? When should I start lifting weights again?

Should I try to do ADF? I mean eating Mon, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. If so, how much should I eat on feeding days?

Any advice you have for me is much appreciated...

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The beginning and the first month of my weight loss journey

21 years old, 5'11 Male, SW: 334, GW: 200, CW: 312.7

Hello, my fellow r/loseit followers. Before I get into my little story, I wanted to give a huge thanks to this subreddit for giving me the motivation to start and keep me motivated to lose weight. I love coming here every day to see peoples' stories about their weight loss which ends up helping me find new ideas for my weight loss. I hope I can do the same with my post today for at least someone.

Ok so, I have always been a large guy. I honestly can't remember when I was under 300 pounds. My lifestyle has been terrible ever since I was in 4th grade. Before then, I was active. I played Baseball, Hockey, rode bikes, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Somewhere around 3rd or 4th grade, my lifestyle drastically changed. I got diagnosed with Asthma which changed my lifestyle a lot. I was always being told by doctors that I needed to be careful since I had trouble breathing while being active. I took this the wrong way and pretty much stopped my active lifestyle thinking that I needed to stop.

To keep me from getting bored, I resorted to playing video games instead of being active. Ever since then, I have always played games for hours on end and have eaten terribly. I've always been worried about myself and always hated my weight and my looks. I'll be honest, I still suffer from it but, I'm trying to move on from all that. Lately, for the past couple of months, I got depressed. I was ashamed to step out of the house or even go to family events. I even thought about suicide a few times but, I know I'm better than that. (I'm doing okay mentally, by the way, I just wanted to mention this because I know there are people out there in the same situation. If you are in that situation, seek help. Find someone to talk to. That’s how I have been able to deal with my depression so far.)

After sulking for months and honestly years on end, I finally brought it upon myself that it was time to change about a month ago. My Uncle’s passing is what kind of triggered me to finally realize I needed to do something. Like I said previously, I am ashamed of my body. When I was getting ready for the funeral, I just broke down. Seeing myself in the mirror with my clothes that barely fit me hit me hard. I know I’m not an attractive person but, I did not want to look at myself ever again or want to leave the house. After that instance, I knew it was time to change. I sought help from family and friends, and they have been supportive. If it wasn’t for them, I probably wouldn’t even be making this post.

After getting advice and doing some research, I finally dove into working at my weight loss. I weighed in on the 1st of July at 334 lbs. To be honest, it was lower than I expected. I thought I would be damn near 400 or at least 350 so, that was a good thing to see for myself.

When I started, I really started to watch what I eat. I was recommended to use Food Lovers (a diet tracker) to track all my meals and it was a great tool to start with. It showed me what was a good meal and what wasn’t. It helped me balance Carbs, Fats, and Proteins and helped me get the idea of what a balanced meal is. The service was a bit costly so, I canceled it and switched over to MyFitnessPal which is a great app. I calculated my TDEE which is around 2,200 calories and I have been making sure I’m staying at least 500 calories below it. MyFitnessPal has been so helpful with this since I can see every calorie I eat. Sometimes I will go lower depending if I’m really Hungary or not. I eat 3 meals and 3 snacks throughout the day. I make sure to eat around 300-400 calories for each meal and my 3 snacks are around 150-200 calories. So, if I’m eating the max that I have set for myself (which I haven’t yet) I will consume around 1800 calories for the day.

On top of watching my calories, I have been walking at least 5 days a week. At the beginning it was hard. I found myself hurting after 30 mins of just walking at a normal pace but, I kept at it. Fast forward to today, I’m walking around for an hour around my local park. Throughout the last weeks, I have been picking up the pace. It took me a little over an hour to do 2.75 miles but, I’m now doing it in 55 minutes or so. I’m no longer really hurting but, I do feel it burning at times which is unpleasant however, I keep working through it. I plan to start doing some weight training soon as well. I still need to research on what I should be doing. If anyone has some advice on that, I’m all ears!

So, just by exercising and watching my diet, I have been able to lose over 20 pounds from the 1st to the 28th which has been really motivating for me. I never thought I could lose this much weight but, here I am! I saved some old clothes from high school and I’m starting to fit into some old pants which was surprising. I haven’t been able to fit into some older shirts but, I hope that will come in time. A lot of my family and friends say they can really see it in my body that I’m losing weight and I can somewhat see it as well. I would post some progress pics but, I’m insecure as it is so, I will be holding off on that for a bit lol.

I hope this wasn’t a terrible read, I’m not good with words lol. If anyone has any advice for me, please give it. I’m always looking for ways to improve my weight loss.

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No weight loss & discouraged - any advice?

My stats: Female 5'4 & 138 lbs 29 yrs Goal weight: 120-125 lbs

Due to grad school stress, I've gained about 15 lbs during the last 2-3 years or so. I've successfully lost much of the weight twice in the past only to gain it all back (and then some). I think I gained the weight back due to a combination of a restrictive diet and stress. I just couldn't keep up with eating 1,200 cals while dealing with deadline after deadline.

Since I've just graduated and my stress levels have reduced considerably, I decided to give it another shot. This time, I was hoping to be kinder to myself by not imposing too many restrictions and instead up my exercise regime (while still eating less but not 1,200).

I know my weight falls in the healthy range so I told myself slow and steady loss is best. I don't expect to lose 1-2 lbs a week like I did in my prior attempts to lose weight.

However, it's been 3 1/2 weeks and I've seen no loss. I'm going for runs 3 times a week, hiking once a week and doing yoga on the side. On the days I don't run, I go for long walks.

I've been using my Fitbit to help me figure out how much I burn (I know they're not totally accurate but it's a start). As an example, last week I ate on average 1674 cals a day and burned 2136 a day on average. This gives a nearly 500 cal deficit, with some estimation error probably bringing that number down to 250 cal deficit.

I don't think my Fitbit is being super inaccurate. I've counted my calories before when I was more active on a daily basis (not working from home and going to the gym) and I would eat 1800-2300 a day depending on the intensity and maintain a weight of 137-141 lbs.

I don't expect to have lost a lot in 3.5 weeks but I would have at least expected some loss. It's a bit discouraging since I've cut back a lot on foods I enjoy and sometimes go to bed a bit hungry.

On the upside my waist measurement has gone down by half an inch and my family says I appear slightly slimmer.

What should I do next? I'm considering dropping my intake down to 1,200 a day while maintaining my exercise regime. I tried 1,200 a day during the first week and just got massive hunger headaches so I opted to raise my calories and exercise instead. I'm not sure if new allergy meds (Xyzal and Flonase daily) would have anything to do with my headaches or lack of loss.

Any advice appreciated. Thanks much!

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Small goal, but I lost 15lbs in the last 3 weeks!

So this isn't one of those great posts about how I lost 200lbs over 4 years but it's still an important goal for me. 3 weeks ago I weighed in at 365lbs and this morning I was 350lbs!

I haven't been doing anything fancy or being crazy strict like my last weight loss attempts, I'm just eating less. That's it. To maintain my weight I have to eat over 3000 calories a day, so I've been eating around 2000 normally and then having Saturdays be at maintain calories so I can enjoy myself. I've also been drinking massive amounts of water because I think a big portion of my calories comes from empty liquid calories.

All the posts here have inspired me so much and this is the first time I've started losing weight that feels sustainable for a long time. It's easy, doesn't require much thought, and I can still eat foods that are bad just less of them! Thanks everyone and good luck on your journey to become healthier.

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Stop comparing your progress to others' -- this is not a race

I've lost 41 pounds / 19 kilograms in the past 4 months through diet and exercise at home. People are congratulating me and telling me they wish they had the same progress.

I am here to tell you now to stop comparing yourself to me or anyone else.

You're only seeing a number, that's it. And there are 100 other more important things when it comes to weight loss.

Here's the "other side" of losing 41 pounds:

• Last week I got my Body Fat measured at the dietist's office for the first time. 44% body fat -- after losing all this weight. I was crushed.
• I would rather weigh 20 more pounds but have 10% less body fat -- because it's the fat that's truly bad for you.
• At the moment I don't have a job or kids -- weight loss was like my full-time job. Of course I had more time/freedom to apply myself to this. Don't feel bad if you're juggling lots of things.
• Body dysmorphia is real. I still have trouble recognizing the results in the mirror.
• I have a cheat meal once a week. There were times when I felt really guilty after eating it. That's wrong. This radical "all or nothing" mentality gets you nowhere.
• There were a few days in the beginning where I probably didn't eat enough. And that's wrong. It only made me feel weak. The whole goal of this is to get healthy. I felt much better once I upped my calories.
• Different people = different needs = different responses. Don't just copy what someone else is doing and feel bad for not getting the same result. Find out what works for you and what your body needs.
• Consistency is key. I exercise pretty much 7 days a week. I started it for physical health but it's now just as important for my mental health.

Weight loss is not a race. It's like an ultra marathon that lasts your whole life. You need to develop life-long healthy habits to maintain both your health and your weight.

Compare yourself to the person you were yesterday, not a stranger's numbers.

To me, my journey is just beginning and I'm still far from my goals. But I'm taking it one day at a time. Current goal: fat loss (advice is appreciated).

Good luck!

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Does what you eat affect how fat is distributed on your body?

F24. SW: 190 CW: 167.6

I’ve been eating around 1200kcal for the past month and a half. I’ve been successful on it so far. I don’t track my macros, just my calories. I went to my doctor the other day and we were talking about weight loss. First thing she said was she guesses I eat a lot of carbs because she noticed that I hold a lot of weight around my waist. She said if someone eats too many carbs they will hold all their fat in their gut and develop something similar to a beer belly. Not water weight, actual fat is what she said. She suggested eating a low carb high protein diet combined with tracking calories and exercise. I agree with the low carb high protein diet being the best but I always thought fat distribution is genetic and does not depend on what you eat. I wanted to ask this sub if they noticed any changes to their fat comp when they switched up their macros?

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