Fact or Myth: Loose Skin can be helped with exercise

I think what Kelly was saying is pretty accurate. Our bodies do create and eliminate organ cells all the time, but it has to have a reason to target a particular cell. Generally this is from burning the lipids in fat cells to release energy or from breaking muscle protein down to use elsewhere in the body. I cannot think of anything that would target skin cells.


Now, along this line of thinking you could maybe weightlift and put on muscle mass to fill the loose skin. It's all according to how big you were when you started dropping weight.

What kind of skin-tightening exercises did you have in mind?
 

I'm getting the impression that you're just looking for validation of your own hypothesis.  Very un-scientific of you.

Why don't you let us know exactly what you'd like to hear that will make you happy and keep you validated, so we can all post it for you, eh?

I am 65 and went through the gastric sleeve surgery June 17th 2015. I have lost 51 lbs to date. I have noticed my skin is beginning to sag and I was searching the net for some solutions when I ran across this blog.

I live on a farm and work daily with 50lb bags of feed for chickens so my skin is less noticeable sag than a friend that had a similar surgery but does not do anything strenuous.

I will be monitoring myself to figure out what is the best way to 'improve' the sagging skin as I lose down to my goal weight, which is 80 lbs. away. I was a bodybuilder in my early 40s so I am aware of the body's ability to remember those muscles but I am not so sure the skin will shrink back into place at this age. But that will not stop me from trying. :)

Myth.  About 15 years ago I lost over 150lbs by eating very little & exercising like mad.  I exercised 2 hours in the am and again at night.  I have horrible skin issues.  This time, at least I knew to expect it.

Exercise is important but really won't help with your skin.

I think both. You can tone up some areas, men tend to better than women that I have seen but anyplace there are stretch marks your are out of luck. A pregnant women is the perfect example. The ones that exercise, eat right and use lots of creams to keep there skin elastic tend to fair better with there baby pouch. But, the old older you get and thelonger it is stretches out the less elastic it becomes.

I think it's a myth for most people.  Particularly very fair people like me - fishbelly white me.  I have horrible skin issues.  Even my forearms have too much skin.  My belly, my thighs, my upper arms?  Forget it.  And i work out - a lot!  Exercise will tighten the underlying muscles, but it is not going to affect the skin.  Perhaps you are hoping it will be different for you.  And maybe it will.  Particularly if you have deeper skin tone, if you're young, if your weight was pretty evenly distributed.  So test your own theory.  Work out in whatever special way you think will work your skin over, and let us know.  But don't be disappointed if it doesn't work.  You've got lotsa feedback from people with lotsa experience.

I often see people say, "I exercised, lifted weights, used xyz cream and it worked for me!". Well, here's where that logic breaks down: we have no way of knowing whether those people's skin would have bounced back anyway.

I don't think there's any way to come to a scientific conclusion based on anectodal evidence. We'll never know what the exercisers results would have been had they neglected to exercise. Likewise with the non-exercisers.

Now, I'm here to tell you - I have been exercising and doing weight lifting and yet my skin still looks like a cross between an elephant and a sharpei. I can see the muscles under my batwings and thighs, but nothing has helped the skin.

This thread is fascinating. I am wondering if the people who are saying that you grow more skin have a link they can share related to that? I couldn't find anything except with regards to pregnancy which says that pregnant women don't grow more skin, the skin they have just stretches and adapts. So now I'm really curious. Thanks!

I was just reading up on this in Dr. Garth Davis' book (he's the younger doctor from Big Medicine).  He said exercise is not going to "firm up" loose skin.  It will, however, fill it in somewhat with muscle (as opposed to someone who does not exercise and has no muscle-tone).  He also mentioned that the amount of loose skin you end up with (if you end up with any at all) depends on how much weight you have to lose, and most importantly...genetics.  He mentioned an 18 year old patient who had terrible skin issues, despite being so young. 

I know people who've gone through pregnancies and had awful stretch marks.  I've had two children and have very few stretch marks.  So I think it depends on the person.  But exercise can only help you look and feel better, and while it may not prevent sagging skin, it will help to make it look better.  Don't know if that helps you any. But that is what the good doctor said about it.

well I met the guy that's currently on my hospital commercials (St Francis Bariatric Center Indianapolis) he has lost 250 lbs & bikes everywhere like 50 miles at a time & he does the P90X exercise program, he's 44 & I saw NO loose skin, he said there was some on his arms but if that's all I had I'd kill for it! However, I think it's genetics, exercise, skin tone, FLUID intake, how long you were overweight & pure luck! Mine is not as bad as others but I lotion up & that makes me feel like I'm at least working on it!