When you are overweight, whether it be by 20 pounds or by 200, all you focus on at first is dropping the pounds. That’s the goal, the end game. In your mind, you see a smaller, fit version of yourself. Some people immediately see the in-between – the huge space that makes up the time and effort it takes to reach the fit version of you from the starting point version of you. However, for a lot of people, that stretch of the fitness journey, as well as the road after you reach your goal, isn’t something they put a lot of thought into.
At least not at first.
Not until they look in the mirror and see that first bit of loose and sagging or wrinkly skin. Then it’s straight to Google to find a remedy, anything that will help reduce the loose skin. There are many articles and websites, studies and product promotions out there promising that their way is the best way to get rid of loose skin. Is there really a best way? It is more a combination of several things you can do to help prevent, reduce the amount of, and reduce the appearance of, loose skin.
Let’s talk a minute about loose skin.
It is important to note right from the start, that having loose skin is not a terrible thing. It does not define you as a person, it does not show the world that you used to be overweight, it is not necessarily unhealthy (unless it is excessive and in that instance you would absolutely need to consult a medical professional). It is, for simplicity’s sake, how your body adapts to a new condition. It can be caused by several things:
Significant and rapid weight loss
Menopause
Artificial tanning
UV damage
Skin products that contain harsh chemicals used over time
Smoking/Drinking alcohol excessively
Just to name a few. But in this article, we are going to be discussing specifically loose skin due to weight loss and why it happens, how you can help prevent it, and how you can help reduce its appearance.
What internal body processes cause loose skin?
Most overweight and obese people carry extra weight for years, often beginning as early as childhood or adolescence, and even more so in their early adulthood. It is rarely a short-term thing. Even leading up to the highest weight you ever reach, the skin is continually stretching. When your skin has been significantly stretched and remains that way for a long period of time, collagen and elastin fibers become damaged. As a result, they lose some of their ability to retract. Because of that, when someone loses a lot of weight, excess skin hangs from the body. In general, the greater the weight loss, the more pronounced the loose skin effect. Not only can it hang, it can also have a wrinkled or shrunken appearance.
What is collagen and elastin and why do we lose it?
Collagen is the main fibrous protein in your body and makes up 25% of the total protein mass. There are 28 types of collagen, type I being the most abundant. Type I can be found in skin, ligaments and bones. Collagen makes up 80% of our skin!
The main function of collagen is to provide strength to the various structures in your body, especially the skin. Collagen production slows down with age, causing body structures to weaken. As we age, the skin can become thinner, wrinkled and sagging. Loss of collagen plays a role in that.
Elastin is also a protein and is found in the connective tissue in elastic structures in your body. It is what gives the “snap back” ability to your skin. It is produced in our bodies during very early childhood. We do not produce it as we get older. Elastin is prominent in blood vessels, our lungs and our skin. The loss of this vital protein creates various issues in the body, including the ability of the skin to be flexible and snap back after expansion such as weight gain, as well as reducing the ability of the skin to heal wounds.
Collagen and elastin work together and are important in maintaining healthy bodies, especially healthy skin.
There are many factors in the loss of these two proteins. Age is one, significant weight gain over a long period of time is another. Our bodies stop producing collagen around the age of 40, and people who lose a significant amount of weight after that age may have a much more difficult time in their battle with loose skin.
How can you get rid of loose skin from weight loss without surgery?
People mistakenly think that you can just “build up enough muscle” to fill in the loose skin. This isn’t exactly what happens, and it doesn’t work like your mind might think it does. I am sure you have heard people say that when you stop working out, your muscle turns to fat. That is not true. The same goes for fat, it does not turn into muscle when you do work out. They are two separate entities in our bodies and are lost and gained in different ways.
One reason why you won’t be able to grow enough muscle to simply replace the fat and lessen the loose skin is because, although muscle and fat weigh the same pound for pound, a pound of fat is about the size of a grapefruit, and a pound of muscle is about the size of a tangerine. So, to visualize this, a pound of fat is at least twice the size as a pound of muscle. If a person loses 100 pounds of fat, in theory, they would have to GAIN 200 pounds of muscle to make up the “space” left behind by the fat. This is not possible. Resistance training does, however, help significantly reduce the appearance loose skin. It does this by increasing lean muscle mass in your body, giving the skin a tighter looking “toned” appearance.
Another way of helping to rid yourself of loose skin is eating a nutrient dense diet. This includes plenty of quality protein, lots of green vegetables, a good amount of healthy fats, such as olive oil, avocados and some nut butters, and complex carbohydrates, such as rice, oatmeal and sweet potatoes to name a few. Your skin cells rejuvenate once approximately every 28 days, so you literally are what you eat. The more vitamins and minerals you can supply your body with to help in the regeneration of cells, the better off you’ll be.
Adequate hydration is also very important. Your skin is an organ, and like all other organs in your body, it needs water to thrive. A recommended amount of water to drink per day is half your body weight in ounces.
A restful night’s sleep is fundamental in skin health. When we sleep is when our bodies recover and repair. Getting enough sleep also reduces cortisol (the stress hormone) in our bodies. Since stress can be a factor in skin health, every step taken to reduce it is a step in creating more healthy skin.
Adding collagen into your diet is another helpful tool in fighting loose skin. There are a couple of ways to do this. One is by eating quality protein sources, such as grass-fed beef, pastured chicken or wild caught fish. Eating these alongside foods rich in vitamin C, zinc and copper (such as fruits, green vegetables, nuts and whole grains) will produce the collagen your body needs. Drinking grass-fed beef bone broth or using it as a base for soups and stews is also a great way to get a collagen boost.
Collagen supplements can also be useful. There are many on the market, and if you choose to use one, be sure to do the research and find one that will work best for your needs and your body.
Two more important things you will need are patience and relentless consistency. It took years of weight gain to stretch the elastin and collagen fibers in your skin, and it very well may take years to undo the damage from that. You may never get rid of loose skin completely without a surgical method, but by putting the recommendations here in place in your daily life, you will most certainly see a fair amount of good results in your efforts.
The short and sweet of it.
Causes of loose skin after weight loss:
Loss of collagen and elastin from age and outside factors such as sun exposure and smoking.
Damage of collagen and elastin fibers from long term weight gain.
Losing weight too rapidly.
Non-Surgical ways to help reduce loose skin:
Resistance training
Nutrient dense, whole food diet
Plenty of water
Plenty of quality sleep
Adding collagen into your diet through food or supplements
Patience and consistency
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