How To Tighten Up Loose Skin After Weight Loss In 2023

Reviewed by: Dr. Sadie Wegler
Fact Checked by: Dr. Jordan Wheeler Kincaid

But before we get down to the main matter of this article, it would be great for us to go through some of the background information, such as why you get loose skin after weight loss, what could be the potential causes of loose skin, and finally how to tighten up loose skin after weight loss in 2022?

Fitness is hard. You need to take care of what you eat, how much you eat, and how much you burn in the gym. To lose weight, the output of calories should be higher than the input of calories in your meals. 

But if you have completed the process and lost a lot of fat, congratulations! You are now fit and healthier. But with every good thing comes a bad side of it. When someone loses a lot of fat stored under layers of their skin, their skin becomes loose and starts hanging. 

There are a lot of reasons why your skin must be hanging. With problems come solutions, so there are plenty of ways to eliminate them. In this article, we will look into the ways in which you can tighten your loose skin after weight loss in 2022. 

By taking certain nutrients, such as collagen, engaging in resistance training, and going under the knife, you might be able to assist tighten skin following weight reduction. So let us begin this article which will tell you how to tighten up loose skin after weight loss in 2022. 

Why Do You Get Loose Skin After Losing Weight?

So what could be the reason behind the sagging, loose skin that usually occurs most on your belly after intense weight loss? You have got the hint; fat loss. You can sustain your weight loss and develop lean muscles by engaging in physical activity and strength training treatments.

If you are into skincare, you must have heard people talking about how the collagen content in your skin is responsible for its firmness, and a good amount of it is important to keep your skin healthy.

With less quantity of collagen in your skin, your skin tends to hang, which is pretty common in women who just gave birth where their belly skin was stretched and now has to regain its elasticity which is the collagen content. 

When you lose a lot of fat under your skin layers, your skin starts hanging due to the lack of collagen. The more fat you have lost, the more your skin will hang or loosen up.

To regain its firmness, you need to restore collagen, and many people also opt for surgeries that might not always help you regain your skin’s collagen content. 

What are the Causes of Loose Skin?

In the next step in this article that tells you how to tighten up loose skin after weight loss in 2022, we will discuss the factors responsible for your loose skin. Weight loss is not always the 100% reason for hanging skin; a few more things we will discuss here can also contribute to your loose skin. 

• Weight Loss: As we mentioned earlier, the more weight or fat you lose, the more loose your skin will be. If the amount of fat that you have lost is near to or above 100 pounds, you will see more of your skin loosening. 
• Age: You must have noticed that the older family members have wrinklier or more loose or hanging skin compared to you. This is because, with age, the collagen content which provides firmness to your skin reduces, making it lose and sag. 
• Your Genes: Most of the things that you have, such as your facial features, are inherited from your parents, which means it is in your genes. Loose skin is also something that could be present in your genes which could be enhanced due to fat loss. 
• Smoking: You might not have expected this, but even smoking is a factor that reduces the amount of collagen that is present in your skin. The lesser the amount of collagen, the saggier your skin is. 
• Sun Exposure: The quantity of collagen in your skin can also be affected by the period you are exposed to sunlight. The more time you spend under the sun, the more elasticity or collagen you lose.  

How To Tighten Up Loose Skin After Weight Loss In 2022?

It is time to get down to what we are here for; how to tighten up loose skin after weight loss in 2022. It is natural that your skin starts sagging after you lose a lot of weight, but it could be bothersome if you are not able to get yourself back in shape even after you worked so hard to get rid of all that fat. 

So here are some of the ways that could help you tighten up all that loose skin after your intense weight loss. We will start with some of the easiest ways and then move on to complex or money-costing methods. 

Collagen Consumption

As we discussed earlier, the loosening of your skin could also be due to the lack of collagen. Do you get the hint? To keep it from sagging, you could try to consume more collagen.

This could make your skin firmer and also show fewer wrinkles. Collagen has not been tested on people after weight loss, but it is possible that it could work for it due to its firming quality. 

You can consume collagen in many ways. Many things, such as bone broth, wild salmon, shellfish, sardines, meat, eggs, etc., there are plenty of non-vegetarian items that contain collagen. 

All the vegetarians out there do not get disheartened; fruits rich in citrus, strawberries, tropical fruits, avocados, garlic, etc., are also a good source of collagen. If you still have any issues with these items or need a higher dosage, you can consume collagen supplements available on the market. 

Strength/Resistance Training

Your gym trainer or fitness freak friend might have told you to perform strength training to get your body toned and firm. This could also be helpful if you are looking to tighten up loose skin after weight loss in 2022. 

The research on this is not very evident, but we could give this a try as resistance training does help people tighten their loose and hanging mass.

Collagen or Firming Creams

The use of collagen or firming creams is the next solution in this article that tells you how to tighten up loose skin after weight loss in 2022. Many companies create these creams that contain collagen and compounds that help with increasing your skin’s elasticity. 

However, we do not suggest this method to everyone, especially for those who have a good amount of hanging skin, as these creams might be helpful for your facial skin for a short period and might not show results in the long run. So you better focus on intaking more collagen than applying it to your outer body. 

Consumption of Certain Items

• Hydration: Ensure you drink enough water, as increasing water intake over time can positively affect your skin and help prevent it from sagging. As you know, over half of your body is made up of water so consume more and more of it. Also, make sure that you only drink what you can digest. 
• Vitamin C: you must have heard people say you should consume more vitamin C, so your skin stays healthy; it turns out to be true. Collagen helps your skin stay firm, and to process that, you need vitamin C, so eat more citrus foods. 
• Protein: protein, as you know, is important to lose fat as it helps you burn fat and acts as a fuel. Also, it directly connects collagen production and makes the best out of it. 

Medical Methods

Apart from external consumption and application, other ways help you get rid of all that loose fat hanging down your body. Many people around the world use certain surgeries to help them get rid of loose fat from specific parts of their bodies. Some of these are:

• Tummy Tuck: Abdominoplasty or tummy tuck, as the name suggests, this surgery helps remove loose abdominal skin. Many people who lose a lot of fat mostly get loose skin on the belly, as that is where a lot of fat accumulates. 
• Upper Arm-Lift: Brachioplasty, also known as upper arm lift surgery, is useful to get rid of your sagging upper arm fat. 
• Thigh Lift: with a lot of fat accumulated on your thighs, once you lose all that fat, it might result in sagging or hanging skin which might not be very flattering. Therefore thigh lift surgeries such as Thighplasty are a helpful way to get rid of excess skin on the inner and outer thighs. Also, there are three types of thigh lift surgeries; Crescentic thigh lift removes skin from your upper inner thigh, Vertical thigh lift gets rid of your inner thigh skin, and Lateral thigh lift pulls your outer thighs.
• Liposuction: today’s generation is obsessed with a thin neck and a jawline, but if you have a lot of excess fat hanging around there, it might become necessary for you to get rid of it, and that is exactly what a Liposuction does. 

As you saw, many body contouring surgeries require the doctor to cut off the excess skin from your body and stitch the rest together to give you a lean body.

It is suggested that you stay in the hospital for 3-4 days and take a home rest for two to three weeks so that you do not go through any types of difficulties that sometimes occur after body contouring surgeries, such as bleeding and infections. 

Other Treatments To Tighten Up Loose Skin After Weight Loss

We have looked at many methods to help you eliminate that by handling excess skin. Our technology has grown to great heights, and we must take advantage of it. We need to discuss two other methods that could help you get rid of loose skin after weight loss. 

• Ultrasound: Ultrasound or sonography is generally used to get a live image of a person’s insides, such as a baby inside a womb. Ultrasound does not help the sagging weight much but relieves the pain it causes. 
• Radiofrequency: Radiofrequency treatment is another method that could help you tighten up that excess loose fat. With this infrared light and radiofrequency, you can massage the skin to make it tighter. 

Conclusion

This article looked at how to tighten up loose skin after weight loss in 2022. After you have lost an immense amount of fat, it is customary that your skin layers are empty on the inside and start sagging. 

But with the methods we discussed in this article, you can eliminate them. Many of these methods might not be 100% effective, nothing is, but they could give you some relief in the matter. Also, we do not suggest you use a skin tightening scream and expect a lot of difference because that does not happen; it can be helpful for small areas such as the face. 

Also, it is suggested that you start with natural methods such as resistance training and if that works for you, continue with it before going in for surgery as it might cost you a lot and is not very healthy for everyone.

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Dr. Cornell Heller

Dr. Cornell Heller is a trained scholar in food systems, nutrition, and health. She holds a BA in Food Systems, Nutrition, and Health from the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Heller has conducted extensive research into the impact of food on health outcomes with her doctoral thesis focused on assessing the effects of sugar-sweetened beverages on cardiovascular disease risk factors in adults. She is passionate about promoting healthy eating habits in her local community and beyond.
Dr. Heller has experience teaching at the college level, as well as working with nutrition-focused organizations on projects related to food security and sustainability. With her background in food systems, nutrition, and health, she strives to bring a practical and holistic approach to address complex problems in these fields.
Dr. Heller is committed to applying her knowledge and expertise to help solve global health issues. She enjoys collaborating with different stakeholders in order to create meaningful solutions that will benefit both people and the planet.

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