Hello all I am new here and I am very overweight and unhealthy. However I am now on a proper diet and exercise and am very serious on getting healthy. I do however have a bit of a fear that after all this work albeit ill be healthy I will have loose skin. This bothers me as its kind of a motivational downer. I have read there is somethings you can do as far as eating the correct things for your skin and exercise can most likely help. However I am wondering if its possible with enough effort to either totally get rid of the problem or greatly minimize it naturally. Do some people not have this problem? Anyone have any advice or answers or stories. It would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Questions about loose skin
Moderators: Boss Man, cassiegose
Re: Questions about loose skin
Minimisation of loose skin after weight loss is poosible, with the implementation of a combined exercise and eating regime that encourages slow steady weight loss, not crash dieting where large quantities of body mass are lost per week.
Often weight loss becomes rapid for the first 1-3 weeks, due to people losing water weight as well as fat, as this can be most likely due to reduced salt intake in the diet.
However as muscle burns an extra 45-50 calories per day for every 1lb gained, so therefore can lost muscle have the opposite effect.
Many people can lose some of this mass too, which can have negative repercussions on ther metabolism.
Therefore for someone your weight, you need to be concentrating on around 3-4lbs of mass per week, with the understanding of there being a bit mroe than that for around 1-3 initial weeks.
However you will end up with lose skin, it's a 99.9% given, because at 400lbs, you will have ended up in circumstances where a significant quantity of the skins elastin will have become damaged, preventing adequate bounceback.
Anyone employing a combined exercise and eating regime, that could stimulate the kind of weekly amouts lost, I referred to before, would be highly likely to avoid loose skin, where the amount of required weight loss 100lbs or less, but I would certainly say, that although this would not be a 100% given for all people with such a weight loss target, it could happen for many, with such an outcome becoming less likely, the higher the amount of weight loss required above 100lbs.
In your case, even if you aimed for around 220-230lbs of weight loss and lost at no more than 4lbs a week, which should be pretty much all fat and nothing else, once water weight has beeen reduced within the first 1-3 weeks, which is likely, you would still incur loose skin, that is a 100% certainty, however in relation the weight loss levels I quoted above, in terms of weekly and long-term, you'd be looking at around 55-75 weeks approximately.
One you gain a desired weight, you would then be wise to consider the right individual(s) to research into, regards a cosmetic procedure to remove any loose skin and reshape the bodies dermal layer, as neatly and as with little scarring as possible.
What you're talking about though in terms of losing weight, is very doable, but you need to monitor your activity and eating habits quite closely, in the first 8 weeks, because if your weight loss was say 6-8lbs+ on a weekly basis, beyond the first 3-4 weeks, you'd be crash dieting and that could further encourage loose skin, by not allowing a greater amount of skin that could reshape to the contours of your body, to actually do that.
Crash dieting is actually more likely or more frequent in people your size, than people 100lbs or less overweight, because the difference in calories eaten, often coupled with exercise, can create a very significant deficeit, combined with signficantly more caloric burn from the exercise, compared to the previous sedentary ways.
Don't let that last paragraph cause any intrepidation or worry however, as your chances of losing weight in a stable and modest way each week, could be quite good with the requisite monitoring of your weight in the fist 8 weeks as stated, as that initial period would ascertain if weight loss after the first 1-3 weeks, was levelling off nicely or continuing at a higher than desirable amount each week.
Hopefully all that makes sense and if you need anything else don't hesitate to ask us
.
Often weight loss becomes rapid for the first 1-3 weeks, due to people losing water weight as well as fat, as this can be most likely due to reduced salt intake in the diet.
However as muscle burns an extra 45-50 calories per day for every 1lb gained, so therefore can lost muscle have the opposite effect.
Many people can lose some of this mass too, which can have negative repercussions on ther metabolism.
Therefore for someone your weight, you need to be concentrating on around 3-4lbs of mass per week, with the understanding of there being a bit mroe than that for around 1-3 initial weeks.
However you will end up with lose skin, it's a 99.9% given, because at 400lbs, you will have ended up in circumstances where a significant quantity of the skins elastin will have become damaged, preventing adequate bounceback.
Anyone employing a combined exercise and eating regime, that could stimulate the kind of weekly amouts lost, I referred to before, would be highly likely to avoid loose skin, where the amount of required weight loss 100lbs or less, but I would certainly say, that although this would not be a 100% given for all people with such a weight loss target, it could happen for many, with such an outcome becoming less likely, the higher the amount of weight loss required above 100lbs.
In your case, even if you aimed for around 220-230lbs of weight loss and lost at no more than 4lbs a week, which should be pretty much all fat and nothing else, once water weight has beeen reduced within the first 1-3 weeks, which is likely, you would still incur loose skin, that is a 100% certainty, however in relation the weight loss levels I quoted above, in terms of weekly and long-term, you'd be looking at around 55-75 weeks approximately.
One you gain a desired weight, you would then be wise to consider the right individual(s) to research into, regards a cosmetic procedure to remove any loose skin and reshape the bodies dermal layer, as neatly and as with little scarring as possible.
What you're talking about though in terms of losing weight, is very doable, but you need to monitor your activity and eating habits quite closely, in the first 8 weeks, because if your weight loss was say 6-8lbs+ on a weekly basis, beyond the first 3-4 weeks, you'd be crash dieting and that could further encourage loose skin, by not allowing a greater amount of skin that could reshape to the contours of your body, to actually do that.
Crash dieting is actually more likely or more frequent in people your size, than people 100lbs or less overweight, because the difference in calories eaten, often coupled with exercise, can create a very significant deficeit, combined with signficantly more caloric burn from the exercise, compared to the previous sedentary ways.
Don't let that last paragraph cause any intrepidation or worry however, as your chances of losing weight in a stable and modest way each week, could be quite good with the requisite monitoring of your weight in the fist 8 weeks as stated, as that initial period would ascertain if weight loss after the first 1-3 weeks, was levelling off nicely or continuing at a higher than desirable amount each week.
Hopefully all that makes sense and if you need anything else don't hesitate to ask us
.Re: Questions about loose skin
I think building some new muscle will help you fill out some and alleviate some of the loose skin.