When you lose a lot of weight, such as 100 pounds or more, your skin may not be elastic enough to shrink back to its natural shape. This can cause the skin to sag and hang, especially around the upper face, arms, stomach, breasts, and buttocks. Some people don't like the way this skin looks.
However, in most cases, small amounts of weight loss, such as 20 or fewer pounds, typically don't lead to the development of loose skin. However, larger amounts of weight loss, such as 50 pounds and over, especially over a short period, can considerably increase your risk of loose skin.
For small to moderate amounts of weight loss, your skin will likely retract on its own. Natural home remedies may help too. However, more significant weight loss may need body-contouring surgery or other medical procedures to tighten or get rid of loose skin.
Body Contouring Surgery
The most effective way to tighten loose skin after weight loss is by going through medical or surgical treatment. Natural remedies do not work when there has been significant weight loss. Surgical treatment is often necessary to deal with loose skin after major or extreme weight loss.
“In general, it can take anywhere from weeks to months—even years,” says Dr. Chen. If after one to two years skin is still loose, it may not get any tighter, she says.
The loose skin is caused by losing a huge amount of weight – as in, 100 pounds or more – in a very short amount of time. It can happen when the weight is lost through diet and exercise, but it happens more often to weight-loss surgery patients.
Collagen supplementation has been shown to improve elasticity and help decrease the amount of excess tissue without the need for surgery or liposuction. If you are looking for how to tighten loose skin on arms naturally or how to get rid of saggy belly skin, then collagen supplements are a great choice.
Exercises like cardio, yoga, and crunches may tone your muscles and strengthen your lower abs, but they won't “erase” fat deposits. The only way to lose fat on your lower stomach is to lose fat overall. A calorie deficit helps with this.
Does everyone have loose skin after major weight loss? Nope—it's not inevitable, says Dr. Prachand. But it's also not easy to predict who is going to experience it, he says.
Does Collagen Tighten Saggy Skin? Studies have indicated that supplemental collagen is beneficial for skin health, including tightening sagging skin (known as elasticity), boosting hydration, and lessening the appearance of wrinkles.
Collagen is a protein that serves as one of the main building blocks for your bones, skin, hair, muscles, tendons, and ligaments. "Collagen is what keeps our skin from sagging, giving us that plump, youthful look," says dermatologist Dr. Ohara Aivaz.
Antioxidants can also help stimulate the growth of collagen and elastin. Examples of the antioxidants present in some foods, drinks, and nutritional supplements include: vitamins A, C, D, and E. coenzyme Q10.
Exercise cannot cause muscles to pull skin tighter or shrink it back to size. However, as your muscles grow and develop, they can fill the excess skin left from weight loss, stretching and smoothing the outermost layers of skin for a more even, youthful and healthy look.
But many health care providers agree that a medical evaluation is called for if you lose more than 5% of your weight in 6 to 12 months, especially if you're an older adult. For example, a 5% weight loss in someone who is 160 pounds (72 kilograms) is 8 pounds (3.6 kilograms).
Natural skin tightening techniques
This includes facial yoga, intake of supplements, face masks, drinking enough water, exercising regularly, and getting enough rest. You can also use facial moisturizers that contain collagen peptides. However, these home remedies may take time before you see any significant results.
Aerobic exercises will help you lose weight and the strength training will tone up and tighten your muscles and increase endurance. A big part of eliminating loose skin is building muscle. Exercise can tighten and add muscle to your abdomen, which can help minimize some flabbiness.
How to tighten loose skin on your stomach in the most effective way? One of the most effective treatments is laser skin tightening. It is successful in reducing excess, loose skin by stimulating collagen production in the skin layers over the stomach. This helps to increase firmness and skin elasticity.
Loose skin can be tightened with collagen supplements, bariatric surgery, or radiofrequency treatments.