You’ve lost several pounds in a week, and to your delight, your clothes fit better. However, looking in the mirror in your bathing suit makes you cringe. All that progress seems like it was for naught because of the loose skin hanging over your pants when losing weight fast. Or when you try on the smaller jeans or shorts?
Extra skin is usually not something you want to have. So if you are preparing for a drastic change in your body, it is important to be prepared, too. The good news is that if you are willing to put the effort, you can avoid having loose skin even during big weight loss. Here are some tips that will help you achieve that goal.
Continue reading this article to learn How to Avoid Loose Skin When Losing Weight.
Table of Contents
What Causes Loose Skin After Weight Loss?
Our skin is susceptible to so many disorders, diseases, and changes, and sagging skin is just one among many such changes. Aging, sun exposure, smoking, lack of hydration, and losing a lot of weight (100 pounds or more) all cause skin to sag.
Sagging skin means there has been a loss of collagen, which gives skin its elasticity. For those who experience it as a result of weight loss, various tissues in the skin become less able to maintain their form. Some might carry saggy skin around as a reminder of the person they used to be, and they might be surprised at how they are still unhappy with their bodies.
For many people they wonder how to take care of the loose skin left over after they have lost the fat.
How To Prevent Sagging Skin After Losing Weight
There are few things you can do to prevent your skin sagging after you lose weight.
1. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate
Beyond what it does for your energy and overall weight loss, staying hydrated is one of the biggest contributors to skin elasticity. So important, in fact, that The American College of Sports Medicine reported that individuals who stay hydrated during their weight loss journey are less likely to have severe sagging skin.
2. Eat a balanced diet
Free radicals can destroy the skin’s basic components: collagen and elastin, which is important for your skin to spring back. To combat this, your diet should include lots of Vitamins A, E, and C, as these have been proven to combat free radicals.
3. Fill any gaps with the right supplements
Nutrients can work wonders in building skin elasticity, but it’s harder to get them through a normal diet. One such example is gelatin, which has been shown in some studies to increase elasticity in skin. Another example is fish oil, as one of its multiple benefits includes improving the skin elasticity in women.
Collagen is a key protein for the elasticity of your skin. Taking a collagen supplement can help to strengthen its’ elasticity and ability to hold its’ firmness and form even after significant weight loss.
4. Incorporate lean muscle building workouts
As you’re losing the layer of fat, you need to replace it with lean muscle to help fill up the space that results in excess skin. Including workouts like resistance training into your weekly routine helps build muscle mass and improve the appearance of sagging skin, according to The American Council on Exercise. Simple and effective workouts can help people lose fat and build toned muscle, even if for just 30 minutes a day!
5. Lose weight slowly
The absolute best way to prevent loose skin is to lose weight in a gradual and consistent fashion. When you lose around 1-2 pounds per week, you give your skin time to adjust gradually to its ever-shrinking size. Furthermore, when you rapidly drop pounds, you’re not losing as much fat as you would with a more modest rate of weight loss. Instead, you’ll most likely lose water weight or even lean tissue. Your body just can’t burn up that many fat calories in a short period of time.
How to Avoid Loose Skin When Losing Weight
Weight loss can be incredibly frustrating, and already takes discipline and hard work. Now add on top of your weight loss the issue of loose, extra skin and it can just totally deflate your new self-confidence! That’s why it’s important to take care of your skin from the inside out, and help strengthen its’ elasticity and suppleness.
Tips for How to Tighten Loose Skin
Firming creams
A good choice for a firming cream is one that contains retinoids, says Dr. Alyson Wells, owner and medical director, Valley Plastic Surgery and Medi-spa.
Retinoids are chemical derivatives of vitamin A and include:
- tretinoin
- retinoic acid
- adapalene
They increase the proliferation, maturation, and turnover of skin cells, says Wells.
She also suggests using creams that contain hyaluronic acid, which attracts and holds onto water molecules. Hyaluronic helps:
- reduce the depth of wrinkles
- increase skin firmness
- diminish skin roughness
Wells recommends avoiding skincare products that include lanolin due to the steady increase in the rate of contact dermatitis (allergic skin reaction) associated with it.
Supplements
While there’s no magic pill to fix loose skin, certain supplements may be helpful.
Exercise
Building muscle mass through weight training exercises can help decrease the appearance of loose skin, especially if the loose skin is from weight loss.
If excess fat distends the skin for a long time, the skin can lose some of its ability to shrink with weight loss. Replacing that lost fat with muscle mass can lessen the appearance of loose skin.
If you have loose skin from a recent pregnancy consult a doctor before exercising as there could be certain moves you should avoid.
One form of exercise that’s not proven to be effective for loose skin is facial exercise.
While facial exercises have been popular since the 1960s, there’s little research to support that these exercises actually help tighten loose skin.
Lose weight
Stubborn fat under the skin can make skin appear loose. This type of fat is called subcutaneous fat.
If you pinch the problematic area and there are more than a few millimeters of skin, then there’s subcutaneous fat present. Losing that fat could firm the skin.
Massage the area
Massaging loose skin can increase blood flow and help evoke an anti-aging response.
One studyTrusted Source analyzed the effects of skin massage in conjunction with an anti-aging skin cream.
The study showed that regular massage with a hand-operated oscillating massage tool amplified the positive effects of the cream.
Alongside massage, you can also use a salt or sugar scrub to increase blood flow.
Cosmetic procedures
Many nonsurgical procedures can help with loose skin.
These procedures include:
- Chemical peels. The removal of the outer layer of old skin can decrease the appearance of loose, sagging, or wrinkled skin on the face and neck. Once the old skin peels off, the skin underneath is usually less wrinkled and smoother.
- Ablative laser resurfacing. This procedure is also known as “laser peeling.” It’s similar to a chemical peel because it removes the outermost layer of old skin. The laser also warms the layers underneath the top layer. This heat promotes collagen production.
- Ultrasound skin tightening. This procedure uses heat to stimulate collagen production. Focused ultrasound energy is transmitted through the skin’s surface to heat deeper layers.
- Radiofrequency treatments. This is another form of safe energy transfer that heats the skin to induce collagen production. This method focuses on the skin’s outer layer.
- IPL/RF combination treatments. These treatments combine intense pulsed light (IPL) and radiofrequency (RF). The process heats outer and deeper skin layers to facilitate collagen production.
- Neuromodulators. This treatment is often referred to as Botox. The toxin botulinum, known to relax wrinkles, is injected into the skin. While this isn’t the most holistic procedure, it requires minimal recovery time and reduces the appearance of loose skin when injected in certain areas where muscles work in opposition to each other.
These are all examples of minimally invasive, nonsurgical techniques for reducing loose skin. There are also surgeries to remove loose skin. These are known as body-contouring surgeries.
Body-contouring can also be referred to as tuck or lift surgeries. They involve an incision and the removal of extra fat and skin. These surgeries usually require a hospital stay followed by recovery time at home.
Conclusion
There probably isn’t much like it like having loose skin after weight loss. It happens to many people when they lose an extreme amount of body fat. Whether you’ve lost weight due to surgery, dieting, or working out too much, you can learn how to avoid loosing skin.