Broke out the measuring tape this morning and discovered I lost 2.75 inches in nearly 3 months! Image courtesy of FreeDigitalphotos.net and zirconicusso.

Over the last 10 weeks I’ve lost nearly 3 inches from my body, for a grand total of 60.25 inches since I started my quest to get healthy over 3 years ago.

Not too shabby. No wonder I can now fit into size 14 jeans.

This recent loss came from my hips, thighs and chest. No change this time around for my waist and arms.

While I’m excited about losing the inches, I’ve noticed one part of my body not shrinking — my loose skin. In fact, it’s getting worse.

I’ve lost nearly 3 inches in 10 weeks. While that’s awesome, it is wrecking havoc with my skin. Mostly I have too much of it and it’s becoming a problem.

Loose Skin Getting In The Way
While measuring myself, I couldn’t help but notice the amount of skin hanging from me. It’s nowhere near as bad as someone who experienced a lot of weight loss in a short period. But it is there nonetheless. And it is definitely getting in the way. Not only when I take my measurements, but when I’m working out.

Especially when I run.

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve noticed my compression clothes are not up to the task of holding my excess skin in place during runs. Running is a tad painful now as my excess skin bounces around way too much. Most of the discomfort is in my mid section when I run.

Oh, and there’s a little skin rash that pops up on occasion.

Great!

The good news is the rash isn’t that serious and stays confined to a small area – my belly button – where there is a lot of folded skin. I take care of it by keeping my belly button very dry. When I don’t do that regularly the rash reappears.

Getting Back To Weight Training
I’ve taken a few weeks off from weight training since I’m no longer with a trainer. I know I need to get back into a gym environment but I don’t have the desire now. It’s summer and I love being outdoors, not cooped up inside.

I know that building muscle helps to limit loose skin but I think I’ve soured on the traditional gym.

But I think there’s a solution on the horizon. I’ve signed up for my first parkour class.

While not a traditional weight training class, parkour does make you train with your own body weight. I planned to get into a class sooner than this, but my schedule was a mess. So my 2-hour intro class is this weekend. Something tells me I’m going to work muscles I never knew existed.

Regardless of how magical some people think parkour is, I know it won’t make my loose skin go away. As I loose these last 20 lbs., I’m hopeful parkour can help me continue to build muscle and get stronger. It might mitigate some of the loose skin. But to get rid of the problems my excess skin is causing, a tummy tuck is somewhere in my future.