How To Tighten Loose Skin After Weight loss

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Losing weight is a momentous achievement and ought to be celebrated for sure, but for some having to contend with loose skin as a result of losing a great deal of weight can be disappointing. It’s like you’ve won in one area and lost in another, but this is not necessarily the case. In fact, there are some natural ways that you can increase your skin’s elasticity and tighten the areas in need over a matter of time. Your results, of course, will depend on how much weight you’ve actually lost, the length of time your skin was stretched out, and your age.

Why Skin Gets Loose After Weight Loss.
Since it has to stretch as we move, grow, and–as in the case of weight loss–shrink, skin is an incredibly elastic living organ. Yes, skin is not just one big piece of rubber that covers the entire body, but is instead an organ, and just like all the other organs in your body, it is comprised of cells.
Different layers of your skin have different types of cells, and though the skin cells on the outer part of your skin (the epidermis) are constantly being lost and replaced with new cells, the skin cells under the epidermis are a bit more permanent. These layers of the skin, called the dermis and subdermis, are made up of elastic connective tissues, fibers, blood vessels and all sorts of components that can stretch or contract depending on how they’re treated.

What Happens to Your Skin When You Lose Weight?
When you lose weight, and especially when you lose weight very quickly, these elastic components of your skin not only lose the layers of fat that keep them stretched out over your body, but they also don’t have much time for their elasticity to adapt to your new shape.
In addition to weight loss, age, poor nutrition, dehydration, excessive sun exposure, and smoking can all affect the elasticity of the skin and give you that elephant-like appearance you probably don’t want. But here’s how to counter that:
1. Monitor your weight loss.
It may be time to taper your weight loss just for a bit to allow your skin to get adjusted to the loss. As you maintain your weight, your skin has more of a tendency to shrink to your new size. If you continue to lose weight rapidly, your skin will continue to lose elasticity.

2. Increase your water intake.

Drinking a lot of water not only improves your overall health, it also will help your skin to become tighter, smoother, and look more radiant. Be sure to drink at least 6 glasses of water per day. If you can drink more than that, even better. Hydration is wonderful for your skin and certainly helps with the elasticity of such.

3. Eat Properly.
Two necessary ingredients that keep skin plump and elastic are collagen and elastin. Protein rich foods such as cottage cheese, milk, legumes, tofu, beans, seeds, nuts, and fish all contain collagen and elastic forming components, as well as oils to help maintain healthy skin. Quick and dirty protein tip: For optimum absorption, squeeze 100-200 calories of these protein sources in immediately after your workout.

4. Raw Foods:
There are a lot of vitamins and nutrients that can be cooked out of foods. To avoid that, why not add in some raw foods to your diet? Raw foods can be anything from fruits to veggies to even fish (sushi anyone?). Once you start to add these raw foods to your diet, you’ll see how quickly your skin tightens up!

5. Participate in weight resistance training.
According to Cedric Bryant, chief science officer for the American Council on Exercise, strength training strengthens muscles as it creates a layer of muscle underneath the skin. As a result, your skin will become tighter. It is recommended that you perform strength training three times per week every other day in order to really benefit your muscles and skin. Weight training is especially important if you have dropped your caloric intake significantly, as when you lose fat, you often lose muscle as well. Rebuilding your muscles will help tighten the skin.

…To be continue

By Teri Mendes

Glamsquad

Glamsquad magazine is an independently operated online fashion, beauty, style, entertainment, and health blog. Its features are both inspirational and accessible, giving our followers a scoop on what's trending now in the fashion, beauty, style, and entertainment industry.

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