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.
Losing 50 pounds can have both good and bad side effects on your body. The good side effects include a lower risk of disease, improved self-esteem, and increased energy levels. However, the bad side effects can include loose skin, nutritional deficiencies, and a slower metabolism.
Losing a bunch of weight—whether it's through diet and exercise, surgery, or a combination of different approaches—isn't all glitter and smiling "after" photos. If you shed a significant number of pounds, having loose skin is normal—and extremely common.
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.
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.
You will need to cut 3,500 calories from your diet to lose one pound of fat – so cutting back 1,000 calories a day will equal two pounds of weight loss per week. At a weight loss of two pounds per week, you will lose 50 pounds in 25 weeks, or a little less than six months.
“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.
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).
If you stay true to your weight loss regimen and manage to lose the maximum 2 pounds a week, it will still take you about six months to lose 50 pounds. You should realistically expect to lose 50 pounds within a year or 2.
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.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends a gradual, steady, sustainable, and realistic weight loss of 1 to 2 pounds a week (10). So, is it possible to lose 50 lbs in 6 months? Yes. Assuming there are 25 weeks in half a year, you can lose between 25-50 pounds healthily.
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.
The National Institute of Health recommends setting realistic weight goals and that is to say that losing 50pounds in 3 months is neither a realistic nor an achievable weight goal. The National Institute of Health recommends trying to lose about 5% to 10% of your total body weight in a period of six months (6).
Realistically, being able to lose 50 lb in 2 months is unlikely. How much weight you lose and at what pace depends on your diet, level of physical activity, and other lifestyle changes.
To lose 50lbs in 1 year you would have to lose a tad over 4lbs per month. That's 1 pound per week and just 142 grams per day. Not so ambitious after all then! Whereas some extreme weight loss plans can be very effective short-term, they are often very restrictive and the results are almost always temporary.
Losing a lot of weight can leave a person with saggy skin, especially if weight comes off quickly. Unfortunately, there's no magic lotion or cream that can get rid of extra skin after weight loss. You should keep seeing improvement, but you may need to give it more time.
You may need body contouring after a significant weight loss (typically 100 pounds or more).
Excess skin can appear when you lose between 40 and 50 pounds. A dramatic weight loss of 100 plus pounds will almost certainly result in loose skin. If you drop 20 pounds or less, your skin will not produce excess, much less get so loose as to hang off your torso and limbs.
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.
Engaging in exercise such as resistance training can increase muscle mass. Building muscle through exercise can improve the appearance of sagging skin, especially in the legs and arms. Also, facial exercises may improve muscle tone around the jaw and neck. This may reduce sagging skin in these areas.
The compression garments (corsets) that liposuction patients wear are to help control the initial swelling and bruising after liposuction. They do not contribute to skin tightening. The skin tightening process is inherent in the quality and nature of the skin and differs from person to person and (body) area to area.