What happens to extra skin?

sweetfiona
sweetfiona Posts: 7 Member
edited September 23 in Health and Weight Loss
I'm just wondering what happens to all the extra skin when there is such a huge weight loss as in some stories? How can you loose a 'whole person' and not have excess skin? Where does it go? I've around 4 stone (56lbs) to loose - where is my tummy, thighs, bum and extra skin going to go - will it shrink. Thanks for any answers.

Replies

  • seemichellerun
    seemichellerun Posts: 219
    It depends on the person. Some people end up having to have surgery to remove the loose skin.
  • AnnaPixie
    AnnaPixie Posts: 7,439 Member
    One hopes that the skin just shrinks back. But that is not always the case. Depends on a few things like age, skin type/elasticity, time stretched, muscles, how quick you lose fat, .............etc

    I do lots of strength training/toning, lose weight pretty slowly and mositurise my body with a 'skin firming' cream as soon as I'm out the shower. I also take cod liver oil supps which is good for skin. Seems to be ok so far.

    Good luck :flowerforyou:
  • yegs1276
    yegs1276 Posts: 1
    i have always heard that if you do toning exercises and drink lots of water that excess skin seems to disappear and age has a factor in it too. otherwise it s plasti surgery:happy:
  • NoAdditives
    NoAdditives Posts: 4,251 Member
    Some people lose weight slowly and their skin sort of shrinks with their weight loss. Some people have to have a body lift where excess skin is removed.

    It all depends on a lot of things like how much weight you lose, how fast yo lose it, how fast you put it on, genetics, etc. Generally, skin will shrink if you put the weight on slowly and lose it slowly. If you gain weight quickly and gets lots of stretch marks it's harder for the skin to shrink because it's already lost a fair amount of elasticity. It can also be hard for it to shrink back if you lose weight very rapidly.
  • MacMadame
    MacMadame Posts: 1,893 Member
    Some of it will shrink back but there are limits. For example, if it's damaged (i.e., has stretch marks), it's not going to shrink back. Also, our skin is like a balloon -- if you blow up a balloon and leave it inflated for a long time, when you let out the air, the balloon won't go back to its original size.

    Exercise helps, being young helps, having good genes helps, not having been fat for a long time helps. Loosing slower doesn't really matter though. If you lose fast, your skin won't bounce back as you lose. The loss gets ahead of the skin. But after you get to goal, your skin continues to shrink back and it will get to its best point eventually.
  • Fat_Chopper
    Fat_Chopper Posts: 97 Member
    It's an amazing thing skin, it comes back and wraps you tight as a drum. You will get some loose areas, but they are just skin with bits of fat still loitering around, once the fat is moved, as your body likes to spread it about, or burnt off, the skin comes back, and it comes back tight, it feels much tighter over muscle than skin, especially ater a workout. You will feel good in your skin again, I promise.
  • seemichellerun
    seemichellerun Posts: 219
    It's an amazing thing skin, it comes back and wraps you tight as a drum. You will get some loose areas, but they are just skin with bits of fat still loitering around, once the fat is moved, as your body likes to spread it about, or burnt off, the skin comes back, and it comes back tight, it feels much tighter over muscle than skin, especially ater a workout. You will feel good in your skin again, I promise.


    Yeah... spoken like a man, who's never been pregnant.
  • Fat_Chopper
    Fat_Chopper Posts: 97 Member
    It's an amazing thing skin, it comes back and wraps you tight as a drum. You will get some loose areas, but they are just skin with bits of fat still loitering around, once the fat is moved, as your body likes to spread it about, or burnt off, the skin comes back, and it comes back tight, it feels much tighter over muscle than skin, especially ater a workout. You will feel good in your skin again, I promise.


    Yeah... spoken like a man, who's never been pregnant.
    Pregnant,,,, what 9 lbs, I was carrying a 100lb monster... :smile:
    http://www.bodyfatguide.com/LooseSkin.htm
  • seemichellerun
    seemichellerun Posts: 219
    HA HA! That link is absolutely ridiculous.

    And really? Terri Hatcher has 4.78% body fat? You do know that a woman stops menstruating and a starts to have a whole slew of other problems when she gets below 14% body fat, right? http://www.bodyfatguide.com/CelebrityBodyFat.html#Names 1


    Oh wait, you think a woman only gains 9lbs when she gets pregnant. Yeah, that answers my question.
  • MacMadame
    MacMadame Posts: 1,893 Member
    You do know that a woman stops menstruating and a starts to have a whole slew of other problems when she gets below 14% body fat, right? http://www.bodyfatguide.com/CelebrityBodyFat.html#Names 1
    Essential body fat for women is 10-12% actually. Certain athletes sometimes go lower but you have to be really careful if you do that because our organs need a certain amount of fat for protection.
  • fancyladymeek
    fancyladymeek Posts: 46
    To be fair, I wouldn't be shocked if Terri Hatcher was that low....that woman is mostly skin and bones!! Give me Eva, Marcia, or Felicity any day! =)
  • Mads1997
    Mads1997 Posts: 1,494 Member
    This is what I'm dreading the most about losing weight, but I figure some loose skin hanging around my stomach is much better for my health than pounds of fat hanging there.
  • fancyladymeek
    fancyladymeek Posts: 46
    Same here. But I'll deal with loose skin so I don't have to deal with diabetes, cancer, hypertension, and not finding clothes that fit!
  • MacMadame
    MacMadame Posts: 1,893 Member
    HA HA! That link is absolutely ridiculous.
    It is ridiculous. My favorite is the "myth" that skin gets less elastic with age. His proof that this is a lie? Sometimes young people get loose skin too! :laugh: Of course the fact that skin gets less elastic with age is well documented and explains things like wrinkles. Plus we've all experienced it if we've yo-yo dieted. I actually lost *more* weight this time than when I lost a ton in my 30s and I have more loose skin, not less.

    He also says that if you diet away all your extra body fat then the skin would hang in a thin folds of paper not in flabby rolls. Um, this is *exactly* what happens. I've seen it! Now, most of us don't diet away *quite* that much fat. But a friend of mine is a runner (low body fat plus exercise does improve skin elasticity to some extent) and young and hadn't yo-yo dieted all her life or been overweight for decades. So she had everything going for her skin-wise.

    Yet, she ended up with a loose flap of skin hanging down from her waist. It was bizarre looking, to be honest. Only plastic surgery got it off. But he says that can't happen. Since she lost the fat, her skin was supposed to bounce back.
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