After a long and challenging journey, you've finally found a workout you love and a diet that syncs with your lifestyle while helping you shed those extra pounds. 

However, if the changes in your diet and lifestyle are too overwhelming for your body, the results might be slightly less appealing than you had hoped. 

Your skin may not have enough time to bounce back from the loss of weight, leaving you with saggy or loose skin in some prominent regions like your thighs, arms, and stomach.

So, why doesn't the skin spring back? 

How to avoid loose skin when losing weight and accomplishing your goal? 

Are there any products that might help? 

This article will discuss all these points guide you on the prevention techniques you can use.

Table of Contents:

• Understanding the Science behind Sagging Skin after Weight Loss
• Effective Ways to Tighten Loose Skin after Weight Loss
• Lose weight gradually
• Build muscle
• Diet right and hydrate
• What products can you use to prevent loose skin?

Understanding the Science behind Sagging Skin after Weight Loss

Our skin is the largest human organ. It acts as the body's outermost protective layer and comprises collagen and elastin, proteins responsible for the skin's strength and elasticity. 

Over time and with increasing weight, these protein fibers tend to become weak, so much so that they are unable to retract to their original state when significant weight loss occurs. 

In addition to losing a lot of weight in a short time, aging, smoking, sun exposure, and lack of hydration are some other primary factors that can cause your skin to sag.

The amount of loose skin persisting after weight loss varies by the individual and depends on various factors, including the total weight gained and lost, your age, total muscle mass, and genetics. 

While you won't completely prevent loose skin if you're expending a large amount of weight, there are steps you can take to minimize sagginess and fill up your dermis. 

A healthy lifestyle consisting of the right food and exercise coupled with specific strategies to boost collagen can make a huge difference.

Effective Ways to Tighten Loose Skin after Weight Loss

You can follow these steps to minimize the amount of loose skin you end up with during your weight loss journey:

Lose weight gradually

Losing too much weight too suddenly can lead to the burning of more muscle than fat. Muscles act as supportive tissues that hold the skin to your body. That's why most fitness experts recommend aiming to lose 1 to 3 pounds per week, depending on your starting point. 

A pound of fat contains close to 3,500 calories, and reducing your current calorie needs by around 500 to 1,000 calories each day can help you drop weight at a healthy rate. 

While the desire to reach your goal as early as possible is understandable, employing fad diets and cleanses will only jeopardize the health of your skin and impact your overall success in keeping the weight off. 

Therefore, it's better to take things slow and be patient.

Build muscle

Replace the fat that once occupied your skin with lean muscle by focusing your fitness routine on strength training, which includes lifting weights, using resistance bands, and yoga, among other activities. 

Toned muscles give your skin a solid base to rest on. Work on all the major areas: arms, back, legs, and shoulders with 2 to 3 days of high-intensity interval training and short bursts of near-maximum effort to stoke your metabolism and build even more muscle mass. 

Regular cardio like jogging, swimming, biking, and aerobics can also help limit muscle loss while losing weight.

Diet right and hydrate

Although genetics and age play a notable role in deciding how efficiently your skin springs back, a wholesome diet keeps the elastin and collagen — protein fibers that aid in elasticity and support the structure of your skin — strong.

Good skin requires a nutrient-rich diet low in fat and sugar. So, try to limit your intake of sugar, soda, baked goods, and other sweet treats.

Also, make sure to get enough vitamin C in your diet from foods such as red peppers, spinach, broccoli, sprouts, kiwis, and oranges. 

Linoleic acid, a type of fat typically found in vegetable oils, chicken, nuts, and seeds, is another rich resource for developing better skin strength and structure.

Adequate hydration is equally essential to minimize skin sagging. The amount of water your body should get depends on your current health, diet, exercise routine, and the climate you live in. 

Replacing soda and processed juices with water will go a long way in tightening your skin and helping it regain its natural glow.

What products can you use to prevent loose skin?

While there is no magic pill to fix loose skin quickly, certain creams, lotions, oils, and supplements may be helpful when applied regularly.

The WOW Shea & Cocoa Butter Moisturizing Lotion is a fast-absorbing moisturizer suitable for all skin types. Packed with natural vitamins and nutrients, the formulation helps the skin remain hydrated while repairing damage and boosting collagen production.

Energize and repair damaged skin with the exotic-smelling WOW Skin Science Himalayan Rose Body Butter. It delivers the goodness of minerals found in rose water to protect your skin from damage caused by exposure to UV rays and environmental pollutants, thus improving suppleness and making your skin softer at the same time.

The WOW Skin Science Thai Body Massage Oil helps rejuvenate your body and mind from the inside out. Enriched with the benefits of 6 skin-smoothing oil blends infused with lemongrass, kaffir lime, essential oils, and absolute jasmine oil, it is an excellent option if you want to relieve stress and strengthen your skin structure.

Saggy skin may be inevitable if you've lost a significant amount of weight, but there are multiple ways to minimize or reduce it. 

It is necessary to realize that loose skin is a small price to pay for the increased health, vitality, wellness, and mobility that comes with weight loss. 

Your body is an incredible machine that knows what to do more often than not. As long as you're patient and determined, your efforts will definitely yield positive results over time.

Sources:

https://us.exantediet.com/blog/5-ways-to-prevent-loose-skin-after-weight-loss/

https://www.healthline.com/health/how-to-tighten-loose-skin

https://www.healthshots.com/fitness/weight-loss/loose-skin-after-weight-loss-6-tips-to-tighten-and-tone-your-body/