Why Do I Have Loose Skin After WLS?

After losing a large amount of weight, your friends and family expect you to feel good about yourself. But just because you lost the weight doesn’t mean you don’t still have an issue with your body image. Even the healthiest and fittest of people still find something on their body that they feel they need to work on. While your main goal may have been to lose weight so you can be more healthy, you also want to feel good about the way to look to others.

Unfortunately, there are some cases of loose skin that cannot be fully corrected with a surgical procedure such as liposuction or sculpting. But there are ways you can reduce the amount of loose skin without going under the knife. Before we dive into how to get rid loose skin naturally, I think it is important to understand what it is and how it happens.

Why Do I Have Loose Skin?

Our skin has the amazing ability to expand and contract with us as our body grows and changes shape. This elastic ability is the main factor that contributes to loose skin. Once your elasticity is gone, your skin no longer has the ability to shrink back – similar to a stretched out rubber band.

What Made My Skin Lose Elasticity?

While there are several factors that contribute to the skin’s loss of elasticity, but there are 3 common reasons:

• Obesity: If you are considered obese, then your skin has already been stretched out considerably. If you weight loss goal is to lose 50 pounds or more, there is a chance you will have a loose skin.
• Time: Time has a major effect on your skin’s ability to contract back. The longer you are overweight, the more likely it is you will have loose skin when you lose the weight. The longer your skin remains in a stretched-out position and the harder it will be for your skin to snap back.
• Age: Unfortunately, we cannot stop ourselves from aging – not matter how hard we try. As we get older, so does our skin and we lose elasticity. This is how we get wrinkles! The younger you are the more likely it is that your skin will be able to shrink back from major weight loss.

Obviously, many of these factors can not be changed or affected which is why so many people chose to have surgery on their loose skin after losing large amounts of weight. But never let your loose skin stop you from losing weight! The vanity is not worth it, being obese or overweight with health issues is far worse than having stretched skin. Your health is far more important!

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