Getting more flabby with exercise?

[pirateradio]

Here is the situation. My wife and I are both in our early 50's, and for the past year have switched our eating habits (pretty much a paleo diet, though we do eat cheese and dairy, so not strict with it). We both do strength training at home, that combines body weight exercises with weight training doing lunges, squats, etc. We both have toned more than a bit, and given where we started from, are much improved ( I know that because I helped our son move into a new apartment in 90 degree heat to a third floor walkup, and survived:)

 

Here is the situation: A couple of weeks ago my wife started doing intervals 3 days a week on a recumbent bike (the other days she does the strength training workout). What she is noticing is that her inner thighs and belly looks a lot more flabby then it did two weeks ago, you see distinct pockets of flab that weren't there before and so forth and she is kind of freaked out about it. We haven't changed our eating and the same is not true of her arms and such,only the upper thighs/legs and lower belly. 

 

 

All I can think of is that with the intervals she is causing the muscles to flatten out, which is in term emphasizing the remaining fat that is there. She is doing exercises in the strength training portion that hit the inner thigh and lower belly region, like squats and deadlifts, so all I can think is that the intervals are making it look worse than it is. I told her to keep doing it and give it another month and see if there is improvement.

 

Thoughts?

[Ivan]

As you get older, skin loses flexibility and is reabsorbed more slowly. It could simply be the temporary 'empty bag' effect of losing fat.

[TMedina]

I agree with Ivan - she's losing fat faster than her body can adjust to, resulting in the flabby skin.  It's a fairly common occurrence with folks who lose a lot of weight quickly through surgery or illness, or in this case, great results from lifestyle changes.

 

So - congrats to her!  She's losing fat now and her skin will catch up.  

[AlexCold]

I agree lose skin is likely the cause. Since you eat paleo im not too worried about muscle loss since you probably eat plenty of protein. I have a lot of loose skin in my torso that does make it look like where my body fat is at.

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[pirateradio]

Thanks, guys, that seems to be the consensus from what I have read, too, that it is a combination of loss of fat and skin not recovering. She is still at the stage where muscle is replacing fat (i.e her weight is constant, but her body size is going down), so that makes sense.

[Terinatum]

I agree as well. She may wish to take measurements to know the truth without having to eyeball it.

Congrats to both of you!!

[wildross]

Some folks like 'skin brushing' to stimulate the skin more. Google knows