How to Get Rid of Extra Skin

Loose skin hanging in folds around the body makes for a sore sight. This often the result of a rapid weight loss or could be a post-pregnancy feature. Whatever the cause, sagging skin looks unattractive. If you have been facing the same problem and wish for a more taut look, here are a few ways you can get rid of extra skin.

Know the causes

In order to deal with extra skin, it is a good idea to start with the common causes. Most of the times, loose hanging skin is one of the few unhappy consequences of a weight loss regimen. As you exult over the loss of pounds after maybe weeks of hard work, your joy may be sobered by the sight of sagging skin in different parts of your body. This is because as your body mass shrinks, the skin which was stretched out earlier to accommodate a larger size, suddenly starts hanging in loose folds. The same thing happens after the birth of a baby and a new mother may find her abdominal skin hanging in unsightly folds upon the uterus shrinking back to its normal size. Aging also play a hand on the occurrence of loose skin since  skin loses its elasticity as bodies age and thus no longer stretches as tautly as it used to on a younger body. While not much can be done about extra skin due to pregnancy and aging, one should beware of going on crash diets and intense workouts which lead to quick weight loss and leaves extra skin hanging on the body.

Build muscles

The most effective way to get rid of extra skin is to exercise properly – this will build your muscles and help you attain a toned look. While weight training is the one of the most effective ways to build muscles, you can also explore other work out options if weights are not your cup of tea. Cardio and aerobic exercises are also helpful in building muscles. Some fitness experts suggest that it is better to have a total body work out than concentrate on one area of your body like your abdomen. Alternate your fat burning routines with toning exercises. This will give you a complete work out for a perfectly toned body. Some fat burning exercises that you can try out are running, swimming and sports like basketball. Follow these by different toning routines such as squats, sit ups and bicep curls which will help you take care of loose skin folds from arms and abdomen.

One thing to remember while building your muscles is to challenge our body every time you work out. The average human body very quickly gets used to its usual exercises. In order to fill out loose skin, you need to make your muscles grow and to do that, you have to keep increasing your exercise levels. Try lifting a weight of 3-5 lbs for a week or two and then shift up to 10 lbs. If you are into cardio, you may also try to start with a 15 minute workout and then take up to 30 minutes after a couple of weeks. This way your muscles will continue to grow and help you attain that toned look.

Work out

The benefits of working out, in fact, go further than building muscles. Exercise has an immediate positive effect on the skin – when you work out, you automatically boost the circulatory system of the body, leading to a healthy flush on your skin. In the long term, effective circulation helps the blood to carry essential nurtrients to the skin cells, thus replenishing the decayed cells and regenerating new ones.

Eat a healthy diet

The skin is after all one of the major organs of the human body and like the others, it needs the right kind of nutrition to stay healthy. As nutritionists never tire of repeating, include lots of fresh fruits and vegetables in your diet, particularly those which are red, green, purple and orange in color. The more colorful the fruits and vegetables you eat, the higher your intake of anti-oxidants which combat harmful free radicals responsible for the lack-luster look and damaging effects of aging on the skin. And while all these vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants in your diet won’t actually make loose skin disappear overnight, they are essential for a glowing skin which minimize the impact of less-than toned body to a great extent. At the same time, avoid as much of refined, processed and deep-fried foods as possible since these load up the body with ingredients containing zero nutrition besides those that are actually harmful like poly-saturated fats. Finally keep your skin well-hydrated by drinking enough water. Over the day, your body loses water as a result of various activities and even drinking beverages like coffee and soda. Dehydration not only shows up as dry, patchy-looking skin but could even rob your skin of elasticity – a condition which you want to avoid at all costs if you are already trying to combat loose skin.

Pamper your skin

As bodies age, the skin begins to lose its elasticity which is reflected on the surface as wrinkles and sagging skin. While topical creams will not magically remove extra skin, consistent skincare will lead to a noticeably healthy-looking skin and make it appear attractive So, continue to follow the basic cleansing and moisturizing routine that you have done so far and if you haven’t, better start now. Also remember to exfoliate your skin regularly and if possible, apply a heavier cream at night so that your skin has enough moisture to go about its regenerative process.

Body contouring surgery

If you have tried all of the above and still not been able to get rid of extra skin, you could consider body contouring surgery. Another scenario where surgery may be an option is when you have lost a large amount of weight like 100 pounds or more and have been able to keep it off.  However since this is a major surgery with a long recovery time, you should explore this option only as a last resort. Also it is best to wait for at least a year after weight loss before considering plastic surgery to allow your weight to stabilize. Most body contouring surgical procedures are follow-ups to weight loss surgeries since people are now seeking out cosmetic surgery designed to tailor their skin to fit their slimmer new bodies. Thus Arm lifts are often done in conjunction with breast lifts, while tummy tucks can be combined with butt and thigh lifts in one procedure known as a body lift, or belt lipectomy. For those who want minimally invasive cosmetic procedures, injectables like Botox, cosmetic lasers, peels and radiofrequency can do a whole lot, right from smoothing and tightening skin to rendering it nearly hairless. However none of these technologies are without some risks and many of them turn out to be highly expensive too.