loose skin

wreedgarden
on 1/11/13 12:49 am - KY
RNY on 01/21/13

Is there a way to prevent the amount of loose skin I will get after/during losing all the weight? Sit-ups? Crunches?

        
poet_kelly
on 1/11/13 12:51 am - OH

No.  Situps and crunches can tighten up your muscles, but skin isn't a muscle.  We get loose skin because we grow extra skin to cover out large bodies and once you grow skin, you can't ungrow it.

View more of my photos at ObesityHelp.com          Kelly

Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR.  If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor.  Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me.  If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her.    Check out my blog.

 

wmamey
on 1/11/13 1:03 am
RNY on 06/18/12
Yep, what Kelly said!
            
Joyceebaby
on 1/11/13 2:13 am
RNY on 11/29/12

Actually, it's about your skins elasticity.  If you're younger and/or don't have stretch marks you will have less loose skin than somone older and/or with stretch marks.  If you have a lot of stretch marks, that skin will be loose and no amount of exercise will "tighten it", only surgery will do that.

      

Caroline Bell
on 1/11/13 2:26 am
Skin is made up of fibres called elastin which allow for us to move around without 'ripping' apart. It makes us flexible. It also allows us to to fluctuate in weight by a limited amount and 'spring' back. Our ability to do this depends on our age, our genes, how many times we've lost & gained and (for the girls) how many pregnancies. It's like a balloon that has been inflated and let down - do it immediately and it will more or less return to its original appearance, do it several times, over inflate it or blow it up & leave it for a couple of days before letting the air out and it'll be misshapen and show stretch marks. It's not that it's 'grown more rubber' its just been stretched past its elastic capacity. Our skin is just the same - we don't grow more its just that once we've stretched it past it's elastin capacity (& the older we are the fewer elastin chains we have) it will never return to fit a smaller body.

Everyone is different though - its true that some people just have good genes and their bounce back is better, youth is an advantage, a lower starting weight is one too etc - but we'll ALL have some hangover from our past whether its a few silvery stretch marks or a big apron of skin that needs surgically removed. No amount of exercise can change that unfortunately. The best it will do is give the underlying tissue a firmer foundation.
Calla Lily
on 1/11/13 8:44 am
RNY on 01/23/12

I have a picture on my profile of what my tummy looks like after losing 132 pound in less then a year. I'm 42, and I do squats and crunches and it does help the muscles under the skin and makes it appear more toned. The extra skin is around my belly button and lower belly that makes it look a little poochy but considering the weight loss, I really do believe building the muscles does help the look.

RNY 01/23/12, HW 265, CW 115, Height 5'6"

 

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