I read a lot about weight loss and fitness - I find it helps focus me and gives me ideas to work towards - and one of the things I've been researching is loose skin. I think anyone with a significant amount of weight to loose is probably at least a little concerned about it (we've all seen those magazine and TV shots of people who've lost 100+ pounds with gastric banding or somesuch and are now left with yards of hanging skin) - and certainly as I shrink I'm beginning to notice looser bits in my flabbiness.
The bottom line is I'd rather not have loose skin, but I'll live with it if I have to because it's much better than filling it with fat! I know the chances are that I'll have areas that won't spring back to lithe and slim (I expanded at a rate that means my upper arms, stomach and chest are covered in stretch marks. That means that the integrity of my skin there is shot) but, according to my research, there are things I can do to minimise it.
- Look after my skin like I do the stuff on my face
- This means using a scrub or body brush once a week and moisturising after every bath or shower (I've been doing this for a while already and it physically feels nice and emotionally feels good to pamper myself)
- Ensure I'm reducing my body fat, not just my body weight
- This is a biggie. Quick weight loss almost always indicates that there's a lean muscle loss going on, too, and any weight loss can change up the balance of lean tissue to body fat in a negative way. To avoid it I'm realistically looking at 1-2 lbs a week loss (which I've been doing) and doing muscle building exercise as well as cardio.
- Tighten up my shape underneath the skin
- This ties into the previous point, because it's all about muscle building exercise - even loose skin will somewhat reflect the shape of what's underneath.
- Drink lots of water
- It's good for everything, including the condition of one's skin.
There are probably some other things I should be looking at, like healthy fats, but this is where I am with my research at the moment.
I'm not a gym bunny (I can't justify the expense, amongst other things) and a lot of exercise DVDs or classes focus more or less exclusively on cardio - and my favourite activity of walking is also a cardio exercise - so I'm re-committing to the one DVD I know focusses on both, Jillian Michael's 30-Day Shred. It is hard, hard work, but it's quick and it definitely works. When I can move my arms above my head again I'll start looking for further options to explore...