How to prevent saggy skin???

Diddums

Full Member
Hello,

I'm only at the beginning of my journey, but since i have 9.5stone to lose i think i will be left with alot of baggy skin :(

What exercises/things/lotions etc can i apply/do in order to lessen the saggy skin?

Has anyone had a problem with lose/excess skin? How did you deal with it?
 
Hi there

I have no magic formula but I am using bio oil. I have only lost 30lb so far but I have a fair bit more to lose. So far so good - skin not complaining too much. I am 56 so am very aware of the fact that I will not have the same elasticity as a young person. Fingers crossed that it keeps on working. x
 
It says to use it twice a day but I use it after my morning shower. I put some in the palm of my hand and rub my hands together, then massage it into various parts of my body (tummy, boobs, thighs, bum and that little bit on the underside of the upper arms that produces bingo wings). I've lost quite a bit off my boobs and in 6 months have gone from a size 24 to an 18 on the top (20 on the bottom though) so I have been very careful to make sure I don't get saggy boobs. As you get older everything tends to go a bit southerly so I don't want to give it a nudge that way. As I said, so far so good but it's early days yet and time will tell. x
 
The best way to go about tightening loose skin after loosing a lot of weight is to keep exercising regularly. If you keep doing what you did to take the weight off, you will eventually burn off the broken particles of fat that are floating around under your skin.

It's also important to stay hydrates and eat nutritious foods to keep your skin healthy and improve it's elasticity.
 
You are quite right about the exercise Summer as you have to tone up the muscle structure underneath and burn off the fat and also that good nutritious food and hydration plays a huge part. I believe with the cambridge diet the water is taken in as part of the diet and the whole food intake is determined by the diet itself, also that strenuous exercise in ketosis is inadvisable (correct me if I am wrong as I am not on this diet). I also believe that the speed of losing and your age also has an impact on how your skin reacts and that cambridge is renowned for rapid weightloss.

I think rapid weightloss is far more likely to produce saggy skin than slow as the gradual adjustment time is not available. Something I have found during my journey is that the body is adjusting all the time and often takes time off from weightloss to do this. Over Christmas I put on 9lb but dropped half a dress size at the same time (?) I put that down to the body's need to adjust (although I might go up a dress size if I put on another 9). The 9lb will come off quickly as it has not had time to settle around my body and become part of me - 2lb has already gone this week and weigh in is not until Friday. The skin will benefit from longer adjustment times just as other parts of the body will but if that is not a available the skin has to be treated with care to prevent loss of elasticity and production of stretch marks.

If pilates type exercises are allowed you may be able to tone up the muscles underneath the skin without strenuous exercise and a good muscle structure will provide a good framework to start from.
 
Oh, how i wish i'd read this thread last year when i started CD! I didn't exercise, or use any lotions apart from regular body lotion. And as a result of my neglect I seriously need a tummy tuck - and as for my boobs....... well, they're just like two empty crips packets.... i look like a ninety year old woman ...i'm 37!!!
 
what type of exercise is best to prevent the saggy skin?
i have heard that vitamin e creams are good, and i bought a cream called striae which is supposed to be amazing also!
 
If you are under 35 the skin should tighten naturally.

You need to be exercising regularly to try and tighten the loose skin, there are many theories on this, the two above being the most common. However a great deal of people say it cant be avoided as the skin has not got enough time to compensate, which does make sense. They recommend surgery.

But try the oil and exercising first and see if it helps, you may even be lucky :)
 
what type of exercise is best to prevent the saggy skin?
i have heard that vitamin e creams are good, and i bought a cream called striae which is supposed to be amazing also!

Tonning exercises, do a whole body weight session, but light while on the diet.

I think Gunner Petersen has a great work out dvd on a ball, he does total body tone exercises, check him out i have it and its fab
 
I've heard pilates is good while on CD as you tone up rather than burn calories!
I'm thinking of investing in a dvd myself, does anybody do it themselves?
 
Yea - I do pilates. I am not on a vlcd though - I'm on a healthy eating thing where weightloss happens slowly (better for the skin anyway). I started pilates in 2005 when I had a back injury. It was literally the only exercises I could do. Now I do it cos it feels good and is very effective. The exercise tones up the muscles and works on the fat deposits underneath the skin but the skin definitely needs time for optimum results. I am hoping the bio oil is doing it's stuff as I have quite a bit to lose. I am hoping for a 4 stone loss in the next year so I am really putting it all to the test. x
 
Well I have now lost 7 stone and thought I had escaped the dreaded loose skin but recently I have noticed lots of crinkles and wrinkles!

Seems to be my boobs and stomach area, I have used cream night and day and this has not stopped it. Unfortunately I think it is down to luck...good luck on your journey and don't let this put you off.
 
you aren't supposed to take up a new exercise plan for the first two weeks of cd ss are you? if that is the case, then i will wait until then and then start doing some stretching to help. i am hoping that luck will help with me, young skin and all! i guess if not, a little extra skin is preferable to being unhealthy.
 
a little extra skin is preferable to being unhealthy.

You are SO right about that - your health and well being is the most important thing in all of this. I am seeing weightloss as holistic - I am NOT on any diet. I know that sounds strange as I am obviously intending to lose weight but weightloss is part of, not all of my lifestyle. I have done the diet thing and it hasn't seemed to work for me so this is different.

My target is 4 stone in a year which should be very doable. It may sound like a long haul but when I started in June the thought had already put me off starting for 18 months and look where I would be now if I had been on this journey for 2 years! I am probably a lot older than most of you but I am hoping that using this journey as a long term healthy lifestyle change will be worth the long haul and hopefully be kinder to my body in general.

Putting on weight in the first place was not an overnight thing and over the time must have given my body a lot of extra work to do. I feel that I need to be a little kind to it during the weightloss process and allow it to settle in its own good time, keeping it fed with fresh healthy food. That doesn't mean that I'm any less keen to get to my goal.
 
If you are under 35 the skin should tighten naturally.

You need to be exercising regularly to try and tighten the loose skin, there are many theories on this, the two above being the most common. However a great deal of people say it cant be avoided as the skin has not got enough time to compensate, which does make sense. They recommend surgery.

But try the oil and exercising first and see if it helps, you may even be lucky :)


What he said! :D
 
I think that is probably right for vlcds in particular as the rapid weightloss does not give time for the skin to compensate. It can also be true for many people on slower weightloss programs too. As an over 35 (haha well over) I am being optomistic, while losing weight slowly and doing all I can to keep my skin supple. There is no way in the world I would consider surgery as inevitable or as the first option. x
 
Gemstone , you are so right in what you said there about weight loss , you are more likely to get shaggy skin due to the speed of the weight loss . Rather than it coming off slowly
 
Exfoliating is generally good for the skin but you do have to be very careful not to damage the bits that are at risk as stretching could make things worse. Having said that I would give it a go - but gently x
 
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