losing weight = acne?

Are you drinking a ton of water? That seems to help the overall quality of my skin. I've always had issues with my skin breaking out, but not worse when losing weight.

My acne and overall skin tone has significantly lessened since I became serious about weight loss, proper diet, and fitness, so unfortunately I cannot relate! What really did it for me was almost completely removing all pre-packaged and processed foods from my diet (the only foods in my house that fit into these categories, IMHO, are sauces, canned goods, and pre-packaged frozen produce - I still eat fast food at least once a week) and drinking more water than any other beverage.

Agreed with the other responses: it could just be a hormonal change since your body is getting used to a new lifestyle. I can't imagine you're still eating exeuberant amounts of greasy food, but maybe there is something else in your diet that is new that your body is oddly reacting to? Drink LOTS of water, because it always helps your skin! And, this may be a silly thing to ask, but do you always shower and really scrub after a work-out? If I don't shower at least the next morning, I end up with breakouts by the following day, and if I don't scrub hard enough I end up breaking out a little more than usual too.

There are several factors that could influence this:

- If your skin is not used to sweating as much (i.e. you added a good bit of exercise to it.) it will take time to adjust.

- Depending on what skin care routine you use... it might not be adequate to handle skin that now behaves... differently. Your moisturizer might clog pores that now are trying to open up and presperate and free themselves of the dirt/toxins that have hidden inside. If you wash your face much more frequently now for instance after your work out you might be creating a bacterial (good-bad bacteria) imbalance. Maybe your soap is too harsh for increased use. Do you wear make up during your work outs? Bottom line: You might have to adjust your skin care/make up products.

- I notice that after certain types of work outs/ weather conditions I continue sweating even after my shower. Its only a little but if I do def on my face. I do my best to delay putting on make up or even skin care right after washing if I feel my heart rate is still going and I am still prespiring (only about 10 min. or so). I usually blott my face down again before putting anything on if this happens.

- Changing what you eat: this is actually somewhat similar to my first point. Your skin shows changes going on in your body. Different (including better) food might change your metabolism, hormones, nutrients and your skin might struggle to adjust. Sometimes supplementing with some B vitamine complex can help esp if there is any chance you might be deficient in that arena.

- If you loose a huge amount very suddenly toxins that were stored in your fat cells can be released and are now being expelled partially through your skin since it is your skin that very much helps you to rid your body of such (one reason why sweating is so healthy).

- Do you use towel the gym offers? I bring my own. I am sensitive to certain detergents and while I know they try their best to keep the towels clean I want to know what is "on them" when I wipe my face with them (esp if they are kind of scrubby and scrub your pores in a sweating state.... you don't want to "exfoliate" dirt or chemicals irritating your skin into it during your work out.

As to how long it takes to go away? Several things can cause the issues you are experiencing.

Overall, it depends on how many changes your body is going through and how extreme your changes are. Generally a few weeks for skin care product issues once resolved (I know skin needs about 2-3 weeks to adapt to a new skin care routines often leading to the expelling of stuff other skin care products didn't "clean up properly" and thus slight break outs during that time. I am a Beauty Consultant with Mary Kay and we see that all the time. If it is only skin care based it should disappear within 2-3 weeks of changing the routine).

I think I would look at skin care first and your routine for it (post work out sweat etc), drink tons of water increasing the rate your skin can expell/sweat out toxins and sort of "water them down" and keep things clean without stripping your skin.

I am thinking from my own experience that after about a month my skin has readjusted to the new sweating state/condition/circumstance and has adapted there. I notice that on my face as well as my back.

I have been were you are and it sucks. See whether anything I mention maybe rings a bell and try to adjust a few things but also know it will take at least 2-3 weeks prob to see real changes.

I think my diet is pretty balanced and I usually wash after exercise. I will try to drink more water. Could be hormonal; it seem to get worse during my TOM.

Breakouts are always always always worse at TOM :laugh: I try to ignore them because I know why they are there already.

I did come across a site once that explained what pimples on what locations of your face mean (supposedly) - some areas are (again, supposedly - I did not go into further research about this) more prone to hormonal breakouts, while others are food related. Just Google it and I'm sure you'll find something similar! It may be a good start if there are a few really bad problem areas.

Keep in mind as well, if you're in the beginning of losing weight and changing your diet, that's actually stressful to the body. Not all stress is bad, and in this case, the end result is good. But switching into "fat burning mode" requires several changes to happen at a metabolic level. These changes are technically a stress to the body, which can trigger other side effects such as acne.

You should find that as you continue to eat well (lots of fruits and veggies, fiber, lean protein and low to no refined sugar) and exercise, the acne may settle down.
If there are other symptoms accompanying the acne (fatigue, pain, fever, etc) you may have a food allergy or sensitivity.

its also your body detoxing. Keep drinking water, and try and shower or wash your face as soon as you are done with a workout.

As a guy I noticed that too. Acne started on the face and neck, next popped up on the shoulders and waist, now on thighs and buttocks, and even the feet. I suspect the fats being metabolized is releasing some stored up toxins and the lymph system is not keeping up. Maybe that's why some cancers seem to start in fatty tissue. Need to keep hydrated as it all has to metabolize and be flushed out via the kidneys and liver.. I'm down about 60 lbs over 8 months - my knees say thank you.

Another thing to consider is stress. I find it very stressful to stick to such a low calorie limit (1200, since I am short and don't have a lot to lose, though I have upped it to 1330 lately) and that can cause changes in my hair and skin. If you're finding yourself stressing out about eating choices and exercising, that can cause some acne.