Batwings and Thunder thighs

Question on batwings and thunder thighs?

Anyone with larger hangy arms and thighs successfully decrease them in size by lifting weights?

Or are we doomed to either live with it or get plastics?

I'm close to having my RNY and considering hiring a personal trainer to guide me in the proper weight lifting exercises if it will help.

You are doomed to live with it or have plastic surgery.  Skin will tighten a little bit, but it depends on a host of things like genetics, how long you've been obese, age, etc, etc.  Chances are, you'll have excess skin and no amount of "toning" will change that.  

However, hiring a personal trainer and lifting will help with lots of other great things - like your health and your bones.  So go for it!

Get the trainer, and improve your overall fitness - the healthier you go into surgery, the healthier and faster you will recover.

AND, as you lose weight, 10-20% of it will be muscle mass (even if you are on the most balanced diet).  The only way to rebuild this lost muscle mass is through weight training.  You are better off using a trainer to start to get results and avoid injury - I only use weight machines, not free-weights and do not do anything to damage my joints which had to withstand too many years of supporting too much weight.

The weight training will only give minimal remediation to your arms - like if you have 6 inches of extra skin, weight training will drop that to only 5.75" - is not enough to avoid arm-lift surgery, but the weight training will keep you weight loss going because muscle is what burns fat. 

I knew I would have bat wings because I did when I lost weight through conventional diets - but maybe yours won't be so bad as you think. Anyway, for me, the weight is gone and I will wait another year to see what everything looks like and start looking at plastics.

Can I just say that I love the title of this post?!?!  I went from 330lbs. to my current 165lbs.  and had surgery back in '09.  I am 34 years old and I have to admit, I have been lifting weights on a consistent basis for about two years now.  I was completely uneducated about what I was supposed to be doing and was killing myself in cardio and not doing near enough on the weights.  Since I switched to a weight-dominant regime, I have definitely made HUGE progress in tightening up the batwings.  I still have some flab that hangs down but honestly, when I am doing a set, of let's say arm curls, my biceps, triceps, and shoulders are very defined.  It's the hangy part at the bottom that is leftover and I just consider that part of the battle wound.  I had a tummy tuck because honestly, it was holding me back from making further progress.  I heard my own belly flapping at the gym and it was embarassing.  I would then start beating myself up in my head.  I also would still wear my fat clothes because I felt uncomfortable otherwise.  Since having the tummy tuck, I feel so much better.  But...I was told by my plastic surgeon that the recoop for the arm part was long and uncomfortable.  Also, the scar was huge...and it was quite costly.  He told me that by working hard I could tone up a lot over time.  So, I am trying what he said.  After spending so much on the tummy tuck and also not really having the downtime needed, I am going to live with the wings.

I have toned up my thighs considerably doing squats, lunges, and deadlifting.  There are also some hip/thigh abductor machines and a few others that can help with the legs.  I do still have some skin but it's getting better.