What Causes Loose Skin?
The amount of excess skin you develop when you lose weight depends on a number of factors. If you lose the weight more gradually, you may have less loose skin, as your body is likely to have more of a chance to slowly respond to these factors. Similarly, yo-yo dieting can make it more likely, because frequent fluctuations in weight tax your skin and make it more likely to grow loose. Also, the more elastic your skin is, the more it will bounce back, so your age and skin quality when you lose the weight affect how much loose skin you develop as well.
Gain Muscle
So how do you tighten that skin after major weight loss? First, Michael Matthews of Muscle for Life points out that sometimes people think they have excess skin when they in fact don’t. Sometimes what appears to be skin can actually include an additional layer of stubborn fat hiding under the skin. Unless people are in a relatively low body-fat range (9 to 10% for men and 17 to 18% for women), the floppy, saggy skin may be able to be helped by further weight loss.
However, in cases where the skin is genuinely loose, one way you might be able to tighten skin after weight loss is to simply fill it in with muscle. Think of your skin as a pair of pantyhose. If there’s nothing inside the hose, it will look droopy and empty. Fill it up, and there isn’t excess anymore.
Plus, when people go through serious weight loss, they often lose more than just fat. Unless you’re putting a conscious effort into doing strength training while you’re dropping weight, it’s very common to lose muscle as well. So, if you build even a little more muscle, this can help you fill in some of the missing space and reduce the appearance of sagging or loose skin.
Improve Elasticity
The other basic method to get rid of loose skin after weight loss is to work with your skin’s elasticity. Increasing the elasticity of your skin will make it cling more tightly to the structures beneath and sag less. So how can you improve your skin elasticity?
Some studies suggest that vitamins C and E (whether in one’s diet or as a lotion) can help protect the skin’s elastin and collagen from free radicals, which can help reduce wrinkles and maintain skin elasticity. Lotions containing copper may also help.
Supplementing with fish oil may also be able to help: in one three-month study, women taking an oral supplement including fish oil improved their skin elasticity by 10%. Massage may also be helpful. Because it improves circulation, it may improve skin health.
People looking to improve their skin elasticity should protect themselves from overexposure to the sun, avoid smoking, moisturize dry skin, manage stress, eat a healthy diet and stay hydrated to take care of their skin.
Surgery
There are surgeries that can tighten skin after weight loss. While these can have good results in some cases, prospective patients should always make sure to research the procedures carefully and be aware of all possible side-effects and risks. Surgery has its place and it can be one of the most powerful ways of removing excess skin, but it also tends to be invasive, traumatic and expensive. It also is not guaranteed to give satisfactory results.
Serenity
Finally, it is worth noting that people with loose skin can simply cultivate a sense of acceptance. If you can feel comfortable in your body, you may realize that a little bit of excess skin isn’t the end of the world. You can still be beautiful, happy and healthy.
There are a number of ways you can cultivate this sense of peace and self-worth. Try focusing on the positives in your body, both in its appearance and in the wonderful things that it can do. Stop comparing your body to others’, or even to your own body at other times of your life, and just appreciate it for what it is. Replace negative thoughts about your body with positive ones, or when you find yourself thinking negative thoughts, try doing something you enjoy like meditating, going on a walk, or visiting with someone you love.
Source: fitnessrepublic.com
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