If you are successful in losing weight, you will have loose skin. Loose or saggy skin can be a common problem after losing a huge amount of weight in a short period of time.
Over time, you will see improvement in the elasticity of your skin, but some people may require surgery to get rid of the excess skin.
What influences the elasticity of your skin?
The factors that influence sagging skin during weight loss are:
- Amount of Weight You Have Lost: Inordinate weight loss usually results in more sagging skin.
- Genetics: Genes influence the firmness of your skin as it ages. Some people are just more vulnerable to sagging skin than others.
- How long have you been overweight: If you've been overweight for an extended period of time, your skin may not be ready to fully retract back to its reduced form once you shrink.
- Nutrition and Water Supply: Your skin may not be as healthy or firm if you don't follow a diet, vitamins and minerals, and if you don't stay hydrated.
The skin has finite elasticity, and if it is pushed beyond the limit of this elasticity when gaining weight, the skin cannot contract completely during subsequent weight loss.
How to avoid sagging skin after weight loss?
Loose skin is caused by losing a huge amount of weight (100 pounds or more) over a very short period of time. This can happen when weight is lost through diet and exercise, but it happens more often in patients who have had bariatric surgery.
With slower, more gradual weight loss, it is easier for the elasticity of an individual's skin to snap back into place, shrinking as fat is lost. But when too much is lost too quickly, the elasticity of the skin does not have time to catch up.
While you can't completely avoid such loose skin, losing weight slowly is the best way to avoid excessive sagging.
Can lose skin after weight loss go away on its own?
How much excess skin you have left and therefore how your skin responds to weight loss, and it depends on everything from age and genetics to the load you have lost and how well your skin is. So, relying on your situation, you expect changes.
Most experts recommend aiming for 4 to 8 pounds per month. It helps you lose more fat than muscle and can allow your skin to regulate itself as you reduce.
