About two years ago I lost about 40 pounds, mostly due to starting a regular yoga practice routine. I’ve also grown considerably stronger. Unfortunately, the loss of fat has left me with a lot of excess skin which is loose all over, but especially on my chest and stomach areas.
Besides being pretty unappealing asethetically , it’s also painful during skin grabs ( a part of my martial arts classes) which often leaves me with black and blue marks due to the fact that a handful of my stomach skin can be grabbed as opposed to a small amount of someone else’s (And they display little or no marks afterwards).
I was told by a skin doctor that I was stuck with this ugly and annoying skin for the rest of my life (it already has retracted as much as it will), which is really annoying because I’m rather young at 20 to have all this skin on me forever.
Is there any chance that some yoga technique or substandard remedy will get rid of it? I’m guessing no.
Baring that, I was wondering what you thought of weight training. Could I possibly “fill” the skin with muscle? I’m already fairly strong but would lifting weights help? What are your thoughts on weight training? I was once told that the muscle it builds is less flexible than muscle built with your own body as a counter weight.
Finally, though I do have a lot of loose skin around my pectoral muscles, I think some of the sag is caused by fat that I just can’t get to go away, causing a embarrassing “man boob” effect which protrudes through light clothing. I’ve tried doing everything I can think of to get rid of it. I do regular repetitions of hand stand push ups, peacock pose, and a number of other poses and exercises that seem to stress the pectoral muscles, all without getting rid of that fat (though my muscle has increased somewhat).
So, any ideas on any of my problems? Perhaps I’m being too aesthetically centered, but it truly bothers me. Any suggestions you could give would be appreciated. Thanks.