How can I prevent hanging skin while losing weight?

Question

I am 100 pounds overweight, but I've just recently started a very big life overhaul........I'm eating healthy, taking health classes, hired a personal trainer, spending 2-3 hours per day at the gym. I am 100% committed to lose weight, but I want to know how I can get healthy and not end up with all this hanging skin afterwards??

Is the secret in slowing down the weight loss?

Am I destined to have this hanging skin no matter how I do it?

By the way, I am 5'4" and 240 pounds. My goal weight is 140. I'm totally committed and I'm in a hospital supervised program........and they have suggested a weight loss of 2-3 pounds per week........but no one will answer me about this hanging skin potential problem.

Is there something I can do while I'm losing the weight to prevent it?

Answer 1

i've heard cocoa butter will help a bit... but as far as i know, there's not really anything to prevent the loose skin. i have a couple of friends who've lost weight the hard way (which is the way of you and i -- eating healthy and busting our butts at the gym), and i've had a few go through gastric bypass... and the end result seems to be the same.

skin stretches as the fat cells expand, thus to accomodate. the fat cells have more elasticity than the skin cells, meaning when you lose weight, they go back to close to their original shape-- skin doesn't so much do that.

most of the people i know who have undergone life-changing weight loss have, at some point or another, had to have skin-removal surgery to lose the flabby, hanging skin. unpleasant, i know.. but i don't know of any other way to do it. i suppose slowing down the weight loss may or may not help... but if i were in your shoes, and actually i am, start saving up money now for skin removal surgery later. i'm in that mindset where i'm more worred about getting the weight off to begin with... the skin thing is a relatively easy situation to correct, surgically.

if you find out anything that seems to work other than cocoa butter and surgery, please let me know! :)

best of luck in your weight loss journey... :)

Answer 2

With slow weight loss the skin will continue to have its elacisticy. When huge weight loss happens, the skin doesn't have time to go back and its like a streched out shirt or somethig. Just keep the weight loss at 2-3 lbs per week.

Answer 3

The key is to loose the weight slowly. A lot of the time the excess skin appears on people who do gastric bypass surgery and lose the weight very quickly.
Another issue is your age, if you are younger, you have less chance of hanging skin.

Answer 4

Weight is 99% the result of diet. Exercise just helps firm up the skin after the weight is lost. Of course, if someone runs 10 miles a day and doesn't eat anything additional they will lose a few ounces. When you diet please remember that you have to eat the minim daily requirements of nutrients or your body will go into the starvation mode and you can't lose weight. Five pounds a month is a good goal, just don't backslide. Good Luck!

Answer 5

If you lose it too quickly, you will have this problem. Work at a healthy pace, and your skin can sometimes shrink with you. Sometimes nothing will prevent it from happening. It really depends on you.

Answer 6

Excellent question, I think it is all in the luck of the draw, heredity, your age, other health issues, your muscle tone and skin elasticity all play a role... I hope others who have lost weight will post if they had saggs or not

Answer 7

stick to low gi foods

Answer 8

spend 17 minutes wrestling the beach ball away from your boyfriend

Answer 9

i used to weigh 439lbs now i weigh 210 i had gastric bypass and there is no way to get rid of your loose skin the the only way is to have it removed but i don't think i will i look at it this way i would rather have the extra skin than the extra weight

Answer 10

Sleep in a cold room Sleeping in a cold room is a best way to force your body to heat itself up for hours