****Warning: Language may not be suitable for those in denial. No sugar coating in this article at ALL.****

If you have recently lost a large amount of weight and find yourself with your own built in hammock on your tummy (no, I’m not being funny, I’m being serious here) and are wondering (translate that as ‘panicking while searching for answers’) if there is anything you can do about it there is…wait a while. In time, it will resolve itself. Make sure you are eating right and exercising and it will begin to tighten. However, if you have not recently lost a large amount of weight and have gone through the waiting period and that kangaroo pouch (again, if you have never seen this you need a visual to understand how upsetting this can truly be) is still there and now you are no longer fervently searching the web but instead slowly searching for a real solution because you are tired of the gimmicks…read on.

Excess skin on the tummy is unsightly and frustrating. When you first started out on your journey to being hot you honestly thought the only obstacle you had was being fat (however you want to dress that up, go ahead, and trust me—I can relate). Suddenly, you find yourself at your goal weight but now instead of being hot, you now have your dream body with parts of a shar pei stuck to it. Not fun.

Loose skin is a combination of dieting, muscle loss, genetics and deficiencies. You can do something about 3 of those issues, I’m sorry but I have no cure for who you have as parents, but you also have to realize that you may not be able to achieve all of what you would like so be ready for that.

The most common place for loose skin to appear is on the tummy, in the gluteal fold or on the back of the arms. (For all intents and purposes in this post, we’re going to tackle the skin on the tummy.) Usually I see a woman frantically performing hundreds of crunches in the gym in an effort to change the appearance of loose skin and I am always amazed at where this myth came from. If you want to rid yourself of that skin, doing crunches isn’t going to do anything for you so please stop thickening your waist and wasting your time. Instead focus on your food choices, supplementation, water consumption and attention to detail. The girl who can dot her I’s and cross her T’s is going to cross the finish line faster than anyone else in this race. Let’s pick apart what you need to do and why:

1) Give it more time: What? Girl, if I am reading this then I have qualified myself as one who has “gone through a waiting period” so stop yanking my chain! Well I beg to differ. Have you really been patiently waiting? Have you been on point the entire time and have seen no change? Are you tracking your body fat percentage accurately? Did it take you 3 months to lose 70 pounds and now 2 months later you think you should look amazing? Has it been longer than 6 to 9 months at your current weight with steady changes in body fat levels? Are you dotting your I’s and crossing your T’s? Do you know what you are eating daily and do you track what you do in the gym? No? Ok, take a ticket and step aside. I’m serving #2 right now and your number is 1015. It’ll be a small wait.

Honestly, changing body composition on a level such as this can take upwards of a year of consistent dieting and exercise. Not weight loss dieting, just healthy maintenance eating.

2) Lose more body fat: Are you kidding me? I look like an accordion was fastened to my stomach and you want me to increase that more by losing more fat? Yes. And notice I said body fat and not weight. Big difference and also why I said above that you had to wait some time before you really had exhausted all of your avenues. Losing body fat takes time and the leaner you are, the more resistant your body is to giving up the last little bit. It can take months for your body to re-compose itself and during that time, you will see your skin slowly but surely tightening. You cannot control where your body loses fat so if you want a particular area to have less body fat, then you must lose it overall. Sometimes this is easier said than done. Your best defense: increase your lean body mass. Who wants me to go through this rant again? I didn’t think so. Get to liftin’, girl, and you will see your body comp change magically—but not overnight.;)

3) Something’s fishy about this article: Yeah, it’s printed on salmon colored paper with olive colored ink. You know where I am going here and if you are new to reading my blog (welcome, btw) you will soon find out that I am obsessed with good fats. Why? Because they are the fountain of youth! Our skin is composed of layers and as we age the fat cells in some of the layers begin to thin out causing wrinkles, drooping, loss of elasticity, etc. EFA’s fill in the gaps and help skin to have a smoother, tauter appearance. Want that dewy skin we had when we were kids (some of us had; some of y’alls just didn’t wash regularly therefore lacked a dewy look but we can bring that up another time), then start throwing back flax oil like it was Zarex in black plastic bottle and you’ll be on your way.

If you are severely lacking in EFA’s (and many of you are), you will notice a difference when you eat more than the normal 1 serving per day of omega 3. Some of you will see great results just going up to two servings in a day. Some of you may need to put a piece of salmon in a bong and smoke it like crack because you need so much. Make sure it’s Wild Alaskan when you stuff it in the jar…

4) Supplement for success: Again, you may not know how I feel about calcium (and if you go here and throw in your email addy, you can pick up my free report on it) because you are new, but if not you know in my past life I was married to it. Calcium, fish oil, magnesium, BCAA’s and multi vitamins are your best secret weapons in the fight against stubborn body fat. All of them in some way, shape or form increase your metabolism—some of them on the cellular level way down deep inside. That’s some good stuff right there and when you are talking about losing more body fat, needing your body operating at optimum levels or requiring top conditions for cell production/skin regeneration, you need all the help you can get.

Hold up, though! Do not go to the Vitamin Shoppe, pick up a ton of vitamins and start popping them like candy. No, find out from your doc what’s good for you and what’s not first. From there, do your homework and be responsible.

5) Exfoliate and massage the skin regularly: This is number 5 for a reason. Although worthwhile, it’s not a deal breaker. But exfoliating and massage cause your skin to have to regenerate at a faster rate. If you begin to be incredibly regimented about the amount of water you drink, the fat you consume and the overall healthy diet filled with endless variety while scrubbing and rubbing yourself silly, you will be on the right path to a smoother belly and should truly see some progress within 3 months or so.

The following steps are what you need to be doing for at least 3 to 6 months religiously before you can even say you have done all that you can and throw in the towel. What’s missing in this article? What NOT to eat when you are trying to tighten the tummy and/or any other kind of loose skin and we will get to that soon enough. Woop woop!!:o)

Tweet This Post

It’s the fall right now but winter is around the corner in New England.  We will go from balmy and 70 degrees one day to dry and 30 degrees the next.  When that happens, the first thing on your body to “complain” is your skin.

I’m going to let you in on a secret:  my skin is a source of stress for me.  There is very little in my life that bothers me quite like my skin does.  Now you know I am going to tell you it is all my fault—because I am my own worst enemy.  So I am a sun lover for sure!  Nothing I love more than lying out in the sun…in Aruba…on the equator…with oil on me…and a meat thermometer to make sure I’m not overcooked. Hehe.

Yeah, I know, read me the riot act.  But I am now paying for my over indulgence of the big fireball in the sky with age spots.  Now truth be told, it could be worse.  I could have a whole host of things cropping up left and right for as much as I abused the gift of the sun, but I do not because of my insatiable love of omega 3 fatty acids.  Besides keeping my wrinkles at bay and smoothing out the texture of my skin, EFAs provide the structure necessary for skin with “snap”.  You know, non saggy skin.  So let’s get right into it and talk about what you might be going through this winter:

Dry skin:

Ignoring the fact that you want to shower with molten lava and wash your skin with heavily perfumed soap, you may find that no matter what you do you cannot rid yourself of dry skin.  The first place to look is your diet.  Are you hydrated and are you eating fats?  You want to have at least ¾ of a gallon of water per day and at least 3 to 5 servings of a good omega 3 rich fat source preferably in the form of an oil.  A long time ago I was told by a well known naturopath that you should have as much oil as you can tolerate that leaves your skin moistened after coming out of the shower.  I can tell you right now, none of y’all will try that, so let me ease your burden a bit with this recommendation:  if one serving of good fat per day does not help, add a ½ serving per day until it does.  Give it as much as a week to kick in before going up in the fat and cut a little bit of something else out during the day to make up for the extra cals.

Greasy skin:

You have a sweet tooth, girl.  Knock it off.  Too much sugar and fat helps the body to form a layer on the skin that is shiny.  If you replace those sweets with EFAs, you will fair much better.  Feel free to share those sweets with the rest of us so we may help you to move on from your bad habit.  Hopefully it was brownies you were eating…I’m just sayin.

Bumpy skin:

Increase the amount of orange foods in your diet (Vit A) and ease off the dairy a bit.  These occur more as an allergy to a food and typically dairy is the chief offender.  I know you love your greek yogurt, but 2 in a day is a bit much.  Let’s diversify a bit, shall we?

Acne prone skin:

Just like the greasy skin, walk away from the processed fats and the refined sugar.  They are killing you.  A clean diet with adequate hydration should begin to give you some relief although it is not always the full answer.  Also, a vitamin deficiency will also cause your acne to come out more and you know how I feel about vitamins so this should already be handled! [giving you a hairy eyeball]  If you are an athlete, or as active as one, you will not get all that you need from food alone and then your body begins to give you a hard time.  Listen to it when it talks to you, it knows more than you do.;o)

Nutritionally there is more to it than just EFAs if you want to survive a rough winter.  Vitamin E, Vitamin C, zinc, Vitamin A and selenium all aid in keeping your skin soft and healthy and are abundant in a clean, varied diet.  If you can venture out of your zone and eat more than just the same two veggies and one fruit that you eat every day, you should be well ahead of the game.  Another thing to note is, all those vitamins and minerals also do well for you topically.  So if you can find a good moisturizer with any of those added, grab it.  The more back up you can provide your skin with, the better.

Tweet This Post

Adding supplements to your daily regimen while worthwhile can be expensive and a shot in the dark if you are not sure what you are doing.  Try not to add in every supplement you read about in your favorite monthly magazines.  I find athletes are privy to fake food supplements more than pills and dieters are more likely to pop a pill than select a drink.  Before you decide to put any of these things in your diet, know why you are doing it and how you should put them in to be safe.

The Fabulous Four:

Multivitamins

Although you may hear that you can get all you need from your food that is pure fiction.  You would have to eat the broad side of a barn to get enough vitamins in a multi and that’s not very comfortable.  As an athlete, you need more than the general public in terms of nutrients so find a high quality, USP certified multivitamin to add into your regimen.

Fish Oils

Can’t say enough about fish oil capsules.  Buying a good one goes a long way towards avoiding the burps and such, so look for pharmaceutical grade quality and it should be 3^rd party tested.  Besides making you more insulin sensitive, fish oils help boost your memory, soften your skin and shine up your hair.  They are invaluable but not the same as good fat so don’t try to sub one for the other. 

Calcium

The ultimate fat burner is a definite must in your diet.  Better taken throughout the day than in one big lump, calcium’s primary role is an obvious one with bone health but not so obvious with the other roles it plays in your body.  Flexing muscles, aiding in blood clotting and moving nutrients in and out of cells are other benefits from having enough calcium in your diet.  Since it is not readily absorbed, make sure your supplement has Vitamin D in it to get all the benefits.

BCAA’s

Branched chain amino acids are by far one of the most essential nutrients in an athlete’s diet when it comes to performance.  Leucine, Isoleucine and valine are the amino acids that make up the trio but it’s leucine that’s causing all the hype.  Known to enhance performance in endurance athletes and provide muscle back up for strength athletes, leucine and the other 2 keep the Energizer bunny going long after the energy is gone.

The Notables

Supplement:      Creatine

Worth it?           YES

Backed in studies?        Yes

Benefits:           Athletic performance, increased strength, increased hypertrophy, less muscle soreness, etc.

Downfalls:         Water retention…if you think Willy Wonka with the Oompas you are on the right path…

Supplement:      Caffeine

Worth it?           As a pick me up, yes.  Fat burner? No

Backed in studies:         Yes, but for certain things.  Do your homework here.

Benefits:           Get up and go, improved athletic performance, some weight loss benefit

Downfalls:         There can be many.  When taken in moderation like coffee, not much.  If you decide to venture into the world of designer coffees and energy drinks, know what you are taking before you start.

Supplement:      Glutamine

Worth it?           Yes if you can afford it.  No if you cannot.

Backed in studies:         Yes, but very few correlate directly with exercise.

Benefits:           Increased immunity.  Taking it keeps you from depleting your own.

Downfalls:         You could be increasing the value of your urine and that’s about it.  Very hard to prove it is “working”.

Supplement:      L-Carnitine

Worth it?           Only if you are deficient

Backed in studies:         Not as far as I can see…

Benefits:           Supposed to increase fat burning

Downfalls:         No reported health risks other than what happens to your wallet.

There are many more that I could go on and on with but I am saving that for when I do the series on vitamins and ergogenic aids.  I have not covered any of the performance enhancing supplements or the latest in goos/gels/powders and drinks.  When I do, I will go a bit more into detail and how they are taken.  In the mean time, think about the fab four, run it by your doc and then get to improving your performance immediately!

Previous Series Post

Tweet This Post

I am asked every day ‘what supplements should I be taking?’  I am always blown away by this question.  Mostly because those who ask me are typically eating the same foods day in and day out–and not necessarily bad, but definitely not close to the best diet out there.  But I get the draw to supplements:  let me take a pill that will solve my problem of having to think.  I don’t want to think about adding variety to my menu. I don’t want to think about eating lots of fruits and vegetables.  I don’t want to think of another type of starchy carb to eat so I will just eat oatmeal everyday, 3 times a day. 

Supplements solve problems.  Need your omegas?  Have a fish oil cap.  Brittle bones?  Try some calcium.  Knees hurt?  How about some glucosamine.  Whether it works or not, pills are simple.  Who wants to try and cook fish for some healthy omegas, resistance train for bone health or take care of their extremeties via icing, wrapping and proper foot wear.  For crying out loud, that’s work!

I think we should have supplements for everything:  Divorce?  Take a St. John’s Lawyer at least once a day to ensure a good settlement.  Unexpected pregancy in marriage?  Have 1000 mg of Emergen-C and quickly get some Calm yourself tea (decaffinated of course!).  Need to drop dime on a scandalous coworker?  Take 2 Milk Whistle (blowers) per day and avoid them in the lunch room. 

If only we could solve a million issues with suppies and it didn’t cost an arm and a leg, I would invest in a supplement company.  But they really don’t solve all those issues and most of the time they make a whole new set of issues for you instead.  I am not saying that multi vitamins and fish oil caps are a waste of time.  On the contrary, they are fabulous additions to your daily regimen.  All I am saying is before you want to invest $30 in the latest vitamin trend, clean up your own diet first.  It’s much more effective (and cheaper) in the long run.

Tweet This Post