How to Avoid (and Fix) Loose Skin After Weight-Loss
I received two emails last week from our meal plan users about saggy skin after weight-loss that I thought I'd discuss it on the blog.
The good news: You've lost weight! Congrats!!!
The not-so-good news: Your skin feels saggy, mushy or there's just extra skin hanging around.
Is there anything you can do about it (and without surgical intervention)? Probably!
I say "probably" because there are a number of factors at play -- factors that determine whether or not your skin will "bounce back" naturally without surgical intervention.
From the following 7 factors, I find "time" (how long), weight (how much) and speed (how fast) mattered the most with my clients and their ability to "tighten and tone."
FACTORS:
Time - How long you carried the excess weight (i.e. 9 months pregnant vs. 9 years being overweight)
Weight - How much excess weight you carried (i.e. 40 pounds vs. 100 pounds)
Speed-ON - How fast you gained the weight (i.e. 30 pounds in 6 months vs. 30 pounds over 3 years)
Speed-OFF - How fast you lost the weight (slow, gradual weight-loss vs. drastic weight-loss in a short period).
Age - The elasticity of your skin decreases with age.
Body Composition - the ratio of lean mass to body fat. Even someone who looks "trim" or "slender" can have a minimal amount of lean muscle. I've trained a number of women who looked slim/skinny, and didn't need to lose any weight, but they had very little muscle on their beautiful body. We joked that they were "soft" when they came to me, but "lean and shapely" when I was done with them :)
Diet - a healthy diet filled with vegetables (like on our meal plans!) and staying hydrated matters! Every case is different, but I find most people, once they have reached their total weight-loss goal, find their skin starts to tighten and "bounce back" within 90 days, provided they maintain their loss.
If you lose the weight slowly and gradually, your skin will also tighten and "bounce back" progressively with the weight-loss. You and your skin will "shrink" together.
I lost a total of about 35-45 pounds. I plateaued after the first 25 or so, then lost the last 10-15 a few years later (after adjusting my diet further).
Even though I was young (mid-to-late 20s) and had lost the weight gradually, I had some loose "mushy" skin, particularly in back, thighs, and hips, especially the first time when I lost the most weight.
I talked to trainer at the gym (this was before I was a personal trainer), asking what exercises I could do to firm up.
After some embarrassing pinching and prodding, the trainer said, "this is just lose skin from weight-loss. It will tighten up on it's own, just keep exercising, building muscle, eating right."
He was right. Both times it cleared up on it's own, especially as I continued to lean out by increasing my muscle and chipping away at excess body fat.
If you've reached your goal, and are maintaining it, but your skin is feeling saggy or mushy, I recommend consulting with a personal trainer and paying for a few sessions so you can learn a workout plan and how to do the exercises properly, targeting certain muscles. The trainer should be able to help evaluate whether exercise can help, and to what extent. If you stick to the program diligently for 6-8 weeks, you'll see results and whether or not strength training is going to help your skin "bounce back" or if you may need to consider another alternative.
For example, many of my women clients complained about their breasts after substantial weight-loss or breast feeding. Nature can undoubtably be cruel: breastfeeding and weight-loss can cause our breasts to look like a de-flatted balloon. Still, most of my female clients found improvements by doing chest exercises (working on those muscles) as well as tightening their overall body. (For example, increasing the muscle in their arms and back also help with the breasts beyond chest exercise -- "spot training" is fairly ineffective).
Some women (myself included) also found the utility of a good bra :)
Finally, try brushing the area with a dry brush. I've read enough reviews online to think this technique is at least worth a try. The idea is to brush the skin with a dry brush to help improve circulation. The increased circulation (supposedly) brings nutrients to the skin that improve the quality of collagen and elastin. A friend of mine also swears routine massages have helped, particularly with cellulite.
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