Loose skin

Bernie2514

70 years old, I’ve lost 130lbs with 50 lbs to go, wondering if anyone has a recommendation for getting rid of loose skin without surgery?

collinsje1

It takes time so make sure you give it lots of time (2 years) and then just a little more and is dependent on age and genetics. No matter what having loose skin is way better than being significantly overweight.

BTW congratulations on the 130lb loss, that is a serious achievement!!!!!

rileysowner

The only thing in your control is being patient. The rest, to the best of my knowledge, is genetics and age.

kshama2001

Congrats on your loss so far! What an achievement! As said above, it can take 2 years (after reaching goal weight) for your skin to settle.

Weigh lifting might help. If you've never done this before, join a gym and get at least a few sessions with a personal trainer.

And start this now, not after you lose the rest of the weight.

AnnPT77

Congratulations on your very successful weight loss so far: That's stellar!

There's good advice above. I lost way less (50-some pounds, class 1 obese to healthy, close to 1/3 of starting body weight) at age 59-60. My loose skin kept shrinking well into year 2 of maintenance, maybe beyond (hard to tell because rate of shrinkage slows gradually).

Part way to goal, it's normal to look worse than one will at goal weight, and probably also normal to look worse at goal than one will a couple of years down the road while holding steady around that weight. Loose skin can't really seriously start shrinking until nearly all the fat from an area is depleted. Until then, the residual fat conspires with gravity to keep skin stretched. Once it starts, it's gradual, and uneven (different on different body parts), IME.

Man, is this an exercise in patience! (Sorry.)

Genetics and age likely have an influence, but those are things we can't individually control, so I don't see the point of focusing on them.

I'm no expert, but IMU skin is an organ. The things that keep other organs healthy will also tend to keep skin healthy, which means elastic and more willing to adjust. These include:

* If still losing weight, avoiding fast 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,
* Specific to skin, also avoiding tanning.

People will say all kinds of things about creams, dry-brushing, supplements, etc., but personally I'm inclined to think those are mainly ways to pass the time while skin does pretty much what it was going to do anyway. Help a little? Maybe. Big help? I doubt it. But it can feel good to feel like we're doing *something*. Just my opinions, though. Maybe there's a big deal there somewhere, don't know.

I think it's legit to ask anyone why they think what they think, i.e., bona fides. I'll answer that for myself with a link:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10809632/loose-skin-50lbs-loss-at-60-4-years-maintenance

I'm not saying that result's perfect, or even good. It's just where I got to, and where anything I might be saying comes from . . . good, bad or indifferent. Now 67, 7+ years in maintenance, I look very similar to what's shown there. I'm not cute. Personally, I'm skeptical when someone recommends something based only on what they read in the blogosphere, or something like that. I want to be transparent.

Best wishes!

Corina1143

Hurray for your weight loss!