Maintaining your skin when you need to lose a lot of weight?

bertobelle77 · June 2015

I need to lose a a lot of weight I am late 30's and I need to lose about 75lbs or so. I want to lse weight for my health and to look better but like many I am really concerned about loose skin, and especially at my age the ageing effect weight loss can have on the face with extra sagging, wrinkles etc. So I thought I would start a thread with a list of things you can do which will perhaps limit some of the worst effects of weight loss on the skin during and after a period of weight loss.

These are just ideas I am putting down so feel free to chip in, tell me I am wrong and so on. I also do understand that genetics plays a huge part in how our skin recovers from weight fluctuations.

1. Eat a healthy diet with good fats, protein, avoid processed food and eat lots of fresh produce, antioxident rich food and don't cut out food groups.
2. Lose weight slowly 1 - 2 lbs a week maximim.
3. Work out while losing weight especially weight training but also cardio.
4. Get plenty of sleep to help the body repair.
5. Drink lots of water 2 or 3 liters
6. Daily dry brushing of the body
7. Daily massage and use of firming body creams and essential oil mixes
8. Body wraps at home or in the salon
9. Sauna (have heard conflicting advice about use of saunas for keeping skin firm)
10. Skin tightening treatments such as radio frequency treatments or vacumm massage
11. Taking Skin vitamins daily such as Silica, MSM, Vitamin C, Selenium, EFA's, Zinc and so on
12. Daily Breast massage with essential oil mix or breast firming lotion.
13. Use of shapewear to pull body in, corset training ... not sure about that one.
14. Dermarolling Stretchmarks on body ...ouch!

Okay that is a starting list let me know what you think and if you have anything to add!

RodaRose · June 2015

The skin is already stretched. It does not unstretch with creams or massage.
Focus on eating less food and eating enough protein and fats and oils. When you are 75 lbs lighter you will love the way you look and feel.

bertobelle77 · June 2015

RodaRose I have to say I disagree with you about skin, it is a living breathing organ which can respond to the right holistic treatment. I am a bit of skin obsessive and have studied in in depth and skin can and will respond to the right treatment for example I tighened up sagging under my left eye with a combintion of facial exercise, dermarolling and led treatments last year, so I really believe what you do can have an impact.

I do think that you have to be realistic in that you aren't going to be peachy perfect but I do believe that if you give your skin attention from day one it will reshape better to your weight loss than if you just hope for the best.

bertobelle77 · June 2015

15. LED skin treatments

Also I guess lots of things like age, amount to lose, sun damage, if you have had kids, if you smoke etc all come into play as well.

Liftng4Lis · June 2015

Correct, genetics play a huge role, in addition to age and the amount you have to lose and how quickly you lose it. There is no magic cream, brushing or vitamin that is going to make the skin shrink.

bertobelle77 · June 2015

I really do think diet i.e eating a very skin supportive diet, the right supplements and skin treatments will also help after all skin can repair and regenerate it is part of its function. In ayurvedic medicine massage is hugely important and in TCM needling is often used to trigger the natural rejuvination of the skin. There is no magic bullet or potion but taking a holistic view and working consistantly I think such a programme could be effective.

barbecuesauce · June 2015

I've lost 63 pounds without loose skin. Why? Genetics I suppose, because I haven't done the vast majority of this list. None of the dry brushing or shapewear or lasers or breast massage (I've had other priorities besides my social life) and I never sleep enough and I lost my first thirty pounds pretty rapidly. Why don't you bump this thread with what actually worked when you've lost the weight?

bertobelle77 · June 2015

Well because I am interested in hearing what others have done which they think might have helped their skin. It did work for the sagging I had on my face so I am hoping it might work for my body skin. I don't see the harm in having a thread for people to post suggestions on.

Christine_72 · June 2015

I can't confirm if it works or not... But try to incorporate collagen supplements and foods into your diet.

vitC
grapeseed extract
Actual plain collagen supplements. etc. etc.

azulvioleta6 · June 2015

bertobelle77 wrote: »

I need to lose a a lot of weight I am late 30's and I need to lose about 75lbs or so. I want to lse weight for my health and to look better but like many I am really concerned about loose skin, and especially at my age the ageing effect weight loss can have on the face with extra sagging, wrinkles etc. So I thought I would start a thread with a list of things you can do which will perhaps limit some of the worst effects of weight loss on the skin during and after a period of weight loss.

These are just ideas I am putting down so feel free to chip in, tell me I am wrong and so on. I also do understand that genetics plays a huge part in how our skin recovers from weight fluctuations.

1. Eat a healthy diet with good fats, protein, avoid processed food and eat lots of fresh produce, antioxident rich food and don't cut out food groups.
2. Lose weight slowly 1 - 2 lbs a week maximim.
3. Work out while losing weight especially weight training but also cardio.
4. Get plenty of sleep to help the body repair.
5. Drink lots of water 2 or 3 liters
6. Daily dry brushing of the body
7. Daily massage and use of firming body creams and essential oil mixes
8. Body wraps at home or in the salon
9. Sauna (have heard conflicting advice about use of saunas for keeping skin firm)
10. Skin tightening treatments such as radio frequency treatments or vacumm massage
11. Taking Skin vitamins daily such as Silica, MSM, Vitamin C, Selenium, EFA's, Zinc and so on
12. Daily Breast massage with essential oil mix or breast firming lotion.
13. Use of shapewear to pull body in, corset training ... not sure about that one.
14. Dermarolling Stretchmarks on body ...ouch!

Okay that is a starting list let me know what you think and if you have anything to add!

I agree with #1-5. I have done #13 (light shapewear, no corsets) just to look better in clothing. It does keep you from bouncing around, which can't hurt in terms of reducing stretching. The same with wearing a good bra while exercising. Neither of these things are going to PREVENT you from having loose skin, but they might keep from making things worse.

#6 sounds painful. I really like doing salt scrubs a couple of times a week. I don't know if they actually make a difference in terms of loose skin, but they feel good and exfoliation is always nice. I make my own scrubs, so they are inexpensive.

I wouldn't put stock in any type of firming cream. Just use regular moisturizer. I love the oil cleansing method--I just use plain olive oil.

Everyone I know who has used body wraps says that they work for about a day and that's it--they are not a long-term solution.

Run your supplement list by your doctor or pharmacist. Vitamin E and Omega 3 oils might be a better bet than anything on your current list.

I have doubts about massage and sauna for skin-tightening purposes.

You are missing some of the most important things that you can do if you want to avoid wrinkles and age well:
1. Wear sunscreen every day, particularly on your face and hands. Add more sunscreen/higher SPF if you know that you are going to be outside.
2. Stay out of the sun as much as possible.
3. Do not use tanning beds.
3. Do not smoke or spend time around second-hand smoke.

bertobelle77 · June 2015

Absolutely sunscreen, avoiding the sun, not smoking are key. I have been wearing spf 30 every day since I was a teen , have never sun bathed nor smoked and I don't drink never have so I feel ok about that side of it. I guess that is why I didn't put that down.

I think body wraps and dry brushing which isn't painful at all are just to stimulate the skin, get the microcirculation going same goes for massage and the sauna although I am not as sure of this as extreme heat can also break collagen down. Salt scrubs could work too. Stimulation like massage, dry brushing and LED treatments can increase ATP in the tissues of the body this is like the cells energy supply. This increase could help skin act younger or help its healing.

Vitamin E and Omega 3 are great for thanks for adding also MSM, Silica, vitamin c help the body to make and repair connective tissue including collagen! Possibly better to use these than take collagen supplements seeing as collagen is just broken down into amino acids in the body.

Lotions I am not sure of, some essential oils are very active and some are are high in phytoestrogens like geranium for example which could potentially have an impact of breast tissue if used for massage.

azulvioleta6 · June 2015

Silly MFP threw off my numbering! Don't you love it when you notice something awful like that AFTER it is too late to edit.

Genetics really is the biggest factor and you have no control over that.

Wouldn't using something like geranium oil ever day really irritate your skin?

Ty_Floyd · June 2015

Thanks for the suggestions. My lady (not a member here) was looking into an expensive derma rolling treatment so it is of interest. As we understand it derma rolling stimulates collagen production, whereas loose skin is caused by lack of elastin, is that correct? So derma rolling or any collagen-based supplements such as @christinev297 and @bertobelle77 suggested won't actually help with sagging? Please correct me if I'm wrong.

On a positive note, I lost 80lb in my 30s with no skin sagging.

Maintaining your skin when you need to lose a lot of weight?

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