suggestions for sagging skin after weight loss?

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  • wnlbutterfly
    wnlbutterfly Posts: 35 Member
    It was suggested once, I think Weight Watchers meeting, that it can take up to a year for the skin to adjust to the weight loss. I think that was just a general time frame to let us know it would take time.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    I've read that you can tell the difference between loose skin and fat by it's outer texture. Loose skin has that crepe paper look, fat does not. Is this correct?
  • BramageOMG
    BramageOMG Posts: 319 Member
    Skin is only 2mm thick (avg) so the pinch test works anywhere. If you pinch and have more than 4mm, that's fat. And most living people have more than 4mm, so that's not a goal, its just what skin alone would be. :smiley:
  • pdwhitlock
    pdwhitlock Posts: 83 Member
    Thanks everyone. I forgot to add to my OP that I do at least three days of lifting and cardio each week. It has aided significantly in my weight loss journey to this point. No need to put down others suggestions and no, I doubt I will put that much muscle on but it has helped. Thanks for the reply of the SO of the surgeon. It helps to know I won't have to endure surgery to get this stubborn skin off. I did read as well in an article somewhere to avoid significant sun exposure for the first year after weight loss so I guess no tanning up to show off my progress
  • Parkercomom
    Parkercomom Posts: 67 Member
    I take essential fatty acids and it helps significantly with sagging skin. I use the efa"s they sell through Slimgenics. They are expensive, but others have said they tried other brands and have not had the results they have gotten with the Slimgenics brand.
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
    DeguelloTex wrote: »
    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    Lift heavy, to fill in the area and be patient.
    Those must be some hella ab exercises, even apart from expecting a woman to add 55+ pounds of muscle to fill in the other areas.

    Assumptions much?
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
    DeguelloTex wrote: »
    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    DeguelloTex wrote: »
    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    Lift heavy, to fill in the area and be patient.
    Those must be some hella ab exercises, even apart from expecting a woman to add 55+ pounds of muscle to fill in the other areas.
    What ab exercises? No one said anything about adding 55 pounds of muscle. Why would she want to add 55 pounds when she just lost it?
    It says mostly from my arms, legs and tummy. Lifting heavy will add muscle all over and reduce the appearance of lose/saggy skin.
    You said "to fill in the area."

    Filling in the tummy would be abs, right? She should "lift heavy" to full in the loose skin on her tummy?

    I get that you like to throw "lift heavy" into nearly every thread and that lifting heavy can have benefits and even that lifting heavy might, for some people in some circumstances, help with loose skin, but if it's physiologically impossible for a woman to lift heavy enough to fill in the volume left behind by 55 pounds of fat, the suggestion isn't all that helpful.

    At least the "be patient" part made sense, though.


    You are still make assumptions. You know how much of that 55 pounds lost is from loose skin? Also you know that OP lost 55 of all fat?
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
    DeguelloTex wrote: »
    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    DeguelloTex wrote: »
    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    DeguelloTex wrote: »
    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    Lift heavy, to fill in the area and be patient.
    Those must be some hella ab exercises, even apart from expecting a woman to add 55+ pounds of muscle to fill in the other areas.
    What ab exercises? No one said anything about adding 55 pounds of muscle. Why would she want to add 55 pounds when she just lost it?
    It says mostly from my arms, legs and tummy. Lifting heavy will add muscle all over and reduce the appearance of lose/saggy skin.
    You said "to fill in the area."

    Filling in the tummy would be abs, right? She should "lift heavy" to full in the loose skin on her tummy?

    I get that you like to throw "lift heavy" into nearly every thread and that lifting heavy can have benefits and even that lifting heavy might, for some people in some circumstances, help with loose skin, but if it's physiologically impossible for a woman to lift heavy enough to fill in the volume left behind by 55 pounds of fat, the suggestion isn't all that helpful.

    At least the "be patient" part made sense, though.


    You obviously, for some reason have a stomach fettish going on. AGAIN, she said:
    pdwhitlock wrote: »
    Hi! I've went from 250 to about 195 since the beginning of October. I feel great and I want to say I look better but everything is sagging. I know it takes time, but have any of you had any success with improving the process of firming your skin after losing this much weight? Mostly in my arms, legs, and tummy.
    AGAIN, lifting will help the overall appearance of lose skin, by filling in the area with muscle. AGAIN, no one would expect her to fill in the area with 55 pounds and as a matter of fact YOU'RE the only one who suggested that.
    As for your statement that I like to "throw around" lift heavy, that would be because that is what works for me. In addition to my hours of bike riding and other activities, that help tighten up my body. Perhaps you should look into it as you have no basic knowledge in the area.
    You do know that "tummy" means "stomach," right? And that "tummy" is one of your bolded words? You seem not to.

    You say, "no one would expect her to fill in the area" and you also say "Lift heavy, to fill in the area." Which is it? If 55 pounds of fat are gone and muscle is denser than fat, how do you propose the area be filled in with muscle without adding it in very high volume?

    Look, adding the amount of muscle OP is likely to be able to add isn't going to fill in the areas left behind by the fat she's losing. It just isn't. As I said before, lifting heavy has benefits. Filling the area left behind by 55 pounds of fat just isn't going to be one of them because there will simply be insufficient additional muscular volume to do so.

    As others have said, moisture, time, and, perhaps, surgery are the likeliest candidates here.

    When do you not assume you know things?

  • Yanicka1
    Yanicka1 Posts: 4,564 Member
    It can take up to two years for skin to catch up with weight loss....after that the only thing is surgery
  • pdwhitlock
    pdwhitlock Posts: 83 Member
    Yanicka1 wrote: »
    It can take up to two years for skin to catch up with weight loss....after that the only thing is surgery

    Thank you all for the advise. I know it takes time, I just wasn't sure exactly how long. I guess I will just keep hydrating, moisturizing, lifting and losing slowly and hopefully my skin will follow. And some of you guys crack me up with the responses to a suggestion of heavy lifting. I lift, and I lose. Somehow no, I doubt that will make me gain my 55 lbs back in muscle but yes, when I began to lift, my skin looked much more firm then diet alone. Maybe it's that "superficial stuff" another poster suggested, because that makes sense!

    Some suggested that the firming of skin depends on how long you were fat. That makes sense too. I was at my heaviest during pregnancy in 2013, I got to 277 lbs :( scary I know. Child birth and nursing got me down to 250 over a year and when my child weaned, I began diet and exercise again and got down to this weight. and I say "again" because I started this in 2012 when I was 267 and had gotten down to 220 before getting pregnant. Put a damper on things but I was determined not to give up on getting to where I want to be. I hope those few years of being in the "obese" category didn't stretch out my skin for too long.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    I've lost a similar amount of weight in the same time-frame, and I've got some impressive loose, wobbly skin. I'm also in my mid-fifties though so I am realistic about how much will bounce back (not much).

    I also make good use of camouflage; well-fitting bra, spandex.
  • aalmanza5
    aalmanza5 Posts: 3

    Surgery is an awful approach, especially when you can't get back the skin that was cut off. It is possible the weight loss wont be permanent, but the surgery is permanent. If the person who asked this question originally has any doubts about her ability to stay in shape, or if she plans on getting pregnant, surgery is not an option.

    Dry skin brushing helps to stimulate the lymph system, which doesn't have a pump like the cardiovascular system does. It may be helpful tightening the structural tissues beneath the skin's surface and really wouldn't hurt to try. Additionally it exfoliates the skin and improves circulation of the dermis...that can only be a good thing for skin tissue. Surgery is expensive, permanent and could result in scarring or terrible stretch marks if the weight lost is regained.

    It is so sad that so many people commenting here have so little tact, and take disagreements so personally. I thought this was a place for support...food for thought.

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