7. How fast weight is lost also has a lot to do with
how much the skin will tighten up. Rapid weight loss doesn't
allow the skin time to slowly resume to normal. (yet another
reason to lose fat slowly; 1-2 pounds per week, 3 pounds
at the most if you have a lot of weight to lose, and even
then, only if you are measuring body fat and you’re
certain it's fat you’re losing, not lean tissue).
8. There are exceptions to all of the above; i.e, people
who gained and then lost incredible amounts of weight
quickly at age 50 or 60, and their skin returned 100%
to normal.
9. There are many creams advertised as having the ability
to restore the tightness of your skin. None work –
at least not permanently and measurably – and especially
if you have a lot of loose skin. Don't waste your money.
10. If you’re considering surgical skin removal,
consult a physician for advice because this is not a minor
operation, but keep in mind that your plastic surgeon
may be making his BMW payments with your abdominoplasty
money. (Surgery may be recommended in situations where
it's not 100% necessary). Surgery should be left as the
ABSOLUTE FINAL option in extreme cases.
11. Give your skin time. Your skin will get tighter as
your body fat gets lower. I've seen and heard of many
cases where the skin gradually tightened up, at least
partially, after a one or two year period where the weight
loss was maintained and exercise continued.
12. Know your body fat percentage before even THINKING
about surgery. Loose skin is one thing, but still having
body fat is another. Be honest with yourself and do that
by taking your body fat measurement. This can be done
with skinfold calipers or a variety of other devices (calipers
might not be the best method if you have large folds of
loose skin. Look into impedance analysis, underwater weighing,
DEXA or Bod Pod).
Suppose for example, a man drops from 35% body fat all
the way down to 20%. He should be congratulated, but I would
tell him, "Don't bitch about loose skin, your body
fat is still high. Press onward and keep getting leaner.”
Average body fat for men is in the mid teens (16% or so)
Good body fat for men is 10-12%, and single digits is extremely
lean (men shouldn’t expect to look “ripped”
with 100% tight skin on the abs unless they have single
digit body fat, and women low teens).
Except in extreme cases, you are very unlikely to see someone
with loose skin who has very low body fat. It's quite remarkable
how much your skin can tighten up and literally start to
“cling” to your abdominal muscles once your
body fat goes from “average” to "excellent."
Someone with legitimate single digit body fat and a ton
of loose skin is a rare sight.
So... the key to getting tighter skin is to lose more body
fat, up to the point where your body composition rating
is BETTER than average (in the “good” to “great”
category, not just "okay"). Only AFTER you reach
your long term body fat percentage goal should you give
thought to "excess skin removal." At that point,
admittedly, there are bound to be a few isolated cases where
surgery is necessary if you can’t live with the amount
of loose skin remaining.
However, unless you are really, really lean, it's difficult
to get a clear picture of what is loose skin, what is just
remaining body fat and how much further the skin will tighten
up when the rest of the fat is lost.
Need help getting rid of that last bit of body body fat?
Click the link below to find out how to do it the natural
way:
>>
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