How can I get rid of loose skin after a lot of weight loss?

Question by Jacob: How can I get rid of loose skin after a lot of weight loss?
Hi I guess I am looking for someone who can kind of educate me and guide me in the right direction on this matter. I am a 24 years old male 6ft3in tall and weigh roughly 215 pounds as of now. Growing up very early about elementary school time I started getting heavy. I wasn't over eating and when I was about 10 years old my pediatrician was concerned with my weight and had me, with the help of parents and family, log every single thing I ate for 2 weeks. After finding my diet to be normal for my age my doctor tested my thyroid cause he thought I could have issues with my metabolism but again everything came back normal. No one could figure out why I was so heavy and I never was able to shed weight. Long story short by the time I was in middle school I was well over 300lbs and by the time I finished high school I weighed around 390lbs. To be honest I hated my life I was always generally unhappy and always felt trapped inside all this excess weight. About a year after getting out of high school I decided I was going to do whatever it was going to take in order to shed some weight off. By the time I was 22, or maybe turning 23, with the combination of, working out (focusing mainly on cardio running my ass off for 2/3rds of every workout), watching what I ate, moving out of my moms house, forcing myself to eat healthier and on a budget I managed to get down to right around where I am now. I am happy with my over all size because I appear to be tall and slender with an average build. I consider myself to be a "skinny fat guy" though, What I mean by that is my mid sections, like torso up into my chest region, just seems to be too squishy. When I take my shirt off To me I look like I eat nothing but donuts all day. Other people around my size take their shirts off and have much firmer bodies. So what do I need to do? I am open to all suggestions but plastic surgery is kind of something I don't want to have to do cause it is expensive and money is an issue. Also, in the past year and a half or so, I haven't worked out hardly at all and haven't been particularly careful on what I have been eating. But all that weight has stayed off and this seems to be a permanent change to my body. I am about to start working out again for the first time in over a year this coming Monday. I need someone with some knowledge to give me some baselines like if I wanted to see some noticeable changes in 6 months what kind of workout would I need to do? It seems that my body never fully tightened up with all that cardio I was doing in the past. I am under the impression that now getting back into this, this coming week I need to start by maybe doing 20 minutes of some high intensity outdoor cardio to kind of warm up and try to loose a few stubborn pounds followed by my main focus of lots of weight lifting and lots of reps with medium weight daily or at least 5 times a week... I don't know??? Maybe taking some Protein and eating more meat and cutting down on my carbs by at least half. I kind of don't know where to start I am just guessing and trying to piece a plan together so I am not completely blind and clueless this coming week. Please someone give me some guidance how much cardio is idea for what I want to do? Do I need to try to loose a little more weight? Should I be using free weights, machines, or cables? Are there any supplements I might be able to Look in to? I have thought about trying to use testosterone boosters or possibly steroids to get some lean muscle to develop and fill in where I just never could get it to appear at all in the past. Help me tighten up this flab preferably without surgery. Please give me some workouts, ideas, diets or experiences of your own or with the testosterone boosters or steroids. Anything helps I just hate feeling like I don't know what I am doing when I am at the gym. I feel great and have lost and kept off 180lbs so I am very proud of that and for the most part I am in the best shape I have ever been in. I just now am ready to go to the next step of this transformation I wouldn't mind it but I am not necessarily looking for washboard abs. I just want to feel like I look good with my shirt off and don't want a bunch of flab hanging around my chest, stomach, and sides. Suggestions...???... Sorry for the length just trying to be detailed and Thanks in advance to whoever takes their time to read this.


Best answer:

Answer by ny
When someone is overweight, the skin stretches to accommodate the
increased volume of weight. After weight loss, the skin sometimes
fails to tighten back, and becomes loose, hangs or sags. It often acts
as a reminder of the weight you once had. There are some ways to fight
it.
1. Skin care.
- Start by exfoliating your skin daily in the
shower. The outer layer of your skin is made up of old, dried, dead
cells. Exfoliating will help the skins circulation and the balance of
skin growth.
- Treat yourself to a hot hour-long bath once or twice a
week. While the bath is being drawn, add 1/2lb of pure sea salt to the
water and allow it to dissolve. Besides relaxing your body and
muscles, it will draw toxins out of your skin and will improve your
overall skin tone.
- Aloe vera extract, soy protein and yeast extract
can improve your skin's elasticity by increasing your body's
production of elastin and collagen. It not only tightens your skin but
your skin's natural defenses as well.
2. Change Body Composition
This means working on the ratio of your body fat to lean body mass.
You should gain muscle to replace some of those lost pounds while
preventing loss of lean body mass when dieting - This will
dramatically improve loose skin from appearing. Also, loose skin is
one thing, but still having body fat is another.
- Lunges are great for sagging skin on the upper thigh. In order to
tighten loose skin by exercise, you need to pinpoint the right
exercises that will target the area you wish to tighten the skin on.
The upper thigh requires lunges, in which you tone the gluteus, upper
thigh and hamstring, pulling the skin tighter to the thigh and
creating a more attractive thigh area.
- Squats also assist with your lower body sagging skin. Squats are a
dream to tighten loose skin by exercise. They provide an ultimate
lower body workout for the gluteus and thighs. With your feet shoulder
length apart, you simply keep your back straight as you lower yourself
into a sitting position as if you were sitting in a chair.
- Bicep curls target that nasty underarm hang. The arm skin that
hangs down has been called many things by its biggest haters. This
problem seems to be one of the ladies’ biggest woes and can be
targeted with bicep curls. It is important that when you tighten loose
skin by exercise you perform exercises that are toning the muscle, and
therefore the surrounding skin.
- Planks work that stomach flab. With your hands under your
shoulders, hold your arms out with your legs straight and toes holding
your legs up. You get the most abdominal toning with this exercise the
longer you hold the stance. The recommended time is 20 to 30 minutes.
- Crunches are painful but highly effective. When you are seeking the
ultimate way to tighten loose skin by exercise and targeting the
stomach skin flap, crunches can be the most effective. Crunches
provide complete toning for the abs if performed appropriately. The
back should be straight with the chin level, and you will raise your
torso to your knees, fighting the resistance. This will be one
exercise you will feel later.
3. Surgical Reduction
If neither fixing your lifestyle, changing your diet, or using the
above products didn't give you results. There is surgery, it is
expensive, but well worth the money if you get it done right and by a
good surgeon (research your doctors).

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