Someone please tell me the arm fat goes away...

I would honestly rather have a beer belly ( I'm a chick) then to have flabby arms.

Could someone please tell me ( who have lost weight) if the arms get thinner... I don't know how much more of this arm flab I can take. It makes me look way heavier then I am!

Help! I need hope!

Thu. Jun 8, 9:25pm

We just talked about this in one of my groups!!
I call it the "wavy" muscle. When you wave your arm "waves" back at you. :) I know doing tricep curls will help, but other than that I am not sure of anything else. Anyone else have any other ideas???

Thursday, June 8, 2006, 10:07 PM

the fat goes away, but then there is a delay while your skin shrinks (you'll probably notice the stretch marks). Mine are better, not perfect yet, still working on it...

Thursday, June 8, 2006, 10:51 PM

Definitely, definitely work on your biceps, triceps and shoulders as you continue to lose weight. Toning as you lose does help the flab go away. Mine did!

Kate (kissmekate02)

Thursday, June 8, 2006, 11:04 PM

My personal trainer told me that you can not spot train one area. So doing extra arm exercises will not make the "wave" disappear. It is the combination of exercises that target the entire body that will help your arms become more toned. Basically you have to lose weight everywhere to lose weight in your arms. Sorry that was wordy. Good luck.

Friday, June 9, 2006, 11:53 AM

Toning muscle may not make the area smaller or make the fat go away from that area, but it does make it firmer. Sometimes, the flabby arm is a combination of fat and untoned muscle which is just kind of hanging (same with the thigh area just inside the knees). So, you can simultaneously lose fat through cardio and firm up the area with triceps exercises.

Link

Friday, June 9, 2006, 12:21 PM

Yep, obviously weight training does spot train an area - otherwise all these weight trainers would still have puny biceps! It's just that you cannot lose fat from a particular area by working it - you can definitely build the muscle.

That said, for arms the hanging bit is not the bicep, right? It's the tricep, no? What's best for that? And what do people think of the shoulder press machine vs using dumbells?

Friday, June 9, 2006, 3:05 PM

French press, triceps dips on a bench, or push ups with your arms tucked right next to your body will all work the triceps.

Machines isolate a particular muscle and help prevent injury, while free weights help train and strengthen more muscles at once because you need to stabilize the weight all the way through the movement.

Link

Friday, June 9, 2006, 3:20 PM

arm flab

You definitely need to weight train. Although you can't spot train to make all the fat go away you need a healthy combination of eating right, cardio & weight training. Also, don't be afraid of lifting heavier. I am not sure if you are a male or female, but a lot of females think that if they lift heavier weights that they are going to get bulky but that is not the case. It is physically impossible for a female to look like a man unless they take steroids or testostum of some sort.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006, 4:16 PM

Yup, you definitely can't get rid of it by spot training. You have to do weights as well as lose the fat. As you lose and tone you will notice less hang, or as Oprah calls it "the bat wing"

Wednesday, June 21, 2006, 9:48 PM

OP here

Thanks for all the tips.. I think everyone knows spot training doesnt happen. Any other people out there who had flabby arms and then got firm?

My arms arent wavy yet... I'm in my early 20's. They are just fattier then I want and they make the rest of me look huge even when I'm not :( Help! Any more suggestions?

Friday, July 21, 2006, 11:00 AM

I have fat arms that I unhealthily refer to as "Hoagie Arms" because i feel like they are so huge. I gained weight during college and my arms got thick pretty quickly. Then I lost about 20 lbs through extreme exercise and dieting and I have never been happier with them. (Eating only vegetables and lean chicken, in extremely small portions, and working out 6-8 times a week - yes sometimes 2x a day) Now, I work 50-60hrs weeks have gained a lot of that back. I am struggling to find a healthy balance...but unfortunately my arms are bigger than ever!

Friday, July 21, 2006, 12:10 PM

You can "spot train" to build muscle. You cannot "spot reduce" to reduce fat in a particular area. The flabby back of the arm can be helped through overall fat loss in combination with targeted training to build the tricep muscle - tricep extensions/kickbacks, pushups and tricep dips are all good exercises you can do at home with body weight and/or dumbbells alone, no fancy machines required.

Friday, July 21, 2006, 2:54 PM

My gym weighs and measures us each month. Here's some specific data that may help: Overall, I've lost 17 pounds of body weight since mid-March and my upper arms have decreased in circumference by 1/2 inch each. My gym routine is primarily circuit training and I'm female.

Friday, July 21, 2006, 6:07 PM

arm fat, does it really go away?

I sure hope it goes away! I've had arm fat all my life. I lost a total of 45 pounds and my arm fat is still "hanging" around. It's extremely frustrating. I work out 7 days a week doing a combination of light jogging and lifting as well as controlling what I eat [fruits, veggies, lite/nonfat dairy products, lean meats]

I've got plenty of muscle underneath the flab, but after months and months I've yet to get rid of the wave effect.

If anyone has hope to pass around please do share it

Monday, October 15, 2007, 4:40 PM

i'm on a swim team and my arms, shoulders, and back are always awesome during swim season :]

and the 'arm wave' decreases A LOT. lol. not to mention that by the end of the season, my arms are all nice and defined.

try doing "pull" only laps. you put a little floatie between your thighs, balance nicely, and then swim laps (usually freestyle) using only your arms. butterfly's also GREAT for your arms (and abs!!) but i suggest using flippers so you can do a lot of laps...otherwise it can be very tiring after the first 200 or so meters.

not only are you toning, but the cardio burns the fat too :]

Monday, October 15, 2007, 11:01 PM

It will get better,I think alot of it depends on the size of your arms though.I have flab under my arm but for my weight my arms are not as big as you might expect at least as fat as you would expect.I have broad shoulders that I have complained about always.My mom told me oh don't worry it's great,you don't need shoulder pads,well that was all well and good in the 80's but now.... I also have naturally defined biceps whcih worries me to some point on over doing the bicep thing.

Alas muscle in all the wrong places......

Back on subject though I lost about 45 pounds after my pregnancy and the circumfrance of my arms did shrink,so there is still hope out there!

Tuesday, October 16, 2007, 1:48 AM

Has anyone done smartlypo on the backs of their arms to remove fat? They use lasers....and if so, how were the results

Sunday, July 27, 2008, 12:58 PM

How I lost my Chicken Wings

I have two small bottles filled with pennies (about 1.5 lbs each) that I use as hand weights I exercise with.

I found the perfect music video on youtube that I enjoy watching over and over again called “Waiting for Love” by Alias. This is what I watch while I do my arm workout.

I hold one bottle in each hand and do punching motion with my arms. (be sure to sit far enough from your computer screen when you are doing this). I just rock to the music and try to keep in sync with the drum beat.

This is such a cool song to rock to and I usually replay it a few times because I can’t get enough of this song and watching these sexy Alias guys do their thing!

The reason it works for me is because I am having fun watching my favorite band and rocking with the music. The drum beat is just right to give me that extra snap with each punch!

My arm flaps are completely gone after one month working out daily. I am beginning to build good muscle tone.

I have also increased the weights of the penny bottles to 2 lbs by adding more pennies.

Monday, October 13, 2008, 6:24 AM

Diet and exercise definitely make arm fat go away just like the rest of you fat. When I sawy I have 30-50 pounds to lose, they think I'm totally crazy, but a quarter-inch of fat spread over the entire body weighs a lot. Have you noticed how people who drop 100 pounds look TOTALLY different, just in their face? I mean, how much fat can a face have? But it's there. And it comes off. And you don't get it to come off by frowning while you're bench pressing to "work your face muscles." It comes off because you've burned 35,000 calories over the course of a year or two.

That said, the "wave"/"hang"/"bat wing" or whatever people like to call it? I'm sorry to say that's not going away. Oprah is one thing, but I remember a movie where fit, skinny Cameron Diaz of all people makes it jiggle in front of a mirror and complains about it to her girlfriends. Hilarious.

The good news? Cameron Diaz is frigging hot. That might not sound like good news to you, but think of it this way--millions of men agree with me, which means that guys won't even notice the bat wing at all if you're fun and sweet and cute. I saw her jiggle it years ago and I haven't noticed it since...

Karl
'vitamind'

Saturday, October 25, 2008, 1:02 AM

Yes, especially at your young age.

Mariah Carey was on Oprah a while back and showed some of her arm exercises. The goal was to focus on movements that will create long lean muscles instead of Popeye arms. Holding her arms out perpendicular to her sides, she made controlled movements with her hands up and down. Simple, yes, but do 25 of them. Work your way up to 50, and then 100 a day. I started doing these and it wasn't long before I could see a difference in the underarm jiggle, and I now believe that when I eventually losing the extra pounds, the arms will be toned and ready for tank tops. Your success will depend on your effort.

Saturday, October 25, 2008, 2:52 AM

Yes, it will go away. Do lots of cardio to lose the fat from your whole body and bicep/tricep/deltoid/back/pec exercises to tone the muscles in your arms.

Saturday, October 25, 2008, 2:52 PM

My 'old looking' arms...

Oprah calls her hanging triceps her FLAGS. I have the same problem. I had lost 141 pounds in about 2 years. At my heaviest, I was 267 lbs. My arms were ginormos then and now they are smaller but I have these 'things' that hang under my arms and my arms look very old- I mean wrinkly and flabby. I'm swimming, doing my cardio and bench dips and bicep curls...but still my arms look like they belong to an old lady. It's funny how I worked so hard to have a sexy body but I can't show it off...(I have loose skin everywhere) especially my arms...I want to wear very short sleeves or sleeveless blouses...but I CAN'T. Somebody help me...can't afford surgery.

Saturday, September 4, 2010, 6:31 PM

Oh blast it. I got to the end of this thread hoping to see the magic words... "Yes, the bat wings go away." I have what an earlier (2006!) poster termed "hoagie arms." I am in the process of losing a huge amount of weight. I would love to think that something magical might happen to my upper arms. So far, though, they're getting worse instead of better. As I lose weight, they sag more than ever. It's as if the fat helped to stretch the skin to keep it in place. Now I find that the doughy fatty bits are beginning to flop down to my elbows when I let my arms hang down. I am starting to save money for the surgery. I'm really afraid that is going to be my only option.

My regret?? Not losing weight once and for all when I was still young enough for my skin to bounce back. This is going to end up being a costly mistake for me. It definitely makes me cranky.

Saturday, September 4, 2010, 10:19 PM

It depends. It can definitely get better, but if you are genetically predisposed to fat being in your arms, you will prob still have fat there. But it can get a lot better!

Sunday, September 5, 2010, 4:10 PM

Bat Wings

When I was 21 I weighed 305 LBS that was only gaining 20 lbs while pregnant, so I was very over weight to begin with, once I had him, I went on Adepex and lost almost 90 lbs in less than 9 months,
I was young, and caring for a infant and neglected to work out, I am sagged every where, and it has been 16 yrs since I lost the weight, I had put back on 30 lbs, but have recently lost that and continuing to lose, it has nothing to do with being young and your skin bouncy back, or at least with me, I have been told all the exercise and toning will NOT take this away, I am so disgusted with how I look, part of me wishes I had stayed heavier, as woman in society, we are looked upon as needing to be barbie, or like the actress's in hollywood, if your not, than you are critized, big reason for teens and adult woman turn to purging, or aneroxia, I can not afford the surgery either, for my arms or a tummy tuck! if SOMEONE has a magical solution please let me know, I am 37, and would love to be happy with my body by 40"

Thursday, February 3, 2011, 10:32 AM

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