I'm 42.  I'm 6feet tall and weigh 230 pounds.  I have a "spare tire".  I decided to eat well, drink plenty of water, do abdominal exercises and cardio exercises.  As I replace abdominal fat with toned muscle, will by abdominal skin sag?  If so, will it reach the point that I will need a tummy tuck?  Would there be any other options in order to make sure that I have tight skin? 

 Hello

In answer to a question about machines for exercise Dr. Weil said

The muscle should make you toned and the skin should not sag.....how long have you been on this exercise program? Have you seen results so far?

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keep exercising

It all depends upon how long/how much overweight you are, if most of the weight is in your abdomen and how vain/impatient you are.  I don't know of a soul who has been significantly overweight who had a totally flat stomach after losing weight, even after a year or two of exercise.  However, if you are a man, your odds are better of having a significantly flatter stomach.  (I don't think you'll be saggy whether you are male or female.  A little "poochy" maybe, but not saggy.)

Probably. Depends on how much weight you lose, your skin, and genetics. I started losing at same age, same weight actually, but I'm 5'6. Skin doesn't quite snap back like when we were 20 yrs old LOL. Now I weigh 140, look great in clothes, but pretty droopy in ab area. Would have been worse without all the exercise I do, I'm sure. Planning on a tummy tuck, but that's just me. Good luck, Keep losing and exercising. You'll feel great.

I am 5'2" and weighed 189 pounds in November 1999 when I decided to diet and get fit.  The excess weight I was carrying was due to multiple preganacies.  I felt older than my 45 years.  I definitely had problems with perio-menopaus.  I wasn't sleeping well.  I was lathargic.  I took off 1 pound per week on average over the course of the next 1 year and weighed 138 pounds by Christmas 2001.  I maintained that weight until March 2006 when I decided I wanted to weigh 110 pounds.  I successfully dieted and lost another 1 pound per week.  I have maintained 110 pounds ever since the summer of 2006.  I researched weight by size and came up with this weight for my size because it was the middle of the weight scale for my height.  I walk 4 miles per day 5 days a week and on Saturdays I walk 6 miles.  Sunday I rest.  I eat and drink what ever I please on Friday-Sunday.  Every week, Monday through Thursday, I limit my calorie intake and get back to 110 pounds.  I count calories daily.  I weigh myself daily.  I exercise daily.  I have a completely flat stomach and abdomen.  I do have loose skin which doesn't exactly sag but is wrinkled.  At my age, I am not going to worry about wrinkles.  I earned them.  I am enjoy the feeling of being thin and am a very happy person.  I am now 55.  This is a very individual choice and not everyone wants to work and focus as much as I have. 

You must be our poster child for healthy living!

And what an example of working hard. 

Thank you for sharing this as many can take inspiration from your goals and sucess.

Best of Health To You
Moderator/Dr.Weil Team
moderator44@drweil.com

All information contained on our web site, including information relating to medical and health conditions, products and treatments, is for informational purposes only, and not as medical advice.

Congratulations on your successful weight loss!  How many calories do you consume a day to keep your weight at 110 lbs?

Dear Gemtag,

I'm 64 years old, female....married to third husband.  Had two children with first husband and one child with second husband.  I gained 50 pounds with each pregnancy!  Had stretch marks, abdominal skin sag...the whole catastrophe.......never had a tummy tuck but that didn't seem to prevent my getting married 3 times (divorced first husband, second husband died, third husband is a doll!)  Why subject yourself to "major abdominal surgery" with all the risks involved, eg. blood clot, infection, allergic reactions, general anesthetic, etc?  So unless you are planning on losing 100 pounds, I wouldn't bother!

I have found that regardless of what the charts say, to maintain my weight I must not eat over 1466 if I have exercised.  No exercise means 1266.  Monday through Thursday, 966.  I vary my diet daily.  It's not for everyone as my walking partners are fond of telling me!  Oh yeah, that is another HUGE reason I am successful.  I have regular walking partners.  At 7:45 Monday through Friday my pal arrives to walk our 4 miles.  She comes over en route to work.  Since we run all the up hill portion, we take 30 minutes to walk 4 miles.  She has plenty of time to get to work by 9:15!  I have 5 regular walking pals for Saturday too.  Without these reliable pals, I may not have stayed the course this long.  But then again, I am determined and the results have been amazingly wonderful on every level.  So, maybe I would have!

I have also tried to restrict my calories, but I haven't tried to keep it below 1,000.  Maybe that's why I'm stuck at !33 lbs.  I also exercise (walk on the treadmill 3-4 times a week and do 3 miles at a time).  I feel my best at 125 lbs. but can't seem to break the plateau I'm at right now.  What do you typically eat during the day when you're restricting your calories to 966?

Well it isn't very exciting.  I eat 2 poached eggs (140K 12 g) 1/2 of a whole wheat roll (75K 2g) and I drink either 2 cups of black tea or 2 cups of coffee, black with cinnamon.   I eat breakfast in the later morning.  Then 4 hours later I eat the other half of the whole wheat roll usually with a sliced tomato a shredded carrot a thin slice of ham (20K 2g) and lots of mustard  That leaves me with about 600K for dinner.  That is really easy to do!  I drink 2 to 3 cups of bush tea during the day.  I don't use milk, creamer or sugar because I like the way it tastes.  I drink several glasses of water.  I chew gum.  I feel really good about maintaining a steady 110.  Before I figured out what worked, I couldn't get below 125.  Finally I got to 114, but stayed there forever.  It feels good and to be where I am now.

Sounds like a pretty easy eating plan -- I'll give it a try!  What do you usually eat for dinner?  Do you eat anything after dinner?  Also, how tall are you?

With 600 calories to eat for dinner that meal varies from day to day.  I eat fruit, lots of vegetables, salad, and some kind of protien.  I eat 4 hours after dinner.  I NEVER eat anything after dinner on Monday through Thursday.  Friday through Sunday I may eat dessert.  I am 5' 2".

Excuse me, I meant to say I eat dinner 4 hours after lunch!

That sounds very doable -- I'm going to give your routine a try and hopefully I can break through the plateau I've been at for 6 months.  Thanks so much for sharing this information with me!

Don't forget to get some physical activity every day.  If you can find someone to do it with you will forget that this is so hard to do.  And when you achieve your goal and feel better in every way, it will all have been worth the effort.  Good luck!

Thanks so much -- good luck to you, too!