The "Extra Skin?" Post

Many people have asked me what I did about my extra skin, if I HAD extra skin, if my extra skin BOTHERED me, basically wanting to know a little bit about what they may deal with after they've lost their weight.

Here's the skinny on the skin, in MY experience.

If anyone were to have extra skin, I guess it should have been me, since I lost 140 pounds in 14 months, gained it all back the next year, and then 2 years later began to lose it again, finally losing 150 pounds off of my 5 foot 3 inch frame.

Extra skin depends on many things:

Genetics.
Your age.
Your skin elasticity.
How much weight you lost, and where you carried it.
The rate at which you lose your weight.
How much circulation your skin got in the process of your weight loss (read light-to-moderate cardio, a few times per week).
Your level of hydration in the process of your weight loss.

etc etc...in other words, it is not an easy task to "predict" in advance who will have extra skin, and to what degree, as there are so many variables.

Skin is a living breathing "organ" so to speak.   It is constantly turning over, constantly renewing, and the body has an amazing ability to adapt, or regulate, skin turnover based on the needs of the body.

I believe the most important thing during the weight loss process has nothing to do with creams, ointments, oils, barking at the moon, etc.  OK that was a little humor there.  I digress.

Ointments and oils and other topical "remedies" really do nothing internally to "encourage new skin growth."  The BEST thing you can do is stay hydrated and keep circulation up all the way out to the "tippy ends" of your skin.  Really you are encouraging blood flow to those areas.  Some people believe you can encourage new skin growth by "sloughing off" the older skin on the top layers, using exfoliating techniques, etc.  I don't buy it, just as I don't believe that you can make your fingernails grow quicker by trimming them often.  It has more to do with the INTERNAL environment.  And nothing gets the INTERNAL environment blood flow pumping like some good old-fashioned exercise.   What manual exfoliation (such as brushing) techniques DO provide is drawing extra blood to those areas.  In other words, increased circulation to the site.  I never did any brushing, though.

I will state here, for the record, that I have never had any skin surgeries done.  Ever.

Now, this begs the question "what about the "Biggest Loser" and "Extreme Weight Loss" people, they exercise a TON and they seem to always need/desire the skin surgery.  One of the reasons that you see SO much extra skin in people on biggest loser and extreme weight loss shows is that they lost their weight very quickly, and they didn't have the circulatory matrix underneath the areas those extra skin areas to sufficient to carry nutrients and oxygen to the sagging skin.

So then there is the age factor.  Age effects elasticity of the skin.  When we are young, the skin turns over much more rapidly then when we are older.  In our 30's and 40's, it turns over about once every 3-4 weeks.  When we are over 50 it turns over once every 3 months or so.  So, age is a factor.  I lost my weight at a rate of about 2 lbs/month.  And I was 37 when I began losing my weight the first time, and 41 when I began the second time.

My best advice is to WAIT a FULL YEAR after your are FINISHED with your weight loss before considering ANY type of skin surgery.  My skin continues to adjust and minimize even 2 years after my weight loss, for example.  Remember that it is a living and breathing organ, and respect that.

In the meantime, support-clothing can help you feel great if you are a little self conscious.  Spanx works wonders with little problem areas, and hey, I didn't take my BEFORE picture in my birthday suit and I don't ever plan on taking any AFTER pictures in my birthday suit so there's always that!