How To Prevent Loose Skin When Working Out

The aftermath of weight loss is often expected and welcomed: higher free energy levels, smaller pants, and a more defined body. But at that place is one unexpected challenge: tightening your peel later losing weight. This unwanted alter tin can be uncomfortable, frustrating, and leave you confused about what to practise adjacent.

Hither'due south how to tighten your skin while losing weight, keep it tight, and discover out what causes skin to stretch in the beginning place.

Why does loose skin after weight loss happen?

Co-ordinate to Hashemite kingdom of jordan Jacobs, M.D., an assistant professor of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, loose skin is unremarkably caused by the post-obit:

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Rapid weight loss

Usually seen in people who undergo bariatric surgery for massive weight loss (more than than 100 pounds), about 70 percent of people who undergo the procedure are left with excess skin, some studies find. "Losing weight apace doesn't give our skin adequate fourth dimension to gradually contract and this results in loose, hanging skin," says Dr. Jacobs.

So who can look loose skin after weight loss? While it varies, mild weight loss (call up: xx pounds or less) typically doesn't lead to backlog skin, Zuckerman says. Weight loss of twoscore to 50 pounds can seem equally massive every bit a weight loss of 100+ pounds.

Gradual weight gain

But loose skin mail-weight loss is as well a product of the weight gain itself. "Skin has a finite elasticity, and if pushed across the limit of that elasticity upon weight proceeds, the peel cannot fully contract dorsum down upon subsequent weight loss," explains Joshua Zuckerman, M.D., surgical director at New York City-based Zuckerman Plastic Surgery.

Aging skin

Also: Information technology'southward non just how much weight you lose, but your historic period and skin quality that determines whether or not yous'll experience loose skin afterward weight loss, he says. "Younger patients have a improve chance at avoiding backlog skin as do those with inherently high skin elasticity." (Equally you lot age, the elastic fibers and collagen molecules that give your peel its firmness lose their strength.)

Men too tend to do better in their artillery and legs than women do, notes Jeffrey G. Kenkel, M.D., a professor and chair of the Betty and Warren Woodward Chair in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at UT Southwestern Medical Center.

How tin can you get rid of loose skin after weight loss?

Co-ordinate to Dr. Jacobs, hither are some options for tightening your skin subsequently weight loss:

Surgical removal

"Typically speaking, after bariatric surgery or massive weight loss, plastic surgery is required to remove excess pare," says Zuckerman. "These plastic surgery procedures are very constructive and typically involve cutting away excess skin and lifting or reshaping the remaining tissue."

Liposuction

On top of surgical excision, options include liposuction (which uses a suction technique to remove fat, and, for patients with mild skin (and fat) excess, not-invasive procedures ordinarily in the form of ultrasound or radiofrequency procedures that heat up the skin and cause contraction by triggering collagen production, explains Jacobs. You lot might have micro-needling with radio frequency energy done, for example, which makes thousands of tiny punctures in your skin and delivers radiofrequency energy during handling, explains Zuckerman.

Torso contouring

Patients can as well turn to contouring procedures such as BodyTite and FaceTite (which tin can be used in conjunction with liposuction) to remove fat and tighten pare, only for all but mild cases of backlog skin, these treatments may not fully address the problem, he notes.

Slower weight loss

While it's non always an choice (peculiarly for those who have bariatric surgery done), gradual weight loss seems to be the best though for preventing loose skin in the get-go place, notes Jacobs.

Exercise

Building muscle—past style of a solid do regimen with strength training work—is always a good idea. Plus, it can make your skin look tauter, says Holly Wyatt, Thou.D., professor of medicine at the Academy of Colorado.

In brusque, surgical excision (though it comes with a longer recovery) remains the gilt standard, says Jacobs (and produces "profound" furnishings) and the results from the more minimally-invasive treatments are what you would await: subtle, he says.

Can loose skin later on weight loss go away on its own?

Not really, docs say—though remember, how much backlog skin you're left with and how well your skin responds to weight loss in the first place depends on everything from age and genetics to how much weight you lost and your skin quality. And then, depending on your circumstance, you might be able to wait some changes.

"Patients who may encounter improvement in their loose pare are those who do not have stretch marks and younger patients who notwithstanding have reasonable pare quality despite weight gain," says Kenkel. "The quality of the skin is the key to improvement."

Jacobs also suggests that if yous've lost weight gradually to requite your skin a full year to contract once you lot've reached your goal weight. "Later on this time, you are non going to see any more than noticeable tightening."

Then, if y'all have loose skin you're concerned about—or if you have loose skin subsequently bariatric surgery—do your homework and arrive touch with a plastic surgeon certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery to learn about your options, suggests Jacobs. "There are a lot of physicians that label themselves as 'plastic surgeons' and, as long as they have a valid medical license, they tin legally perform any procedure," he says. "Just the American Board of Plastic Surgery denotes the proper preparation."

What is the best abode remedy to tighten your peel?

Besides the non-invasive and minimally-invasive options out at that place that are somewhat constructive, (but, once again, commonly only for those with mild cases) at that place'due south no magic skin tightening cream or practise that's going to tighten loose skin after weight loss on its ain. That'south what makes backlog pare a hard problem for those with more moderate cases, says Zuckerman.

Rubbing cocoa butter on your skin might sound like a proficient idea, just while many topical products claim to tighten skin, doctors are skeptical. "At that place are no efficacious topical products or OTC remedies for excess skin," says Zuckerman. Jacobs adds that any product y'all're going to buy for this issue normally will accept subtle results at all-time.

The best dwelling remedy, then? "Taking intendance of your pare," says Jacobs. "This includes sunday protection, avoiding smoking, limiting alcohol consumption, and eating a nutrition rich in fruits and vegetables and low in sugar and saturated fats."