How to Avoid Loose Skin After Weight Loss

While you are trying to lose a significant amount of weight, there are a few things you can do to keep your skin firm and tight. While it isn’t possible to fully prevent loose skin, there are a lot of things you can do to reduce the appearance or severity of the condition.

Where It Comes From

When you look at the anatomy of the skin and the surrounding area, there are two layers of tissue that resides underneath. The adipose, or fat, tissue and the muscle tissue underneath that. Both fat and muscle push up against the closest layer of skin, which helps keep it fairly taut before weight loss. In fact, the issue of loose skin starts when a person gains weight. When you gain weight, your skin’s surface area grows and tries to accommodate the new fat tissue (which can cause stretch marks to appear).

Though your fat cells shrink when you lose weight, your body still keeps the same surface area. The space underneath the larger surface area basically creates a layer of skin that may “hang,” due to the lack of tissue underneath that can take up space. This is what we know as loose or “sagging” skin. The amount of loose skin that is left after weight loss will vary depending on the individual. The truth is, not everyone’s skin sags after losing a significant amount of weight and the severity of the sagging skin generally depends on the total weight gained and lost, age, total muscle mass, and genetics.

Focus on Building Muscle

the key to minimizing loose skin is sustaining or building up muscle tissue Remember; the loose skin tends to occur when the underlying layers of tissue shrink under a much bigger surface area. If you lose muscle mass along with fat, it creates an even larger space under the surface of your skin. Instead, by increasing lean tissue, it fills the area underneath the skin and helps keep it taut.

Pace Yourself

There’s a connection between how quickly someone loses weight and the amount of loose skin that results. And in order to lose weight, you must create a calorie deficit, which should be reasonable. You’re going to lose one to two pounds a week, with the majority of the weight being from fat. When you have a bigger deficit, it will result in faster weight loss, but a higher chance that the weight loss comes from muscle tissue, especially when it is done over a long period of time. Lose weight at a slow and steady pace and follow a healthy caloric deficit that works best for your body. You’ll retain much more muscle tissue and have a better chance to keep your skin “tight.”

Other Ways to Avoid Loose Skin

• Eat a healthy, balanced diet high in protein and antioxidants. Stick with eating fresh vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and lean meats. Avoid processed foods. Antioxidants help slow down signs of aging caused by sun damage and you can get plenty of these by eating tomatoes, carrots, oranges, and dark, leafy greens. Supplements are a good option, but it’s always better to get them from food.
• Drink plenty of water on the daily, since water will help you keep you skin elastic and plump. Carry a bottle with you throughout the day because when you are dehydrated, your body not only loses water, but also loses electrolytes. Both of these help keep you skin tight and smooth.
• Skin exfoliation help improve circulation, which keeps your skin healthy and firm. Make sure you are not exfoliating too much, since excessive exfoliation can damage skin. Start off once a week and after a few months, move up to 2 or 3 times a week.
• Always follow up a shower or bath with a moisturizer and SPF that are full of aloe vera, hyaluronic acid, vitamin E, and healthy oils and butters like avocado and shea butter. The best time to moisturize your body is right after you take a shower because hot water strips your skin of its natural oils.

If you’ve lost a significant amount of weight, like over 100 pounds or more, saggy skin may just be inevitable. If you’ve been able to maintain that weight loss for more than a year and are healthy, you should consider talking to your doctor about surgery to remove the excess skin. And while there are certainly cases where nothing, but surgery will help, there are many people that can at least use techniques at their disposal during the weight loss process to help control the amount of loose skin they end up with.