How fat moves about

[Saliena]

Hello All,

Last week I posted the fact that I had lost about 50 pounds. Well now I am at a odd point where my body is in a flux. I had a rather large "spare tire" that is now almost gone. However, the way my body has lost the fat it has left alot of "loss skin" Now I am only 26 and this is right around my mid section. I also see the start of this in other parts of my body. I am not sure what to do about this. I work out the area but the fat there is not getting any tighter. Any ideas at all? Let me know! Thanks.
:wave:
S.

[Karen]

Last week I posted the fact that I had lost about 50 pounds.

Why don't you change your stats so we can see the % move down and celebrate with you?

Karen

[Saliena]

lol... okay so I am slow sometimes! :roll:

[Elihnig]

I read in an old book, "The Woman Doctor's Diet for Women"

quote: "However, the subcutaneous fat in a female is genetically programed (ice cream cone shaped and pear shaped) to be of a certain thickness, which means that if you lose too much from one area, your body will take fat from another available area. This is called redistribution; the process of moving the fat is called migration. I like to tell my patients that you lose from the head down, but redistribute from the feet up. You can never tell immediately after stopping a diet ( though we on Atkins plan on never stopping) what the final form of your body will be, because this migration of fat takes about six weeks longer. You can't see the migration and redistribution while you are still losing steadily, because layer after layer of fat is being eliminated too quickly for the process to be discernible. You will notice it only after you have slowed down or stopped losing altogether. Your face, arms, neck, and breasts usually appear to get thinner first, thinner than your lower extremities because up above there is less fat to lose. Then you will see your waist, hips, and stomach, and finally your legs decrease in size (I got everything else, but my stomach and hips are the ones holding out on me.). Women who are 10 pounds away from their ideal weight will come into my office demanding to know, "When will I lose these?" (pointing to their chubby legs).
"Last", I reply. And not just last, but last of all. If you get your weight down and hold it down for a few months, you will see an interesting change in your figure begin to take place up to six weeks after you've stopped dieting (again it's a WOL not a diet for weight loss alone): those unsightly legs will get thinner and your face will become rounder. But you must tolerate a thin drawn face while you are achieving a total slim look. You face will take on a proper amount of subcutaneous fat after you've finished losing.
Many women let their faces be their guide when they diet, but you can see from what I have told you that that is not a good indicator. However, in the older female it might be well to stop short of pencil slimness, in order to preserve some additional subcutaneous fat in her face to prevent wrinkles."

There it is (with my asides :) )


Elihnig

[Natrushka]

Fantastic post, Elihnig, thanks for sharing. Very informative.

Nat

[Dandi]

Elihnig posted above that for the older female "it might be well to stop short of pencil slimness" in order to avoid facial wrinkles."

Do any of you have more information on that topic?

As a 64 year old I have wondered if I would develope facial wrinkles as I lose. So far, after losing 32 pounds, I do not have any more wrinkles than before starting to lose. A neighbor woman does have wrinkles on her cheeks which she said she got when she lost 30 pounds. I still have some pounds to go and do have to decide how many I should lose.

Any thoughts on this topic will be appreciated.

Dandi

[Elihnig]

Well, as the Woman Doctor said, go ahead and lose the weight, if you are unhappy with the way you look, it's very easy to gain the weight back again, just eat the way you did when you were gaining it.

The healthy fats in this diet may also keep wrinkles from being a huge problem. Dr. Atkins talks about successful low-fat dieters having a certain look in the face where they do not have a healthy layer of subcutaneous fat. (I'm mixing my Dr.'s messages, but he said something like that.)

Beth

[Dandi]

Thanks, Elihnig,
I will take all this into consideration while planning my goal weight.

Dandi

[Mariel]

If after a reasonable time of reaching goal you feel you have too many wrinkles... find a good Plastic surgeon and have him take some "tucks". It is worth the money!!!

[Bjuba]

Elihnig said

[I like to tell my patients that you lose from the head down, but redistribute from the feet up.]

I find this interesting - my weight loss is excruciatingly slow - about 18 lbs since Oct 25 (no cheating & exercising 1 hour /day 6/7) - I can tell on my face & body but the biggest indicator is that I have lost a whole shoe size!! Shoes that were tight are now so sloppy I cannot wear them. I will have to buy a dress pair for x-mass - don't really want too until I know my feet have stopped shrinking but have no choice. Another double-ended sword.:)

[CherylAust]

I lose weight from the top down too, after only a couple of kilos of weight loss I get told "oooh you've lost so much weight". I just figured it was gravity LOL. I do remember a celebrity was being roasted about her gaunt face while trying to lose weight, she just said "it's something I have to put up with until I get where I want to be".

I'm going to try the brushing, and want to try a body wrap too. I know it's not for weight loss but it sounds so cool. I have a recipe for a herbal do it yourself wrap, wonder if my dh will wrap me without laughing too much.