How to Tighten Loose Skin after Weight loss?

If you just had a baby or lost a ton of weight recently, you are going to notice some skin that sags on your body.  When you lose weight, that skin used to be stretched over your pregnant belly or excess fatty layers.

While it is great that you have lost so much weight, it’s not very encouraging to see that your skin has not caught up as quickly. I totally understand.   Let me just say that your body will adapt to your new body fat percent will a little time and if you follow these steps:

Before I go down my list I need to cover a few things first:

First, You need to have patience for this process to take place.  Anything that happens quickly isn’t worth having, especially when it comes to weight loss.. What am I talking about:

Take the time to lose the weight.  The quicker the weight comes off the harder time your skin has keeping up with your weight loss.  Fast weight loss is mostly connected to Gastric bypass surgeries or any other related surgical process that cause mass weight loss very quickly.

Plan on taking off about 1-2 lbs a week for your average to give your skin a chance to tighten up.  This process works every time.

We’re going to take an in-depth look at the loose skin issue and see what can be done about it.There are certain steps you can take to tighten loose skin after weight loss.

While you may have some loose skin take the time to really understand if you have loose skin or excess fat that feels soft and jiggly.

Try this:  Pinch the area you’re concerned with and if you can grab more than a few millimeters of skin, there’s more fat in there to lose.

Until you lose that fat, your skin has no reason to return to its former size and tautness.

If you’re a man, I wouldn’t consider skin removal surgery until you’ve hit 10% body fat. If you’re a woman, 20%.  Here is an easy way to measure your body fat at home  

The reason I stated the above percentages are that you can’t assess that state of your skin until you have seen your body fat at this amount.  Chances are getting lean will be the answer to your problems.

If you have this low-level of body fat and his or her skin is almost paper-thin, then it truly is a matter of excess skin, and can be dealt with.

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Lifting Weights

A big part of tightening loose skin is building lean body tissue or muscles. Now ladies don’t get scared by that word, you will never naturally looks like a man who lifts weights.  Women however, get that sexy lean look that comes with lifting weights.

There are two layers of tissue underneath your skin: fat and muscle, both of which press up against your skin and keep it from sagging loosely.

When you gain a large amount of weight, your skin must expand a bit to accommodate the increase in body size. When you lose the fat, however, and especially when you lose it quickly, your skin doesn’t necessarily shrink at the same rate as your fat cells. This imbalance can lead to loose skin.

Many people use various forms of starvation dieting as well as large amounts of cardio to lose fat, which also causes significant muscle loss, further expanding the void between the skin and the underlying tissue.

The result is a reduced body fat percentage but a small, soft physique with sagging skin. The “skinny fat” look, as it’s called.

Building muscle is the solution to all these woes because it literally fills in the looseness in the skin, creating a visibly tighter, healthier look.

Lifting weights can be used as a workout regimen at the beginning of your weight loss journey or at the end. Start immediately if you haven’t already to start seeing results!  I provide a workout for cardio and weights for my 21 day metabolic reset diet

Improve your skins elasticity

As you get older, your skin loses elasticity, Try this.  Pinch your elbow skin: does it go back quickly or does your skin take longer to go back down?  If it takes long then your skin has lost elasticity.

There are ways to improve that.  Supplements like collagen and gelatin have been scientifically shown to improve skin elasticity and tighten loose skin.

A study conducted by scientist at Stanford University found that supplementing with 250 mg of gelatin per day improved skin elasticity.

Getting gelatin in your diet can be a little tough, though, unless you enjoy eating a variety of strange foods like oxtail, chicken feet, or short ribs. Supplementing is the easiest way to go.  If you take collagen be sure to take vitamin C to maximize absorption.

I use collagen daily.  Since incorporating it as a supplement. I have noticed less wrinkles, skin looks moisturized and my cellulite has become less noticeable.

Supplementing Fish Oil

Fish oil has a ton of health benefits. While I will not go into those now, I will discuss the improvement of skin elasticity for your body.  This study has shown significant improvements in as little as 3 months.

There are two forms of fish oil on the market today: the triglyceride form and the ethyl ester form.

The triglyceride form is fish oil in its natural state, and the ethyl ester form is a processed version of the triglyceride form that includes a molecule of ethanol (alcohol).

While plenty of studies have proven the benefits of supplementation with fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs), research has shown that the triglyceride form is better absorbed by the body.

One of the reasons for this is the ethyl ester form is much more resistant to the enzymatic process by which the body breaks the oil down for use.

Another downside to the ethyl ester form is during the digestive process, your body converts it back to the triglyceride form, which results in the release of the ethanol molecule.

Yes you may get the fish burps but the benefits out way those any day.  These are my favorite products below.  Click to get some yourself.

      

Quit smoking

This really doesn’t seem to be a thing these days but I have to say it.  Besides the gross behavior that comes with smoking it poses may health risk.

As far as your skin is concerned, a study from researchers at the International Association of Ecologic Dermatology analyzed the skin of 64 female Italian smokers for the presence of lines, vascular and pigmentation state, elasticity, brightness, and texture.

The first assessment revealed that the average biological age of study participants was 9 years older than their chronological age. After 9 months of not smoking, however, the average reduction in the biological age of the skin was 13 years.

Eat more protein

Research shows a correlation between protein intake and skin youthfulness and health. Low-protein dieting is associated with poorer skin health than high-protein dieting, which helps reduce wrinkles, dryness, and skin atrophy.

Eat more veggies and fruits

Your body needs a wide spectrum of vitamins and minerals to carry out the millions of biological processes that keep you alive and healthy, and eating several servings of fruits and vegetables every day is the only reliable way to provide everything your body needs.

In terms of skin specifically, research has shown that higher intakes of fruits and vegetables are associated with healthier, better-looking skin.

 

In some cases, there is no way to fully eliminate loose skin without surgery. Before you go down that road, though, follow the advice in this article and see where you’re at:

• Get to 10% body fat (men)/20% body fat (women)
• Build a significant amount of muscle to replace some of the “space” left from the fat loss
• Don’t smoke
• High-protein diet
• Eat  fruits and vegetables every day
• Use supplements

If you do all these things and remain patient, there’s a very good chance you can dramatically reduce or even eliminate your loose skin problem without expensive and high recovery surgery.

 

Sources:

Serri, R., M. C. Romano, and A. Sparavigna. “”Quitting Smoking Rejuvenates the Skin”: Results of a Pilot Project on Smoking Cessation Conducted in Milan, Italy.” Skinmed. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. 31 Aug. 2017.

Segger, D., A. Matthies, and T. Saldeen. “Supplementation with Eskimo Skin Care Improves Skin Elasticity in Women. A Pilot Study.” The Journal of Dermatological Treatment. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. 31 Aug. 2017.

Whitehead, R. D., D. Re, D. Xiao, G. Ozakinci, and D. I. Perrett. “You Are What You Eat: Within-subject Increases in Fruit and Vegetable Consumption Confer Beneficial Skin-color Changes.” PloS One. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. 31 Aug. 2017.

Cosgrove, M. C., O. H. Franco, S. P. Granger, P. G. Murray, and A. E. Mayes. “Dietary Nutrient Intakes and Skin-aging Appearance among Middle-aged American Women.” The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. U.S. National Library of Medicine, Oct. 2007. Web. 31 Aug. 2017.

https://www.nuskin.com/content/dam/global/library/pdf/products/tegreen_study_01.pdf