Preventing Loose Skin

[Aodhanmom 20]

Hi everyone,

I was in nutrition class this week and the nutritionist told me that I can help myself with the excess skin by exercising before surgery. How does this even work?

What have you all done regarding loose skin aside from surgery?

[Hop_Scotch 1,630]

Depends on the amount of excess skin to be had. It can take up to three years to skin to retract to the full extent it is going to. How much it retract, if it does, depends on many things - genetics, total amount weight loss, history of multiple big losses and gains (skin will lose elastricity regardless of good genetics), age, environment.

I think the exercise thing could be useful if there isn't a lot of excess skin, by building muscle you are proving some support to the excess skin thus making it less saggy. I doubt this would be helpful if there was a lot of excess skin though.

[Jazzy1125 1,010]

i agree, it depends on how much you have to lose. Exercise before hand will help you maintain the exercise you need to do after weight loss surgery. it will help you get a jumpstart.

[catwoman7 11,151]

I agree that it depends on how much weight you have to lose, your age, etc. Everything does shift around a bit within a year or so after you hit your lowest weight, making you look better, but still, many of us still deal with excess skin even after that. If that's the case with you, the only way to get rid of it is plastic surgery.

[VSG@50 13]

I work out 2 to 3 times a week anyways , weight resistance and light cardio. before veg , did lots of ab work and It differently helps , I strongly urge to start a exercise routine now before to establish good habits , because if you do not weight train you will look like a melted candle and will gain your weight back in a year.. exercise is key... weight and resistant training a must.

[Dances with Carbs 168]

For me, you can totally see loose skin with barely a 15kg weightloss, but it goes away. I cannont explain it, but I think it will retract fine when the pounds are off. I also slatter my belly with coconut oil and retinol

Where do u get retinol from?

[Dances with Carbs 168]

Thanks. I just checked on ebay and Amazon too. They both have them. Not expensive at all. I'll give it a try.

[mousecat88 2,280]

I had horrible skin elasticity since... basically childhood. stretch marks since age 9 just from growing (not getting heavy). I exercised hardcore up until recently, but still have a lot of excess skin simply due to the rapid rate of loss. I don't know how unavoidable it was or to what extent I helped by exercising but it is still bad enough to warrant surgery. My plastic surgeon said it IS making the Tummy Tuck portion easier on me since I have a strong core... they won't need to suture the muscles as tightly.