Everything
You Need To Know About Loose Skin And Weight Loss
By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
I receive a
lot of e-mail from people with loose skin or from overweight
people who are concerned about having loose skin after
they lose the weight. In fact, this is one of the biggest
concerns and most frequently asked questions I receive
from men and women who have a lot of weight to lose.
Just recently,
I received this email from a reader of my syndicated "Ask
Tom" fat loss column:
"Tom,
I began a fat loss program using your Burn The Fat system
and it worked so well I got down to 15 1/2 stones (from
19). However, this has caused me a problem: Excess abdominal
skin. I didn't crash lose this weight, it came off at
the rate of about 2 lbs. per week just like you recommended.
Now I'm unsure of whether to carry on, as my abdomen has
quite a lot of excess skin - I feel like I've turned into
a bloody Shar-Pei! Does everyone go through this? Will
the skin tighten up? I was overweight for more than 12
years. Am I going to end up needing surgical skin removal?
Can you offer me any advice? I'm a medical student in
the UK and my colleagues seem determined to proffer surgery
as the only option."
There are 14 things you should know about loose skin after
very large weight losses:
1. Skin is
incredibly elastic. Your skin can stretch and expand or
tighten and retract to a great degree. Look at what women
go through during pregnancy. Some women do experience
stretch marks after pregnancy, but obviously skin is remarkably
elastic.
2. Elasticity
of skin depends on both genetics and environment/lifestyle.
Wrinkling and loss of elasticity is partly the consequence
of aging (genetic factors) and also a result of environmental
factors such as oxidative stress, excessive sun exposure,
and nutritional deficiency. The environmental parts you
can fix, the genetics and age part, you cannot. Advice:
Get moving and change the things you have control over...
Be realistic and don't worry about those things you don't
have control over.
3. How much
your skin returns to its former tautness depends partly
on age. The older you get, the more an extremely large
weight loss can leave loose skin that will not return
to normal.
4. How long
you carry extra weight may influence how much the skin
will become taut after the weight loss: For example, compare
a 9 month pregnancy with 9 years carrying 100 excess pounds.
5. How much
weight was carried has a lot to do with how much the skin
will resume a tight appearance. Your skin can only be
stretched so much and be expected to "snap back"
one hundred percent. With extreme obesity, the probability
of there still being loose skin after weight loss is higher.
6. How fast
the weight was gained also has a lot to do with how much
the skin will resume a tight appearance. Your skin can
only be stretched so quickly and be expected to "snap
back."
7. How fast
weight is lost also has a lot to do with how much the
skin will tighten up. Rapid weight loss doesn't allow
the skin time to slowly resume to normal. (This is yet
another reason to lose fat slowly; 1-2 pounds per week,
3 pounds at the most if you have a lot of weight to lose,
and even then, only if you are measuring body fat and
you're certain it's fat you're losing, not lean tissue).
8. There are
exceptions to all of the above; For example, people who
gained and then lost incredible amounts of weight quickly
at age 50 or 60, and their skin returned 100% to normal.
9. Creams probably
don't work. There are many creams advertised as having
the ability to restore the tightness of your skin. the
late bodybuilding guru Dan duchaine used to recommend
topical creams made with pycnogenol, which contain the
antioxidant bioflavanoids called proanthocyanidins. But
to the best of my knowledge, none of the topical creams
are scientifically validated. I haven't even heard much
anecdotal evidence that they work -- at least not permanently
and measurably -- and especially if you have a lot of
loose skin. There are definitely some topicals that will
pull water from under your skin, but remeber, that is
temporary. Buyer should beware with topical products.
(as an aside, Ive also heard anectodal reports that skin
brushing was helpful, but again, I am not aware of any
scientific evidence proving this is effective).
10. Nutrition
has a lot to do with the health of your skin. Essential
fatty acids in particular are very valuable for many reasons,
and one of them is for the health of your skin. It would
be worth taking an EFA supplement such as fish oil, flax
oil or an oil blend like Udo's choice. Antioxidants are
also very important, so be sure to consume copious amounts
of a variety of vegetables and fruits. Also pay very close
attention to hydration. Drink approximately a gallon of
water a day or a minimum of half your body weight in ounces.
(By the way, whey protein is high in a powerful antioxidant
called glutathione).
11. Exercise
has a lot to do with how your skin appears after you lose
body fat. If you use very low calorie diets, you are likely
to lose lean body mass, and this is going to exacerbate
the loose, hanging skin appearance. On the other hand,
if you are exercising regularly and increasing lean body
mass with weight training, you will be more likely to
minimize the appearance of loose skin.
12. Get second
opinions if you are considering surgery.If you're considering
surgical skin removal, consult a physician for advice
because this is not a minor operation, but keep in mind
that your plastic surgeon may be making his BMW payments
with your abdominoplasty money. (Surgery might be recommended
in situations where it's not 100% necessary). Surgery
should be left as the absolute final option in extreme
cases.
13. Give your
skin time. Your skin will definitely get tighter as your
body fat gets lower. I've seen and heard of many cases
where the skin gradually tightened up, at least partially,
after a one or two year period where the weight loss was
maintained and exercise continued.
14. Know your
body fat percentage before even thinking about surgery.
Loose skin is one thing, but still having a lot of body
fat is another. Be honest with yourself and do that by
taking your body fat measurement. This can be done with
skinfold calipers or a variety of other devices (calipers
might not be the best method if you have large folds of
loose skin. Look into impedance analysis, underwater weighing,
DEXA or Bod Pod).
Suppose for
example, a man drops from 35% body fat all the way down
to 20%. He should be congratulated, but I would tell him,
"Don't complain about loose skin yet, your body fat
is still high. Press onward and keep getting leaner and
be sure to focus on strength training to increase lean
body mass as well."
Average body
fat for men is in the mid teens (16% or so). Average body
fat for women is in the 20-25% range. Good body fat for
men is 10-12%, and single digits is extremely lean. Men
shouldn't expect to look "ripped" with 100%
tight skin on the abs unless they have single digit body
fat. Women shouldn't expect to have tight abdominal skin
unless they are in the low to mid teens in body fat.
Except in extreme
cases, you are actually unlikely to see someone with loose
skin who has very low body fat and especially someone
who has not just "lost weight" but has altered
body composition by adding lean muscle as well. It's quite
remarkable how much your skin can tighten up once your
body fat goes from "average" to "excellent"
and even more so when lean body mass increase. Someone
with legitimate single digit body fat and a ton of loose
skin is a rare sight.
So the key
to getting tighter skin is to improve your body composition
(muscle to fat ratio), and lose more body fat, slowly
and sensibly, up to the point where your body composition
rating is BETTER than average (in the "good"
to "great" category, not just "okay").
Only AFTER you reach your long term body fat percentage
goal should you give thought to "excess skin removal."
At that point, admittedly, there are bound to be a few
isolated cases where surgery is necessary if you can't
live with the amount of loose skin remaining.
However, unless
you are really, really lean, it's difficult to get a clear
picture of what is loose skin, what is just remaining
body fat and how much further the skin will tighten up
when the rest of the fat is lost.
Need help getting
rid of that last bit of body body fat? Click here to find
out how to do it the natural way: Burn
the Fat, Feed The Muscle
About
the Author:
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Tom Venuto is a lifetime
natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified personal
trainer (CPT), certified strength & conditioning
specialist (CSCS), and author of the #1 best-selling
e-book, "Burn
the Fat, Feed The Muscle. Tom has
written hundreds of articles and has been featured
in print magazines such as IRONMAN, Australian IRONMAN,
Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Exercise
for Men and Mens Exercise, as well as on hundreds
of websites worldwide.
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