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Why do some people lose weight and the saggy skin and others need surgery to remove the excess skin?
By Christina | April 26, 2008
I was standing with my girlfriend waiting to get into the Bon Jovi concert last night and we had some serious time to kill since there was a bomb scare which meant we, along with thousands of other people, had to stand outside with nothing to do but people watch. As we stood there looking at what seems like some seriously out of shape people we started talking about the Biggest Loser and the woman who won this season. She looks amazing; fantastic muscle tone in her arms. How did she go from obesely overweight to fit in such a short period of time and how did she lose all the excess skin that so many people keep after losing drastic amounts of weight, especially when the weight drops off so quickly?
One of the common side effects of quick weight loss is excess, loose skin. Skin is elastic tissue and this means it should go back to its original state. Women who have gone through pregnancy often return to their pre-pregnancy state. Of course eating well and exercising during the pregnancy helps. Every person is different and it may be that fast weight loss is too dramatic to give the skin time to shrink to fit the body’s new shape for some people.
The research findings on this topic are unlcear but it seems that slow, gradual weight loss may be the key. This may however conflict with your hopeful expectations of making drastic changes quickly. Exercise can make any body look better so don’t fret if it doesn’t all happen asap. Doing a combination of cardiovascular workouts along with weight training may help improve your muscle-to-fat body composition, resulting in more lean tissue and less fat.
Strengthening your muscle should fill you out and firm you up as well. But building muscle while you are losing weight isn’t easy. Fast weight loss usually results in less muscle mass along with the lost fat. To build muscle you need to eat more calories than you use up and to lose weight means you are putting your body in a catabolic, or breakdown, mode. That goes against trying to build muscle and put your body in an anabolic, or building, mode.
You can gradually build muscle and decrease fat, but doing a few exercises with super-light weights isn’t the way to go about it. Instead, lift progressively heavier weights while following a healthy diet that includes all necessary nutrients, including slightly more protein.
Some people who do lose weight and find they have excess skin opt for surgical removal of loose skin. Procedures to accomplish this include tummy tucks, as well as arm, breast and thigh lifts. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons reports that before these procedures are undertaken, body weight needs to be stable. That means that if you choose to have this surgery, you should not do so if you are trying to lose more weight. You should wait until you have maintained a consistent weight for several monthsmbefore you even think about doing this.
Certainly the possibility of having some loose skin is not a reason to stop your weight loss efforts just be sure to do it properly so that you are healthy. You also want to be under the supervision of a medical professional to ensure you are doing what you should and consider hiring a personal trainer to keep you motivated and on track.
This doesn’t answer how the winner of the Biggest Loser staved off saggy skin except that maybe she just has really great skin elasticity and genetics.
Topics: Exercise, General, que-ans |
