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.
On top of surgical excision, options include liposuction (which uses a suction technique to remove fat, and, for patients with mild skin (and fat) excess, non-invasive procedures usually in the form of ultrasound or radiofrequency procedures that heat up the skin and cause contraction by triggering collagen production, ...
“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.
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. Your genetics and age will also play an important role in determining how much weight loss causes loose skin.
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.
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.
You can go the nonsurgical route and add firming creams or facial exercises to your skincare routine. There are also cosmetic procedures that provide quicker results, such as laser surfacing or ultrasound skin tightening. To find the best solution for you, consult a board-certified dermatologist.
Collagen and elastin are two essential proteins associated with skin firmness. The production of these two proteins decreases as people age .
Foods For Skin Elasticity
Eating foods like greens, fatty fish, citrus fruits, broccoli, almonds and walnuts can replenish elastin in your skin. These foods are known to work from within to improve your skin's health.
Regular exercise, including cardio and strength training, will help you maintain your weight and tone your body. It also may help your skin look tighter. Talk to your doctor if you're concerned about extra skin.
For some patients, even though they lose hundreds of pounds, their skin bounces back quite successfully. Unfortunately, this is quite rare. What often happens is that patients are left with excess, sagging skin after significant weight loss.
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.
Laser resurfacing This is the most effective procedure for tightening loose skin. Unlike the laser treatment described above, this procedure requires some downtime. You'll need to stay home for 5 to 7 days. Laser resurfacing also gives you the fastest results.
In general, non-surgical skin tightening procedures work by using targeted energy to heat deeper layers of skin, which stimulates collagen and elastin production and gradually improves skin tone and texture. Some treatments also affect fibrous tissue to help smooth cellulite.
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.
Pooch bellies occur when the lower abs and pelvic floor do not coordinate well together, causing the abdominal viscera to sit downward and forward. Certain body structures have a natural tendency for the abdominal contents to sit in this area.
“Your skin may not contract back to its smaller shape if weight is lost too quickly.” This inability for the skin to contract as well as it once would have, due to the weakening of the fibers over time, is what leads to excess or saggy skin during weight loss.
Can the Keto Diet Help with Loose Skin? The answer is yes. Following a low-carb and high-fat ketogenic diet can address loose skin as long as you do it right. That said, you need to make sure you're getting all the nutrients you need from keto-friendly foods that promote healthy skin.
One to two pounds per week is the recommended amount of weight loss. So if you crunch the numbers, this translates into losing about 50 pounds a year.