Skip to main content

Dealing With Excess Skin After Weight Loss

Congratulations, that diet finally turned out to be a success. Unless your goal was to lose only 5 lbs, chances are you’re going to have looser skin than your grandma. Although there are no ways to actually reduce the skin to its previous area besides an abdominoplasty, there are a few ways you can help it, at least aesthetically.

woman happy after loosing weight

1. Vitamins
The first is to make sure you’re taking enough vitamins. Vitamin A promotes cellular regeneration and sebum production, which will increase the elasticity of your skin. Although this may seem counter-intuitive to having a more taught appearance, elastic skin is more responsive to changes in tension, allowing it to contract, giving it a tighter appearance.

2. Exfoliation
Exfoliating your skin with a cleanser or a sponge will not only give it a vibrant appearance, but will promote new cellular growth. By expediting the process of skin loss and regeneration, you’re simply speeding up the gradual process that your skin goes through to readjust to its new level of tension.

3. Exercise
The most effective way of giving your skin a tighter appearance (besides a tummy tuck) is to build more muscle to fill the void from the fat. Fat tends to collect around the belly and neck, so focusing on exercises that promote muscle stimulation in these areas is essential. Doing neck exercises such as holding the back of your head (as if you were relaxing) and tilting your head back with about 50% resistance will stimulate the levator and scalene muscles in the back of your neck. Doing about 10-15 reps of these a couple times a day (combined with 10-15 reps from the sides and the front as well) will tone up that saggy chicken neck. Just make sure to not go over board, because we’re trying to get a toned appearance, not a solid 15” neck line. As for the belly fat, doing more than one ab workout will help curb the plateau effect which will eventually hinder muscle growth. Mixing up crunches that target your upper abdominals with sit-ups that work your lower abs or obliques (if done sideways) will tighten up your mid-section, giving your stomach an all around more toned appearance.

(Guest Post by Angelina)

Comments

  1. I have just recently lost 4 stone in a very short space of time. I have become extremley self-concious about the way I look. I have tried doing tons of ab exercises, and I am happy to say it does help to hold in some of the loose skin. However, even though I am only 16 so my skin is very elasticated, I am still going to a surgeon to see if i need a tummy tuck. do you have any pictures of your loose skin? If you could send them to me I could look at them and I could get back to you and tell you how bad it is and what I think you need to do to get rid of it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Katrina3:04 PM

    Well using lotion alot helps ur skin get more cologne and makes it tighter

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous3:05 PM

    f you lost the weight quickly then it will take the skin a while to catch up.

    exercise doesn't really help loose skin.

    you keep doing your exercises to keep your muscles toned but it's more important that you stay properly hydrated.

    your skin, once it's been stretched out can only retract so far, so if after a year or two of maintaining your new weight your skin still hasn't retracted then surgery will be your only option to get rid of it.
    remember, this is skin--not muscle, not fat. exercise won't affect its elasticity. But hydration will.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Joseph3:06 PM

    u know you can finance surgery now adays, thats the only way i have heard, my friend is kind of in the same boat, he lost his weight a couple years ago but he still has some loose skin, he wont do it cuz i says he aint that vain but if i worked that hard on losing weight i would def. have simple nip and tuck, should cost much at all

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous3:09 PM

    you can prevent this by taking specific supplements and making your workout and diet routine skin-friendly. It isn't easy, but you may be able to prevent the drooping and sagging skin that so often plagues those who have lost a dramatic amount of weight in a short period of time.

    ReplyDelete
  6. just please be contented with yourself. or do exactly what Micheal Jackson do..

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Comments posted on this blog are moderated and approved only if they are relevant, on-topic and not abusive. Avoid using links to your site/blog in the body of your comment unless it is highly relevant to the post.

Popular posts from this blog

Aspirin for acne-prone skin

Aspirin has been around for a long time and its health benefits are wide and varied. Aspirin , or acetylsalicylic acid is a salicylate drug, often used as an analgesic to relieve minor aches and pains , as an antipyretic to reduce fever , and as an anti-inflammatory medication. Aspirin's greatest benefit is reducing cardiovascular events including heart attacks and strokes. According to the American Heart Assoc. virtually all women are at risk of heart disease and doctors should more strongly consider prescribing a daily aspirin for their female patients. There is growing evidence to suggest regular aspirin use may reduce cancer and dementia as well. Investigators from the Women's Health Study have reported important new findings demonstrating that aspirin reduces the risk of a first stroke in women. When given to someone immediately after a heart attack, aspirin decreases death by 25%.

Kapalabhati Pranayam for wrinkle-free, radiant complexion

Did you know that Kapalabhati Pranayam / kriya can also be used to enhance your beauty and ward off skin aging? Done the right way,  Kapalabhati Pranayam can be used as a beauty aid - it can give you a wrinkle-free, luminous forehead and radiant complexion. Kapalabhati For Beauty   ‘Kapalabhati’ Pranayam breathing exercise is an excellent way of maintaining good health and fighting diseases. ‘Kapala’ means ‘skull’ (and ‘forehead’ also) and ‘bhati’ means ‘shining’. By doing kapalabhati, the ‘nadis’(nerves) of the brain get good exercise. This is achieved by exercising the diaphragm. There will be a glow on the forehead. After the age of 25, the tell-tale signs of ageing start making their appearance in the form of fine lines on the forehead. A regular practice of Kapalabhati for 10-15 minutes everyday will give you a tight forehead sans wrinkles for many years to come. Avoid Botox, try Kapalabhati Why resort to Botox   and other expensive chemical or surgica...

Lemon as a beauty aid

The diminutive lemon is a very versatile beauty-aid and this cheap and golden-coloured fruit has excellent properties for enhancing your looks. Simple lemon-based preparations, you can mix in your own kitchen, will surely bring a dramatic transformation in your beauty regimen.

Aloevera, the wonder herb

Of all the herbs available in the kitchen garden, aloe is perhaps the richest in healing properties and has been rightly named the “first-aid” plant. It has moisturizing and emollient properties and is used in cosmetic creams, sun-lotions, shaving creams and face packs. It can easily be cultivated as a house-plant in a sunny warm spot with good drainage. Cosmetologists mix aloe with several other herbs and draft fancy names for it. Then these “herbal” avatars are sold at exorbitant prices. Growing a plant and using fresh gel is much more effective than bottled gel, simply because it is alive and therefore is more potent. It is the only plant whose extract is applied directly from plant to face in its natural and purest form.

I Tried a Headache Balm and Ended Up with Rashes

I do have this habit of slathering pain balms whenever I have a headache. But never did I get a skin reaction or rashes from it. It so happened that I had an extremely severe headache a few months ago.  The pain was so unbearable that I gingerly reached out for a pain balm kept on my bedside table and kept on slathering it repeatedly all over the temples of my forehead. Next morning, after I woke up, I found that the skin on my forehead was peeling off and worse there were red rashes!  This was the first time in my life that I was getting rashes from applying a pain balm on my forehead !  I have never had any pain balm allergy or as such!  Side-effects due to application of a pain balm  was something I've never come across all these years! I usually use pain balms of reputed companies – my usual favourites are Tiger balm, Amrutanjan, Zandu balm and Sloan’s balm.  This time I had used Tiger balm. But why did it  give me rashes now, when I had used it...