Tone Up

About 10 months ago I weighed 9 stone. I havent stood on a scale since,because I felt like I've gained weight and didnt want to see how much I've gained. But a few days ago I weighed myself and found out I am now down to 8 stone,but I still feel really big,mainly because I have lose skin. What is the best way to tone up my stomach? I'm really self coinceous about it and wear baggy shirts to hide it. If I lose more weight would the lose skin go away?
I thought about doing excercises but I dont want to build up muscle

In reality, there is not *much* you can do for loose skin, but if you are talking about sort of a flabby gut (instead of actual loose skin), I have found that balance ball/pilates type exercises are very helpful.  You won't necessarily build up muscle, but it might firm the area.  And, maybe some muscle won't be so bad?
Good luck.

yes thats what i mean "flabby"

Ive been thinking about getting wii fit plus. Ive heard thats good for pilates and such. thanks

Good Luck A! I know for a fact that I have gained since being here  I used to do pilates about 3 time a week and in my opinion I never looked better! I second the Pilates to help you tone and firm up. Now if only I could get the motivation to get back in and do it again. I don't have a Wii but if you do it's probably worth a try.

Sit ups will tone your tummy area.

I also noticed on your ticker that you are going for a 17.2 BMI.  Is there a reason you are aiming a little low? It's really impressive that you've lost that weight (says the girl staring at her stomach..sigh), but maybe now you CAN build some muscle to tone you all over? Not all muscle has to be bulky, and, especially if you do pilates, yoga, stretchy type exercises, you be more streamlined than bulky.

I think exercise is the way to go, since it should tone your body as well as make you healthier.  You should only gain muscle if you're doing anaerobic exercise, which uses weights and resistance to build muscle at a faster rate than you lose mass, like spinning or weight lifting or walking up steep hills.  If you do aerobic exercise instead, with no resistance but lots of repetition (like lifting a 2 pound weight bar 30 times instead of a 10 pound weight bar 5 times) then you should be losing mass as well as toning your muscles without gaining any.

I read a really cool book about it, Escape Your Shape, written by the guy who divided people into different body shapes - hourglass, ruler, cone (apple), and spoon (pear).  And he said that a runner will have a completely different exercise routine to a weight lifter or a swimmer, since they're all trying to add mass to certain parts of their bodies and take it away from others.  So he designed four workouts based on the four body types designed to do aerobic exercises for the parts where different people want to lose mass.  For the stomach exercises I remember a lot of pilates-like exercises, so I second that idea. 

The author also swears by jump roping.  It's aerobic so it just reduces mass, but he says it's the only form of exercise proven to reduce cellulite, it burns 23 calories a minute (compared to biking at 10mph which burns 6 a minute, or walking at 4 mph which burns 7 calories a minute), it works out and tones your entire body, and it is also great for your cardiovascular system.

it is also great for your cardiovascular system.

But not great for your boobs. 

I also noticed on your ticker that you are going for a 17.2 BMI.  Is there a reason you are aiming a little low?

I have signatures turned off, so I didn't see that, but I was wondering about how tall you are.

I weigh about 7 1/2 stone, so a little less than you, but I'm only about 5 feet tall so my BMI is quite a bit higher than 17.2, and I consider myself to be at a healthy weight.

The advice everyone has given about exercise and toning up is good, but I'm concerned that you might just need to put some weight back on.

But not great for your boobs. 

I wish that were a problem for me.

But seriously, my mom follows the workouts but can't jump rope because of a hip replacement, and someone else I know can't do the jump roping because of a complication with her uterus.  It's really a shame that there are quite a few reasons why some people can't do such an awesome form of exercise.

 So he designed four workouts based on the four body types designed to do aerobic exercises for the parts where different people want to lose mass.

You can control where you build muscle but you can't control which parts of your body lose weight first. That's genetic.  For example, I will always put on weight in my hips and thighs first, and in my back, arms, neck and shoulders last no matter what kind of exercise I do, and whether I'm a size 8 or a size 28.

I can bulk up my upper body by lifting weights and doing pushups, and I can firm up my thighs with squats and lunges, but I can't make my thighs smaller in comparison to my shoulders.  

You can control where you build muscle but you can't control which parts of your body lose weight first. That's genetic.

I agree that your body type is genetic and unchangeable, but I think you can control both weight loss and muscle gain for specific parts of your body depending on what exercises you do.  For example, if someone only ever does aerobic leg exercises then I think their legs will lose mass whereas the exercises mostly won't effect the rest of their body. 

It sounds like you have a spoon bodyshape. Based on this author's workout routine he recommends strengthening the upper half of the body so it looks more proportionate with the lower half of the body, but also significantly increasing the amount of aerobic activity on the lower half to lose the mass. 

I use the hourglass routine mostly just because I tend to gain weight pretty evenly throughout my whole body and put on muscle easily.  The hourglass workout focuses on losing mass throughout the entire body, so a lot of the spoon exercises (especially for the lower body) are identical to the hourglass ones.  However, for the leg and abdomen exercises the spoon routine has more repetitions than the hourglass routine (starting at 20 per exercise in the beginner workout compared to 10-15 in the hourglass beginner).  Spoons also do the leg workout twice in one exercise session (at the beginning and the end) whereas hourglasses just do it once.  The spoon upper body exercises also use more resistance and weight in order to tone the muscles so the body looks more balanced out.  So the spoon routine is 2 or 3 times as aerobic on the legs and abdomens as the hourglass routine, and slightly anaerobic on the arms.

Unfortunately most of the people I know who do this workout are in my family and we all have basically the same body shape so I don't have first or second hand experience with the spoon workout.  But logically I think it makes sense. 

I have signatures turned off, so I didn't see that, but I was wondering about how tall you are.

I'm 5'4, almost 5'5

But not great for your boobs.  

Oh I know. My fella isnt happy with my weight loss because I lost all my boobs! I'm barely a B cup now,where as before I was a C cup! lol

It's really impressive that you've lost that weight

Thanks, I guess I'm lucky really. For excercise ,I jsut walk our dogs 3 times a day. And also I eat small things during the day (like roundtree randoms) and then eat a light dinner. It seems to fall off really

Oh I know. My fella isnt happy with my weight loss because I lost all my boobs! I'm barely a B cup now,where as before I was a C cup! lol

I think Chary was talking about jumping rope.

Rue, I'm actually more of an hourglass. Skinny shoulders and torso but big boobs,.

Ah-loom-in-um, you are at least four inches taller than me and don't weigh much more than me, and people tell me that I look thin.

Before you get into the details of how you can lose weight or firm up flabby skin, I think you should consider why you want to lose weight.

I won't post on this thread anymore because I know what I just said might be upsetting. It's just something that you really ought to think about.

Oh I know. My fella isnt happy with my weight loss because I lost all my boobs! I'm barely a B cup now,where as before I was a C cup! lol

That's not exactly what I meant. I meant that for someone with F-cup boobs, jumping rope is not good. And not much fun either!

x-posted with sweetpeach - yes, you're right, sweetpeach!

Thanks, I guess I'm lucky really. For excercise ,I jsut walk our dogs 3 times a day. And also I eat small things during the day (like roundtree randoms) and then eat a light dinner. It seems to fall off really

I'm sure you don't need to be told that eating nothing but candy all day is hardly a healthy diet.