Squishy Fat!

[mattyt]

Hey there,

I'm new to the forum. I came here because I'm looking for an answer other than 'You don't need to lose any more weight' or 'You're too skinny!'.
You might be inclined to think I have a weight issue, but I can tell you that I have my fare share of fast food and carbohydrates. My only downfall
is that I probably substitute water with diet cola (and I know, I know, it's not good!). My diet isn't that bad, although it could be better.

Anyway, I'll get to the point. I'm a 21 year old male, I'm 200cm tall and I weigh 82kg. I hold this weight pretty consistantly, weighing between 82-84kgs.
I don't look fat, and I don't feel fat most of the time, but there is no way I'm happy with how I look under my clothes. I would tend to think a person
of my weight and size would barely have any fat on him, although for some reason, I'm stuck with a rather significat 'lip' of gut on the bottom of my stomach.
I also seem to have retained a little fat around the face. Worse yet, I seem to have a bit of fat on the chest, perhaps it's gynecomastia or pseudogynecomastia.
I don't know how to tell.

The fat is real squishy, and it looks terrible particularly if I bend, as I seem to have rolls that form, since it's so squishy. I don't understand it,
nor know how to get rid of it. How do I get my stomach flat?! It's one thing to do situps, but there's still fat there that would need to go right?
The heaviest I ever weighed was 106kgs, but even then I didn't look 'fat'. My doctor told me not to go below 75kgs, which makes obvious sense.
I know I can shed 7kgs, but I don't think that losing 7kgs is going to make my stomach flat. I probably have a little bit of remaining skin from my
heavier days as a teenager, but I would LIKE to think that 21 isn't so old that my skin is going to sag like a wet paper bag. It seems as though the
only way I'm ever going to get rid of it is either go completely anorexic or get surgery! But obviously, I'd rather not go to that extreme. However,
it would be so nice to not be worried about having to take off my shirt (for swimming and the like).

Any ideas?

Matthew.

[tweedledee]

weight/strength training!

you've lost the weight, now it's time to tone. strength exercises such as sit ups and ab focused stretches will help tone and build up the muscle around the areas that still seem flabby.

if not, maybe go see another doctor?

[Butterfly_Dawn]

A few possibilities:

1) If you've lost a significant amount of weight there may be left over skin (you may have genetics that don't respond well to weight fluctuations).

2) If you were seriously, seriously overweight you actually end up creating more fat cells (i.e. the existing ones get to capacity, then you make more). Once you've made them, you don't lose them so even if every fat cell is as small as it can get, you will always have more of them unless you have surgery.

3) You may actually look completely normal and healthy to other people but you are perceiving yourself as fat in those areas, possibly by comparing yourself to unrealistic standards (e.g. airbrushed magazine models, hardcore bodybuilders or professional athletes who train all day every day).