How to Deal with Excess Skin After Extreme Weight Loss

Extreme weight loss can be gratifying especially if you worked so hard to shed all that unwanted weight. Unfortunately, major weight loss can lead to loose skin, especially around the abdomen, under arms, and thigh area. Although the skin can stretch and bounce back to its original shape, it will take a while before the skin can stretch back to its original shape when you have been overweight or morbidly obese for far too long.

Loose skin occurs when the body cannot keep up with the drastic weight loss. It will take surgery to tighten the skin and achieve a flattering silhouette after massive weight loss. However, if you are dealing with minor loose skin, we are listing down ways to achieve tighter, slimmer silhouette:

Proper Hydration

Who knew that drinking water regularly could tighten the skin? Apart from lubricating the organs and flushing out toxins in the body, water plays a major role in skin elasticity. Drinking more than 8 glasses of water daily keeps the muscles and skin healthy. You can increase your water consumption by eating fruits and vegetables with high water content too. Fruits and vegetables – like apples, pears, broccoli, watermelon, carrots, and asparagus – are packed with fibers and fluids that will fill you up and prolong the feeling of fullness too!

Take a Break

If you have lost a significant amount of weight and you are starting to notice the loose skin around the abdomen or under arms, we recommend putting your diet on hold. Or at the very least, slow down your weight loss. Why? You want to give your body enough time to adjust to the amount of weight you lost. When you slow down on your diet, the skin has more time to shrink, adjust, and regenerate to your new figure. If you continue losing weight at a rapid pace, you will deal with loose skin, stretch marks, and permanent skin damages in the future.

Better Nutrition

Certain types of foods boost skin elasticity. How? Protein rich and vitamin C-rich foods increase the production of elastin and collagen in the skin. Elastin and collagen are proteins that strengthen the skin tissues, keeping your skin plump, elastic, and younger-looking. If you are dealing with loose skin, we highly recommend noshing on seeds, nuts, dairy products, fish, legumes, and lentils. These foods contain nutrients and beneficial oils that keep the skin healthy and resilient to extreme weight loss. If you are working out regularly, we suggest focusing on high protein foods.

Caring for Your Skin

To keep the skin strong and resilient, you have to take your skincare routine up a notch. Start by regularly exfoliating the skin. Exfoliating the skin sloughs off dead skin cells, improves circulation, and tightens the skin. It also aids in the proper absorption of your favorite skincare products. Exfoliating the skin also speeds up cell turnover. This ensures that dead skin cells are replaced with new ones. That will translate to healthy, tighter and younger-looking skin.

After exfoliating the skin, follow up with a tightening, nourishing skin cream. You want to use skin care products enriched with vitamin A, C, and E, hyaluronic acid, yeast extract, and soy protein. These ingredients will refine the skin texture and improve resilience. They also encourage elastin and collagen formation in the skin.

Exercise Regularly

Working out tightens the skin like no other! Use a combination of resistance and cardio exercise to boost skin elasticity and strength. Cardio exercises burn off fat while strength training improves the skin tone! To achieve a slimmer, tighter silhouette, you need to work out two to three times a week!