Loose Skin

MamaOne13

So I TOTALLY know it's pretty normal to have loose skin on the stomach after having a baby, but do you think it would lessen a bit in amount if I continue to lose weight?

HeidiCooksSupper

Some folks do manage to shrink their skin as they lose weight. Others just develop more lose skin. You may or may not have much control over it because to some degree it just depends on your particular physiognomy. Sometimes it has to do with age, sometimes not. Sometimes toning exercises can take up some slack.

My mother had hound dog skin you could pick up by the handful which came in handy late in life when she needed extra skin for melanoma surgeries. I'm an old fart, pushing 70, and as I lose weight I am slowly deflating, unevenly, developing neck wattles, dimples in my bat wings, and lumps surfacing in the cellulite. Still in all, it beats the alternative.

ALZ14

It depends on a lot of factors, your age, skin elasticity, rate of weight loss (slower is better) and genetics. Other than trying not to lose weight too fast and staying hydrated there isn’t much you can do.

I carry my weight in my belly and after 2 csections I have pretty hefty skin apron I’m dying to have removed.

AnnPT77

It takes time for loose skin to shrink, to the extent it's willing to do so.

Since skin is an organ, the things that keep any other organ healthy are going to keep skin healthy, too, so more likely to be elastic and shrink. That would be

* avoiding fast weight loss (because it's a physical stress to lose fast),
* getting good well-rounded nutrition (macros and micros, especially but not exclusively protein),
* getting regular exercise (both cardiovascular and strength),
* managing all-source life stress,
* hydrating adequately (not crazy much, but enough),
* avoiding smoking and excessive alcohol,
* avoiding smoking/vaping,
* specific to skin, also avoiding tanning.

If it's thin wrinkles (like in medium/heavy fabric), it's actually loose skin. If it's still 1/2"+ rolls or folds, there's still subcutaneous fat, which will tend to conspire with gravity to keep skin stretched out. It's the thin-wrinkles stuff that's most likely to shrink (still slowly, unfortunately). As weight loss continues, the remaining subcutaneous fat will deplete more, and more skin can shrink. Like so many things, it's a process, and requires patience.

FWIW, my loose skin kept shrinking at least well into year 2 of maintaining a new, healthy weight (at age 60-61 at the time). There was noticeable improvement over that amount of time.

Hang in there!