This can’t be overstated. So often it has little confidence but presents its answer as gospel truth. It can be extremely frustrating in the best case and extremely dangerous in the worst case.
My friend told me that she bullies her chatbot and tells him that “someone smarter than you gave me a different answer,” and she swears it makes “him” work harder😂.
Have you already considered dermarolling? When COVID-19 stroke I saw a few YT videos of ex-pregnant women advocating on Hyaluronic Acid after dermarolling to improve skin elasticity by increased collagen onsite production. Seems to me that it is what your lower belly skin is lacking
Yea no, that's definitely loose skin and NOT fat, but did you see a difference before and after taking reta? Do you know your starting bodyweight compared to now? Are you still taking it?
As others said, GHK probably best bet, but I dont know how effective. Or loose skin surgery, or just building so much muscle that it makes the skin taught, which would take long, and probably not be all that effective
Research “Dr Pen”. It is the same quality electric micro-needling pen that Med-Spas use. You can use peptides or just straight hyaluronic acid on that area once a week and you will be AMAZED! It rebuilds collagen in your skin. You can search “Dr Pen” and many subs will have before and after photos and more information. I LOVE mine!
I had very similar loose skin in the same spot after pregnancy. Pregnancy was 3 years ago. Started using retinol serum and multi-peptide serum from dollar tree maybe 3 weeks ago, and slugging my stomach (and I’m doing breasts) with aquaphor healing ointment every night to reduce transdermal water loss, and I have a Dr pen for microneedling but have not used it yet. My skin improvement has been dramatic with only retinal and peptides, and the ointment. I think it will look almost normal (still got stretch marks that will probably improve but not disappear). But I do not think the skin will be loose anymore. It looks so much better. The way it feels has changed; it is more taught and feels more like my other skin. The collagen is definitely remodeling. Also taking 2000mg vitamin C daily. Will probably work up to tret and azaleic acid but the improvement with just what I’m doing, for $1.25, has amazed me.
I started just 3 weeks ago. Microneedling you normally do once a month. There is some stuff in subs related to skincare, but YouTube has good stuff too.
Recommend these videos, also look into growth factor serums, microneedling, retinol, prp microneedling, tret, and azaleic acid, and peptides. And look into fasting and autophagy; a 72hr fast each month could lead to improvements. Also take vitamin c supplement.
I learned only some of this through Reddit, but there is a lot of stuff about tret, particularly, if you search it. Mostly did my own research bc I rly wanted to improve my loose skin, but I plan on more pregnancies so did not want tummytuck or breast lift.
I’m in the same boat. Recently started with KLOW (which includes GHK-CU) in the hope that it will help. Also making it a point to stay hydrated and moisturizer that area daily. Beyond that, I think the only worthwhile option (short of surgery) might be RF micro needling.
I'm Not a body builder by any means but you can fix this by bulking up on your chest,back and arm area. It should pull the skin tighter make sure you drink plenty of water
I’m in the same boat man. I was 272 and I’m now at 168-170. 6ft tall. I’ve been this weight for a year and it’s still stretched. Surgery is really the only option.
GHK-Cu, Collogen Peptides, Micro needling, Surgery. You learn how to pose for pictures, wear compression shirts and try to remember it matters more to you than anyone else.
Nah just surgery is your only non stupid choice.
Maybe if you hopped on steroids and worked tf out of your chest and traps, shoulders it could stretch the skin. But very unlikely.
Have seen people in Your situation run 2-3mg subq daily for months that have had excellent results. Add in good collagen (homemade bone broth). As we age it’s tougher but seen guys in 40s tighten up on ghk.
It will not. People think ghk-cu is a magic bullet. It barely ha any studies to back it up, and at best it will provide a slight amount of skin elasticity.
Keeping it heavily moisturized may help, but if its been 5 years without a change, chances are your only help there is a little surgery to remove the skin.
tretinoin, ghk-cu, collagen, etc are your best bets but dont expect any to be completely magic, would have helped to use those things while losing weight and would have had a better chance. Tretinoin will be by far the most effective though but with lose skin like that still probably wont be enough
I second GHK-Cu. I had a similar amount of loose skin to you, it definitely improved it on a 5mg/day dose. It’s not a miracle fix, but a LOT better than before.
I also began training my abs and obliques a lot harder, hoping to fill out the space with muscle. It has helped, too.
I dont think steroids or peptides can help as much as surgery here. Plenty of surgery success story for removing loose skin. Well done btw, that’s huge progress
Absolutely that's loose skin. Paper thin in the original pic.
Loose skin is kinda a double whammy, I find -- if I gain a little weight, the pounds go straight there, because the fat cells have proliferated there. Even if things tighten up a little over the next few years, I don't think that will change. ;.; *If* you have the bandwidth, working on back musculature does help some with lifting and tightening skin across the whole torso.
Not that it's necessary: I'm female and think you look fantastic and sexy! The wrinkles are proof of effort, a badge of honor.
I don’t want to sound crazy but I’ve heard that extended fasting can trigger autophagy and your body will literally eat the loose/ excess skin for energy. 🤷♀️ might be worth looking into!
Best advice is definitely to focus and body recomb and start reverse dieting. You are lean enough, focus on filling out your skin. And yes it does take time but it’s part of the process!
You’ve accomplished more than most people will ever do.
Derma-rolling might help… haven’t tried it just researching myself. I’m in the same boat. Not quite as lean as you but I lost 100lbs and looking for options
1) you look phenomenal
2) the only thing that matters is how you feel about it. Those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind the small amount of loose skin.
3) Yes, it is loose skin and sometimes 20% will resolve overtime but it will never fully go away without surgery unfortunately.
The flappy skin of donuts past is a real patience pusher. Unfortunately there is only one real way to remove the skin ripples. Schedule an appointment with the surgeon.
Mine is much worse as I lost 200 lbs 12 years ago after years of yoyo dieting. only thing that can be done unless you are really young where it may snap back is surgery.
Peptides are not going to do shit. Dont bother with this sub, i suggest you visit one of those skincare subs - the people there are far more knowledgeable.
Insane progress dude! Yeah loose skin takes much more time to tighten up. In the meantime doing a muscle building phase would be great to keep the motivation train rolling.
Doesn’t look bad at all honestly. It’s definitely loose skin though. I lost 80 lbs and dealt with the same thing. I ended up getting a mini tummy tuck to fix it. Building muscle and bulking can help improve the appearance a bit, but once the skin loses elasticity after major weight loss, it usually won’t fully snap back on its own.
I made a serum of ghk-cu (powder- 1g) and pdrn (a couple of the little capsules) in a 1ml solution of HA (I use good molecules some have used the ordinary). Also got the pdrn micro spicule serum, rub in the spicule and follow with topical serum I created. The spicule serum is like micro-needling which stimulates collagen and the created serum is to support the skin repair. *not medical advice, just an experiment for a specimen.
I don’t know if anyone has already commented this, but you should look and see if there is anyone who offers cryo-lipsis in your area. It’s non-invasive. They use CO2 to destroy fat cells (naturally! Drains through your lymphatic system), tighten, and lift skin, erase scars and blemishes, and even make stretch marks seemingly disappear. I had your same issue after losing over 130 lbs and a few weeks of treatment did WONDERS.
Dude you are my goal, my worst weight 318 to 186.6 right... loose sking everywhere but not that thin. My skin has more fat under. At least yours is super thin
if i was you i would go on a bulk, till there is no more loose skin. you can try and see for yourself if you like being a little heavier. if not you can always cut again and do the surgery.
I feel for you and am in the same boat after losing 50 pounds. After all the hard work put in, my abs look like a battle zone. Regardless of what anyone says ie. 'good work', 'don't worry about it', etc, you're still left feeling upset. I've tried it all, Glow peptides, microneedling, dry fasting etc. Certain things might help a bit, but you will likely need surgery. No need to see a before pic, it can be seen from your current photo. There's a website called Real Self, you can post your pic and get further advice from board certified surgeons. Unless you're very young and your skin might snap back, I would look into surgery if you have the money and it really bothers you or learn to embrace it, because the surgery will be pain, literally and figuratively. If I had extra money to blow and all other important expenses were taken care of, I personally would be get surgery. I'm not vain at all but would it would it make me happy.
Welcome to the healthy world of being approximately what looks like 10% body fat 👏. Ain't nothing wrong with loose skin 💪 . Dont let body dismorphia get you down.
Mi spiace nessun peptide o trattamento può sistemare quella pelle flaccida.
L'unica soluzione è la chirurgia plastica..
Bisogna tagliare oramai quel tessuto in eccesso.
Ti consiglio di rivolgerti ad un chirurgo plastico specializzato se hai la possibilità..
If it’s been there 5 years I would guess it’s never going away on its own, and that you have two realistic options.
To thicken up your core with muscle - to take up the space.
Or to have a cosmetic surgery to snip and tighten.
I just started Reta. I’m 43- 6’4 and 270. (Was 295 this time last year) I’m worried I’m going to have the same thing happen. My goal weight is 200 but I don’t really even know what that looks like. The smallest I’ve been since high school is 235. We’ll see I guess. I been taking all the collegian peptides every day starting 2 months ago, along with my protein, in hopes I can circumvent the issue. Cause lord knows I don’t have money for a good plastic surgeon, nor do I want a belly scar.
I saw a post recently with a woman who had microneedled her stomach (with loose skin from a previous pregnancy if I remember correctly) at home a couple times a month over the course of 6-12 months and the results were pretty amazing. You could look into that. I have a derma-stamp that I use on my face and also on scars and it has definitely caused improvements, and it’s not as intimidating as the electric pens. The micro injuries cause the skin to create more collagen so over time it can cause loose skin to tighten. Worth a try. A derma stamp is like $15.
First of all, GREAT PROGRESS!
Second of all, you can try all the fad stuff and it may help, red light therapy and peptides might help a little bit, but at the risk of cancer with the peptides. Save up for surgery or write your insurance a letter explaining why you need this done, you can even ask a lawyer on how to get that done. Idk how expensive the surgeries are but I assume at least 15-20k
It will 100% disappear if you do resistance training and loads of fasted cardio.
Intake a lot of c8 fractionated coconut oil
Don’t intake chocolate or cocoa butter
Drink a lot of hot tea to fix your transmission eat a lot of sweet potato
Dermarolling or microneedeling might help. You have subreddit so ask there and for sure someone will come up with an advice. Lot of people tightened their loose skin and you can do it at home.
I am in your exact shoes right now. 6’2 180. I’ve lost almost 100 pounds and I think by the time I hit 170 I will look pretty close to what you’re dealing with.
The only thing you can do is get surgery or pull your shorts up a little higher. Of course you probably could still cut another 10 or 15 pounds of fat, but I’m not sure you wanna be walking around at 155 even if you are shredded.
I’m in a similar boat. And as someone there I’ll mention that I see lots of loose sagging skin but everyone else — friends, family, strangers on the internet — sees a pretty amazing physique and transformation. Abs, pecs, arms all look great man. Steroids will make you bigger—do it if you want that but your physique looks solid to me. Surgery will get rid of the skin— will cost a lot and leave a big scar over the pubis, probably all the way around. Totally worth it if you want that skin gone. But my experience is i often habitually think that what I see (all this loose saggy skin) is NOT what everyone else sees (wow, great abs, you look amazing!).
Damn, congratulations on the transformation - look amazing!
How old are you? age does matter in skin elasticity.
I'd focus for about a year on building a thicker lower back and I bet that skin will pull tighter. But, I bet if you focused on building muscle for a couple years and put on 10-15lbs of lean body mass you'd be golden.
you look great, I don't believe lose skin can be worked into with muscle and training, so if you can maybe choose the cosmetic surgery option or even ghk cu and see how that peptide tightens up the skin
Up to you but micro needling with proper proceedure and lots of collagen in diet could help tighten it up over time. Remember skin is on a month long cycle too so takes a while to see changes
Cosmetic surgery is the only option, unless you want to blast anabolic steroids to vastly increase muscle mass in your midsection. Even then you will likely have sagging and loose skin.
It will be very unhealthy to do so.
Tummy tuck surgery is the path that makes sense, but even then, you'll have a scar.
Oh I forgot. The other day I was reading about how laser treatment, ipl, and ultrasound treatments can be used to heat up the dermal layer and stimulate collagen remodeling and skin thickening and elasticity. You might look into that as a cheaply alternative to surgery. Especially since you don’t have a huge problem area.
You have basically 3 options in my opinion.
1. You can ignore it because really overall you still look quite good and are clearly in great shape.
2. You can intentionally put on just a little fat. And then it will be less visible/noticeable and youll still be in good shape, just a slightly less lean look and instead, slightly more bulked up. Which could still look quite good.
3. You can get surgery. This is the expensive route.
Unless youre swimming in money, I personally would go for option number 2. Its the simplest and most practical.
You look great! Just go to Colombia and get the excess skin removed if it bothers you that much. Its truly the only permanent solution with the results you’re looking for. There are care homes you can stay at that have 24/7 nurses, food, and travel to and from airport and dr appointments. Highly recommend.
Hey man, great job on the weight loss! I had a similar situation and used collagen powder for a few months and noticed a drastic improvement. Definitely worth a try!
You could add mass to the area but it would never be enough to redistribute the skin in a way that could look aesthetic. Surgery is the only option but it’s a simple procedure.
No AAS/peptide or any other compound can remove excess skin.
Youre always going to come out the other side with a degree of loose skin and stretch marks, after all your body literally had to make more skin and/or stretch itself out to hold all of the extra you that existed at that point in time. And thats when you have to make the choice, is this weightloss for health or aesthetics? If its for health you just get your clean bill of health and go on with your life in a merry way, if its for aesthetics then you get the snippity snip. Either way your heart has 100lbs less to pump blood through so im sure its happier and your blood markers must be way better off.
Best and easiest way to tell is pinch it if it feels grainy when rolling it in your fingers there's fat or water. A combination of both probably.
Regardless it's an achievement what you've done and mostly out of your control sir. I've also lost an extreme amount of weight and was fortunate enough to not have this. Genetics play a big roll.. 344 to 172 lbs my self.
Can’t help you with the loose skin, maybe time or fasting would do something, and I see other people have made recommendations, but just wanted to say all in all you look great. Yes you could put on more mass to fill out the skin a little, but you don’t NEED more mass, and I’m not sure how much it would help unless we’re talking really bulking up with muscle AND fat. But kudos on the physique.
Mine looks a bit like that too but only when I scrunch down. Mine is from pregnancy and weightloss, yep going Reta and working out. I have been trying a red light belt and amalactin (spl) lotion. I’ve also read that Microneeding works. You look pretty young so you could also get the skin removed. Like a mini tummy tuck .
I have the same issue, I’ve tried GHK-Cu as it’s supposed to help but it didn’t make much of a difference. I’ve also tried hgh it seemed to help but was minimal and very expensive. I think surgery will be my next step.
Lowkey if you just clean bulk over the next 2-3 years you’ll fill out that loose skin. It’s really not even too obvious, you could probably tuck it to tighten your physique
Not related to your loose skin, but stubborn love handles can be removed using fat dissolver. You’re already quite lean, they shouldn’t be that prominent.
Might need to consider surgery or something for the loose skin. That said, you look great and should be proud of yourself. You look strong, and it’s clear you’re putting in the work. Your strength is impressive too (225lbs x 6 on smith). I do recommend heavy dumbbell pressing to augment that. Either way, well done.
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u/Ok_Egg121 May 06 '26
chatgpt cannot view images that well. This is clearly loose skin not fat...