Excess Skin

[ceazur]

I am 6'3''-4'', around 180lbs. I was once around 5'5'' 200lbs. If you look at a chart it would say I am almost underweight. I have this excess skin on my hips and stomach. My predicament is that i am awaiting my ship date for Marine Corps Recruit Training. I am trying to rid myself of all extra fat while maintaining the strength I have at least. I am pretty knowledgeable when it comes to this stuff except for the excess skin. The pics are below and what I am wanting to know is should I be at a calorie deficit to rid myself of the skin or should I be trying to fill out more? The scare in decreasing calories is that I will likely lose muscle and I am trying to gain as much strength as I can to get the maximum amount of Pull-ups for my Initial Strength Test. The scare about increasing calories is that I will likely gain bad unwanted weight instead of the muscle I would be aiming for. Please advise if you have a good opinion.

I currently run 3+ Miles daily at around 7:30 per mile, i lift weight 3 days a week (Chest/triceps, back/biceps, legs/shoulders.. If the exact workout is needed just say so.), and I am starting my 3rd week of Insanity beachbody.(for those of you who do not know, it is a crossfit training video, uses HIIT with max intervals and short breaks.). My diet consist of 5 meals a day if I can get them in every 3 hourslooks like, 500 calorie breakfast shake with eggs, oats, and whey, then later tuna and wheat bread, then a whey shake, then more tuna, then chicken and sweet potato. I use splenda on my potato. I drink lots of water. THe diet is about 2000 - 2200 calories. 220+g protein, 120g- carbs, 25g fats. I try to get veggies and good fats in the mix daily along with enough fiber. Sorry this post isn't neat or organized.

Wont let me post pictures..

 

[ceazur]

????

 

[steakboy]

first off, hoorah!

secondly, i have kind of the same issue... i was a chunky kid so when i started losing BF% i really couldn't get that super-lean look because i have loose skin. i know this because of my massage therapist telling me so. said she could feel all the muscle groups and i was very lean, but my skin moved around a lot...

well i haven't really done anything about it mostly because i expect to get a bit bigger and fit into the skin i have, BUT i used to do a lot of reading about the subject and if you look for some lotions that help replace some collagen in your skin, and keep it hydrated it should start to firm up a bit. if you have like... huge skin folds and saggy skin after extreme amounts of weight loss then... well you're gonna need surgery, but for most people who may have lost around 50lbs or less then you're good to go with lotions.