After two years of hard work I’ve lost 80 pounds and am feeling great. But now my skin sags where I used to be overweight, and even I can’t see the great muscles I’ve developed underneath all that skin. I am 46 years old. Is there any way to tighten up my skin?
First, congratulations on your successful exercise program!
To answer the many questions I get about what to do about sagging and loose skin after significant weight loss and as age creeps upon us, I need to tell you that even though I would love to have the perfect exercise that would defy or destroy this problem, I don’t.
In fact, exercise will not tighten up or shrink the skin that lays over the muscle. Even though you can have great success in making muscle more compact and dense with proper exercise, unfortunately plastic surgery may be the only way to get rid of the excess skin.
If this is not an option for you, then you need to accept the fact that skin looses elasticity as we age and also that genetics plays an important part, too.
It may be better to concentrate on the many health benefits of exercise (which you’re already feeling!) and try not to obsess over the something you may not be able to change.