How to Tighten Loose Skin: What to do with all that loose skin after weight loss?
If you have given birth or lost an extreme amount of weight recently, you might be trying to figure out how to tighten loose skin. When you have lost lots of weight very quickly, you may be very proud of yourself and excited to show off your new body. However, now that you have lost weight, you may find that you have lots of excess skin on your body that does not want to go away.
The good news is, the skin is very elastic, so you just need to be a little patient. The skin is truly amazing organ. It has the ability to recover from a great deal of damage. As long as the deepest layers are not damaged, new cells and fibers are produced on a regular basis. However there are certain things that you can do to help your skin “get used to” your new size.
Much of the time loose skin will occur on your legs, midsection, and arms. Before you give up home and opt for surgery, follow these tips.
How to Tighten Loose Skin Tip #1: Do not lose weight too quickly
One of the top reasons as to why people end up with that unsightly sagging skin is because they lose weight too fast. The droopy appearance of folds of skin is most often caused by various crash diets. When you lose more than three pounds each week it may cause your skin to lose that elasticity faster and make it difficult for it to spring back into shape.
Whenever you plan to lose weight, you should plan on losing around two pounds each week. This is not only healthier for your skin, but it is likely for it to stay off longer.
Age is another factor that may reduce skin elasticity and thus reduces the ability of the skin to readjust it’s size after weight loss. However, many cases of loose skin are found in relatively young people who have lost weight, so the effect of age on skin elasticity is not really a factor in all cases, if at all.
How to Tighten Loose Skin Tip #2: Make exercise a priority and lift weights
To eliminate and prevent the loose appearance of the excess body fat during and following weight loss, without resorting to surgery, you must change your body composition, not just lose body mass. That means paying special attention to the ratio of your body fat to muscle, or lean body mass. Preventing loss of lean body mass while dieting will dramatically improve your appearance.
This is best achieved by exercise, especially muscle building, weight bearing workouts.
Be patient. It will take more time to fix the loose skin than it would normally take to build muscle or lose fat, so don’t get too discouraged if you don’t see instant results. You have to build the muscle back up again. Endurance exercise will burn fat, but you also need to add strength training.
How to Tighten Loose Skin Tip #3: Healthy diet and hydration is key
Drink lot of water and take as much liquid diets as you can. This would hydrate your skin and let you look rejuvenated. Eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. Remember your skin needs nourishment – make sure you provide it. Also, keep yourself away from smoking and alcohol as much as you can.
How to Tighten Loose Skin Tip #4: Scrub and massage your skin
Skin massage helps to build that elasticity back up. Scrub your skin 3 times a week or more. When you scrub away that surface, you will be causing that skin underneath to generate faster.
How to Tighten Loose Skin Tip #5: Care for Your Skin
Avoid harsh detergents like sulfates in soaps, shampoos and dishwashing liquids. Limit sun exposure, stay away from tanning booths, and limit exposure to hot and chlorinated water, since all of these elements decrease elasticity.
How to tighten loose skin after weight loss
Do You Need Surgery?
Skin can only be stretched so far before it loses some of its innate ability to snap back. If you’ve had a 9-month pregnancy, then you can tighten your loose skin. In contrast, if you’ve carried 50-100 extra pounds on your body for a long time, you might need to resort to plastic surgery and stapling to tighten loose skin.
As mentioned earlier, elasticity of your skin will naturally decrease with age. Although you have control over the rate of your weight loss, staying properly hydrated, eating the right foods and caring for your skin, you simply have no control over your age! So rather than letting age stress you out, you should focus on the things over which you do have control — like exercising and eating right — and you’ll find that you always look better than your peers. And feel great! via Huffintonpost.
Remember, the best course of action is prevention.
Don’t lose weight too fast and preserve your muscles while losing fat. That’s especially important for people who have followed strict calorie restriction plans because they may have lost muscle right along with the fat. However, don’t start to worry too much before you start losing weight.
Advice on Weight Loss and Excess Skin After Weight Loss
Questions? Comments? Weight Loss Tips?
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