Loose skin?

literallyhavenoidea

Hey guys! I've lost over 50 pounds since the beginning of June but the past month-month and a half or so I've been loosing weight much faster than I did before. 2 weeks ago I lost 3 lbs in a week and last week I lost 4 lbs. If I keep going like this do you think I'll have loose skin? If yes, do you have any suggestions of preventing or helping it? I'm 19, started at 280 now am 229 and my goal is 145. Thanks!

ChelleDee07

You will have some loose skin, but if you will incorporate some strength training (weights) and add in some classes with a personal trainer you will be able to minimize it. I lost 100 lbs in 8 months earlier this year. I am currently just over 2 months in maintenance and doing well. I have some loose skin, but nothing like I would have if I wasn't taking classes and getting in strength training. If you have a Planet Fitness nearby... their Personal Trainer is part of the gym membership. HTH

batorkin

Depends mostly on your genes and age, however 280 to 145 is a lot. Loose skin is usually only preventable with less than ~100 to loose. You are only 19, so the odds are in your favor and it may tighten up if you maintain it long enough.

Make sure you are rubbing yourself down with a hydrating oil every day after showering. Drink as much water as you possibly can (at least 8 cups a day). These are some of the best things to prevent it.

I would slow down when you reach 200 for sure. 2 to 2.5 pounds max/week at that point. If not for loose skin reasons, then for health reasons. I've never believed that losing weight faster makes you have more loose skin, I feel it just makes it more noticeable at first until your skin catches up the best it can. The damage has already been done.

If you aren't weight lifting, start yesterday. Work the upper body out completely until you get a "burn" that lasts 24-48 hours after the workout. Then after the burn fades, do it again and again (usually 2-3 times a week). Muscle helps hide loose skin better than anything else, and shouldn't be underestimated.

jemhh

The damage has already been done. At this point nothing you can do will prevent permanent loose skin. Lose the weight, give your body a couple of years so that the skin has time to shrink, and then you'll see what your skin is like. It's not worth worrying about too much but you may want to visit your doctor to discuss it and get on record your concern. It may help build a case to get your insurance to cover a skin removal surgery.

AnnPT77

Too soon to worry, and at your age, your chances are good for a decent long-term outcome My loose skin kept shrinking even into the 2nd year of maintenance, even at age 60.

Furthermore, we don't usually neatly lose fat starting from the outermost layer and proceeding progressively inward. Fat cells can be depleting anywhere in our fat mass, so the result is a mass that first becomes squishy and droopy (at which point many people freak out about "loose skin", which it isn't . . . yet).

True loose skin is small wrinkles, like wrinkles in a fabric. (Think about how thin the skin is if you pinch it on a body part that's bony in you, like kneecap, elbow bone, back of hand). Bigger folds, like half an inch thick or so, are skin that still has subcutaneous fat conspiring with gravity to keep it stretched out.

Keep losing fat down to a healthy weight, give the actual loose skin some time (many months, maybe a year) to shrink, then re-evaluate. How much it will shrink, once the fat is gone, is mainly a function of genetics and age.

Exercise in general seems to make people's skin look firmer (not shrink faster), which may help appearance. Progressive strength training lets us have more muscle thus less fat at any given weight, so that can help appearance, too.

During weight loss, the squishy/droopy areas are annoying, but mostly temporary. Patience is the answer. Nothing else does much.

I'd suggest going over to the "success stories" part of the forum, and looking at photos of people who've lost 100+ pounds, especially those who included a regular exercise program. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by many of those results.