I guess a lot of us are dealing with this issue of the loose skin under which there was, once, a lot of fat.
Did any of you have any good advice about how to deal with or better, get rid of this loose skin ?
Cheers.
I’ve lost 80lbs so far (20-30 to go before I’m around my “goal”) and I’m going to have surgery to remove all the skin.
For one, I’m 40, and I’ve spent the last 2 decades being obese, so I’m not willing to wait around ages and ages to see if the skin improves with fasting. I want to actually get the chance to feel good about my body for as much of my adult life as possible.
For another, I don’t find my weight loss as exciting? positive? It’s difficult to pick the right word. Basically, I don’t feel as amazing about losing all this weight when I have to look at myself in the mirror. I have a serious apron of skin that prevents pants from fitting nicely. My breasts are like 2 tube socks with tennis balls in the toes. They hang down, and even with a good bra, they don’t look quite right because they don’t have any volume. People are always telling me how amazing I look, but I don’t feel that way myself, and it’s a disservice to myself to not feel great about my body after several years of very hard work to lose so much weight.
Now, in terms of my health, I feel ABSOLUTELY thrilled. I don’t have any more chronic pain in my knees and ankles, or hips. My resting heart rate is way down, my blood work is excellent, and I have protected myself from developing Type 2 (which I was at high risk for after two pregnancies with gestational diabetes).
So all of the effort was worth it just for those benefits, but now I want the outside to match the inside, and look as great as I feel physically.
Theoretically fasting should eat the protein in the excess skin once the body realizes it’s no longer necessary, which can take quite a while if you’ve been overweight a long time. I’ve seen very mixed results depending on how quickly you lose the weight and how elastic your skin is. Surgery is always an option, but I would workout fasted as much as you can to cause your body to look for as much protein to recycle as you can.
My skin is tighter since I started fasting and lifting weights daily. (I don’t lift super heavy each time or do more than 6 exercises) but my body has been turning the skin into useful protein it seems.
I’m trying to accept that my body won’t ever look perfect and to stop being so hard on myself. I had a tummy tuck in May to remove the loose skin on my stomach but there is a bit of loose skin on my back. Just trying to remind myself I’ve lost 80lbs and that I should be proud.
I have found that the skin is there to stay. I have loose skin in all of the places I had lots of fat previously. Massive amounts of walking, fasting and weight lifting have done nothing. With the exception of growing muscle to the extent it fills out the skin again. That is not easy.
I’m not sure if I’m going to wind up with loose skin, I’m trying to lose about 60 pounds total, including water weight (35 pounds down now and it looks promising). At the 20 pound mark I started using Jergens Skin Firming lotion. I’m not sure if it’s working, but I haven’t seen evidence of loose skin in the last 15 pounds, so I think it is.
i think its less about fasting and more about the speed/ age / genetics of the individuals. if i recall correctly a slower weightloss at a younger age yields less loose skin. of course fasting is suppose to lessen it but theres no such thing as a miracle
I’m surprised I never see people bringing up red light therapy panels/photobiomodulation in these discussions. Red and near infrared light powerfully stimulate the production of collagen and elastin in the skin. I haven’t seen any case studies, but I’m willing to bet that 10-15 minutes a day of full body red light therapy during the weight loss journey would largely mitigate this loose skin issue 🤷♂️
It depends on how much weight you lose, your age, and probably other factors like genetics.
Massive weight loss often requires surgery to get rid of the loose skin: brachioplasty for “batwing” arm skin, abdominoplasty for belly apron, thigh and butt lifts for those areas. It’s a personal choice.
I’ve anesthetized people for these procedures, and the change can be so uplifting.
Loose skin all about genetics, you’ll either get it or you won’t and there’s no way to get rid of it outside of surgery. Most of the time the appearance of it will tighten up a bit, but it’s all still there.
Your body does not consume and think about that logically for a second: 1 - it’s an organ. A healthy body does not consume its organs. 2 - your body spent a lot of time and resources making all that skin for you, it’s not just going to make it go away because you have decided you no longer need it. Why would it waste all that energy when you might need it again?