Saggy Skin After Weight Loss

Q: I’m hoping to lose 50 pounds over the next year. However, I’m concerned about developing saggy skin. Is there a way to avoid this?

A: Losing large amounts of fat quickly can leave the rest of the body scrambling to adapt to the physical changes. One common result is excess, loose skin.

Skin is elastic tissue;  in theory, it should adjust to a different body size. Women who have babies can return to a normal state—and it’s more likely to happen if they exercise and eat well. Of course, every person is different and it may be that fast weight loss is too dramatic to give the skin time to shrink to fit the body’s new shape.

Is there a natural way to shrink skin?

It’s unclear, but slow, gradual weight loss may be the key. This may conflict with your psychological expectation of making drastic changes quickly, though.

Exercise can make any body look better. And doing a combination of cardiovascular workouts along with weight training may help improve your muscle-to-fat body composition, resulting in more lean tissue and less fat. And strengthening your muscle should fill out and firm you up as well. But building muscle while you are losing weight isn’t easy. Fast weight loss usually results in less muscle mass along with the lost fat.

In theory, you need to eat more calories than you use up to build new muscle tissue. Losing weight—expending more calories than you take in—puts your body in a catabolic, or breakdown, mode. That goes against trying to build muscle and put your body in an anabolic, or building, mode. 

You can gradually build muscle and decrease fat, but doing a few exercises with super-light weights isn’t the way to go about it. Instead, lift progressively heavier weights while following a healthy diet that includes all necessary nutrients, including slightly more protein.

You may want to consult with an exercise physiologist or a certified personal trainer on an appropriate resistance-training regimen, and a registered dietitian for nutritional advice. 

Many people opt for surgical removal of loose skin following weight loss. Procedures to tackle this include tummy tucks, as well as arm, breast and thigh “lifts.” The American Society of Plastic Surgeons reports that before these procedures are undertaken, body weight needs to be stable. That means that if you choose to have this surgery, you should not do so if you are trying to lose more weight. You should wait until you have maintained a consistent weight for several months—up to a year—before you even think about doing this.

Keep in mind that all surgery carries risks. Explore all the medical pros and cons before you decide to go this route.

Find More from Martica:

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• Stretching Misconceptions
• Does Liposuction Last Long-Term?
• Myths of Big Busts and Skinny Waists

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Martica is a Manhattan-based exercise physiologist and nutritionist and an award-winning fitness instructor. She has written for a variety of publications including Self , Health , Prevention , The New York Times and others. Martica is the author of seven books, including her latest, - Cross-Training for Dummies . (Read her full bio.)