Loose skin from weight loss – is it inevitable?

Loose skin from weight loss might be a limiting factor in how willing you are to lose weight.  You may not have thought about it like that – but are you worried that, if you lose too much weight, you’ll have to deal with a body like the end of the movie Austin Powers 3? That was truely horrifying, and probably did some real harm in people’s unconcious minds against losing too much weight, even if it means staying unhealthy.

Plastic surgeons will tell you that you’ll need plastic surgery for the loose skin to go away – which makes sense certainly, for them.  For you – maybe it doesn’t.  That will be some expensive surgery.  It works – but it’ll leave scars and drain your pocketbook away from all the fun things you can do with your new body.

Click here for a program to build some muscles to fill in that skin.

While it may be not what you’d like to hear – having saggy skin might just mean you aren’t done losing weight yet, and you haven’t gotten your body composition to what it needs to be.  I was researching this for a long time, and my most convincing moment actually came from looking before and after pictures from the TV show “the biggest loser”.  I had only been peripherally  aware of the show, but the pictures – especially on the top few from each season, are very convincing… and little to no sagginess to be found, even on the ‘biggest losers’.

I was pretty skeptical of the premise of the show, but had never taken the time to watch it.  The pictures are amazing though – these people must feel so much better now!  The biggest thing I notices with regards to loose skin though – is that the more weight they had lost, the better their skin looked!  And they all looked _buff_.  That really supports what I’ve heard elsewhere though – your skin isn’t “not elastic” – it’s just still got fat glomming on underneath, making it loose and fold-y (yes it’s a word).  Skin on the back of your hand or foot, or on your eyelids – is really thin!  It can’t form folds like Fat Basterd’s.

So body composition seems to be the key to losing weight without problems with loose skin.  Lose weight and build muscle at the same time – give that skin a framework to cling to instead of being baggy.  Find a way to feel and enjoy the burn of a good resistance workout.  Although it may take longer to build the muscular structure then it did to lose the weight, won’t it feel great to be not only lean, but taut as well?

(As always, you results will certainly vary. Older skin legitimately loses SOME of it’s elasticity – but get yourself to a very low body fat before you give up!  Don’t get close and say, I’ll never get the rest of the way to done – you’ve gotten so far already!  This is another problem – more cosmetic then the last – I don’t think anyone’s getting heart problems from flappy skin – but the problem can be fixed using the exact same disciples and focus that you used for the last one.)

Click here for a program to build some muscles to fill in that skin.