How to Reduce Sagging Skin While Losing Weight
People may not always include this in their before and after photos, but loose skin is a fairly common by-product of significant weight loss. While you cannot prevent it at all, there are ways to control it. Here’s what you can do to minimize the sagging skin that comes with losing weight:
Why does our skin do it
First, let’s take a look at the anatomy of your skin and the surrounding area. There are two layers of tissue under the skin: adipose tissue (or fat), followed by muscle tissue located immediately below it. Both fat and muscle press against the adjacent layer of skin, keeping it relatively taut before you lose weight.
The loose skin problem actually occurs when a person gains weight . When this happens, your skin’s surface area increases to accommodate new fatty tissue (which is why stretch marks sometimes occur).
Although your fat cells shrink as you lose weight, you still maintain the same surface area. This space under the greater surface area creates a layer of skin that can “hang” because there is less tissue underneath that takes up space. This is what is called flabby or “flabby” skin.
The amount of loose skin that remains depends on the individual . In fact, not everyone’s skin subsequently sags, and this depends on several factors , including total weight gained and lost, age, total muscle mass, and genetics.
Some people have very loose skin that can only be corrected with surgery . Others do not have them at all, despite significant weight loss. (You can see an example of the latter in the before and after photos of this person.)
Then there are the ones in the middle where there is room to prevent sagging skin while losing weight and maybe even improve it afterwards. I have personal experience with this. After I put on between 230 and 150 pounds, my skin became flabby and even (sorry in advance for the visual effect) “lifted” from my body. I looked like a cross between Shar Pei and some silly putty. My skin is no longer flabby – this suggests that in non-extreme cases it can be improved to some extent – but this could have been prevented with the methods described below.
Muscle tissue is the key to success
Maintaining or increasing muscle tissue is the key to minimizing sagging skin. Remember that this phenomenon occurs when the underlying layers of tissue are compressed over a very large area. If muscle mass is lost in addition to fat, an even greater void forms under the skin’s surface. On the other hand, the enlarging muscle tissue fills in the area under the skin, keeping it taut.
There are several ways to maintain or even increase muscle tissue while dieting.
Lose weight at a healthy pace
There is a correlation between how quickly a person loses weight and the amount of loose skin they end up with.
To lose weight, you need to create a calorie deficit. When the deficit is reasonable and you are losing one to two pounds per week, most of the weight you lose is fat. Although a more aggressive deficiency will lead to faster weight loss, there is a higher risk that this weight loss will come from muscle tissue, especially if it occurs over a long period of time.
Maintain a slow and steady pace and maintain a healthy calorie deficit (which varies from person to person depending on a number of factors, including the length of your workout). You will save much more muscle tissue, thereby keeping the skin “dense”.
Don’t skip strength training
Similar to the above reasons, including strength training will allow you to retain more muscle mass or even build muscle if you are relatively new to this type of exercise.
A hypertrophy (muscle building) regimen may give better results than a regimen that optimizes strength or endurance. Hypertrophy training specializes in increasing the overall size and volume of your muscles, allowing your skin to adhere more closely to the underlying tissue.
You can find a good example of a hypertrophy routine here . Bodyweight treatments are also fine if they are more for you, as long as they are done correctly.
Finally, make sure your protein intake is high . During a calorie deficit, this will not only prevent muscle loss (or “muscle catabolization” ), but it will also provide the optimal amount for muscle building. You can use the rule of “Alan Aragon”, to determine the minimum daily rate of protein.
In some cases, it may not be skin at all.
I personally find that loose skin is less of a problem for those who are lowering body fat. Of course, it could just be out of a survival bias . For example, people who do not have sagging skin problems may be more motivated to continue their progress. But Dr. Ron Brown, author of The Body Fat Handbook , doesn’t think so, and he has a compelling explanation: what many consider “loose skin” is actually excess fat .
Measurement of the thickness of these overhanging folds of skin indicates that a significant amount of fat is still left under the skin. The skin is not so much “flabby” as flabby due to excess fat. Even if some areas are completely thinned out, excess fat is likely to accumulate in the surrounding areas, contributing to an overall flabby condition.
However, there are times when nothing other than surgery will help. But at least we have methods at our disposal in the process of losing weight that can help control the amount of loose skin that you eventually encounter.
This story was originally published on 04/07/15 and updated on 06/04/19.
People may not always include this in their before and after photos, but loose skin is a fairly common by-product of significant weight loss. While you cannot prevent it at all, there are ways to control it. Here’s what you can do to minimize the sagging skin that comes with losing weight:
Why does our skin do it
First, let’s take a look at the anatomy of your skin and the surrounding area. There are two layers of tissue under the skin: adipose tissue (or fat), followed by muscle tissue located immediately below it. Both fat and muscle press against the adjacent layer of skin, keeping it relatively taut before you lose weight.
The loose skin problem actually starts when a person gains weight . When this happens, your skin’s surface area increases to accommodate new fatty tissue (which is why stretch marks sometimes occur).
Although your fat cells shrink as you lose weight, you still maintain the same surface area. This space under the greater surface area creates a layer of skin that can “hang” because there is less tissue underneath that takes up space. This is what is called flabby or “flabby” skin.
The amount of loose skin that remains depends on the individual . In fact, not everyone’s skin will subsequently sag, and this depends on several factors , including total weight gained and lost, age, total muscle mass, and genetics.
Some people have very loose skin that can only be corrected with surgery . Others do not have them at all, despite significant weight loss. (You can see an example of the latter in the before and after photos of this person.)
Then there are the ones in the middle where there is room to prevent sagging skin while losing weight and maybe even improve it afterwards. I have personal experience with this. After I put on between 230 and 150 pounds, my skin became flabby and even (sorry in advance for the visual effect) “lifted” from my body. I looked like a cross between Shar Pei and some silly putty. My skin is no longer flabby – this suggests that in non-extreme cases it can be improved to some extent – but it could have been prevented with the methods described below.
Muscle tissue is the key to success
Maintaining or increasing muscle tissue is the key to minimizing sagging skin. Remember that this phenomenon occurs when the underlying layers of tissue are compressed over a very large area. If muscle mass is lost in addition to fat, an even greater void forms under the skin’s surface. On the other hand, the enlarging muscle tissue fills in the area under the skin, keeping it taut.
There are several ways to maintain or even increase muscle tissue while dieting.
Lose weight at a healthy pace
There is a correlation between how quickly a person loses weight and the amount of loose skin they end up with.
To lose weight, you need to create a calorie deficit. When the deficit is reasonable and you are losing one to two pounds per week, most of the weight you lose is fat. Although a more aggressive deficiency will lead to faster weight loss, there is a higher risk that this weight loss will come from muscle tissue, especially if it occurs over a long period of time.
Maintain a slow and steady pace and maintain a healthy calorie deficit (which varies from person to person depending on a number of factors, including the length of your workout). You will save much more muscle tissue, thereby keeping the skin “dense”.
Don’t skip strength training
Similar to the above reasons, including strength training will allow you to maintain more muscle mass or even build muscle if you are relatively new to this type of exercise.
A hypertrophy (muscle building) regimen may give better results than a regimen that optimizes strength or endurance. Hypertrophy training specializes in increasing the overall size and volume of your muscles, allowing your skin to adhere more closely to the underlying tissue.
You can find a good example of a hypertrophy routine here . Bodyweight treatments are also fine if they are more for you, as long as they are done correctly.
Finally, make sure your protein intake is high . During a calorie deficit, this will not only prevent muscle loss (or “muscle catabolization” ), but it will also provide the optimal amount for muscle building. You can use the rule of “Alan Aragon”, to determine the minimum daily rate of protein.
In some cases, it may not be skin at all.
I personally find that loose skin is less of a problem for those who are lowering body fat. Of course, it could just be out of a survival bias . For example, it may be that people without loose skin problems are more motivated in the first place to continue their progress. But Dr. Ron Brown, author of The Body Fat Handbook , doesn’t think so, and he has a compelling explanation: what many consider “loose skin” is actually excess fat .
Measurement of the thickness of these overhanging folds of skin indicates that a significant amount of fat is still left under the skin. The skin is not so much “flabby” as flabby due to excess fat. Even if some areas are completely thinned out, excess fat is likely to accumulate in the surrounding areas, contributing to an overall flabby condition.
However, there are times when nothing other than surgery will help. But at least we have methods at our disposal in the process of losing weight that can help control the amount of loose skin you have.
This story was originally published on 04/07/15 and updated on 06/05/19.