Well, at least how to hide loose skin.

Look, I know there are thousands of people out there looking to find out how to tighten loose skin.  I receive at least half a dozen e-mails a day from folks looking for a fix, any kind of fix, for their loose skin. 

Here’s one I got yesterday from Joyce in Maryland:

I know I’ve read in your blog that you were going to start playing sports. I just started softball. While I am a slow runner as it is, I’m also inhibited by the jostling around of my skin and smooshy fat on my stomach (i’m down about 200 lbs so far). Have you encountered this same problem? I’ve tried a spandex like shirt, but even that doesn’t hold me in so well, and now that summer is here, it makes things so hot.

Do you have any advice?

I do.  It involves hiding the loose skin though, not necessarily tightening it.  Other than surgery, you can’t do anything to tighten loose skin.  It’s as simple as that.  Creams, potions, lotions… none of them work.

What works for tightening loose skin that doesn’t involve surgery?

• Time
• Replacing fat with muscle

Those are your options, regardless what advertisement you saw telling you otherwise.  And while loose skin will tighten over time and you can “fill in” your skin with muscle, depending on your age and amount of weight loss you may not be able to completely tighten your loose skin.

That leaves us with hiding it.

It’s interesting that Joyce mentioned softball and loose skin — I had the same problem until I found something called a compression heatgear t-shirt:

Under Armour Heatgear T-shirt

It’s a tight shirt that you can wear underneath your normal clothes.  It’s not suffocating, doesn’t itch, and is barely noticeable.  It “holds” your loose skin against your body.  I bought one of these (white) after my wife had mentioned during one of my first softball practices that my loose skin “jiggles.”  I only use to wear loose t-shirts to the gym before I bought this, but now this is always on underneath before I hit the treadmill.

I highly recommend it. 

Another big plus, and the reason I’d assume it’s called “heatgear,” is that these shirts keep you extremely cool.  I don’t know how the fabric works (it’s a mix between cotton and spandex, it’s feels groovy), but it can be 90-degrees and when I wear this shirt my skin is cool and free of sweat. 

So, there’s the good news and the bad.  The bad news is that there is no secret product or advice out there that is going to help you tighten your loose skin.

The good news is that you can hide it for the time being.

Some of the most common questions I receive via e-mail have to do with loose skin.  While I love receiving e-mail, it’d be a lot more convenient to answer some of the questions I’m most frequently asked on the blog.

I’m big supporter of efficiency.

Do you have loose skin?
Yes.

How much loose skin do you have?
It’s hard to say.  I still have fat around my mid-section, but a lot of that is also loose skin.  I’m guessing I have about 5 pounds of loose skin.

Where do you have the most loose skin?
I have the most loose skin around my stomach and thighs.  Many people who recognize me from the website/television and see me out and about always remark on how it’s amazing I don’t have loose skin.  On the surface, it doesn’t look like I do.  I can wear shorts and t-shirt and you’d never know that I lost 135+ pounds and am hiding a lot of loose skin under my clothes.

I have very little to no loose skin on my lower legs, arms (upper arms are a different story), or face/neck.

How can you tell what is fat and what is loose skin?
Take your thumb and index finger from the same hand and try to clamp down on any “suspected” sections of loose skin.  Loose skin is extremely thin and if you can clamp down and have your fingers almost touch, you’ve got loose skin on your hands.

What ways to fight loose skin have you tried?
A cream, which I wouldn’t recommend.  I’m working on building muscles and this has worked particularly well on my upper arms — I’m “filling in the skin,” so to speak, with muscles instead of fat.

Other options are surgery and simply letting time do its job.

What ways to hide loose skin have you tried?
I have a compression shirt from Under Armour that I absolutely love.  It’s tight, but it presses tightly against my stomach keeping my skin/fat from hanging and also keeps it in place when I run.  I highly recommend it.

Does the loose skin make you regret losing weight so quickly?
No.  I have a lot of people tell me that the threat of loose skin is making them hesitate from starting a weight loss journey — this is madness.  Being obese will kill you, having loose skin will not.

I wouldn’t think twice about starting my journey all over again.

Have any questions/comments about loose skin?

Tell me what you don’t like about yourself.

That line is from the television show Nip/Tuck — it’s going to be today’s topic.

In March I listed 10 reasons why I wanted to lose weight and appearance was at the very bottom of that list.  I’d be lying if I had said that it wasn’t a factor whatsoever, because it certainly is, but I’m losing weight for another reason.

On the contrary, most people I talk to tell me they’re losing weight to change the way they look.  Not health reasons, but to change the way the world sees them and more importantly, the way they seem themselves in the mirror.  They’re tired of looking bad in a swimsuit, not being able to find a boyfriend/girlfriend, being embarrassed when they can’t fit into a seat at the movie theater, etc.

It’s safe to say I can relate.

Unfortunately, as soon as you hear someone say they are concerned about appearances the word “conceited” gets thrown around.  It is such as a relative term though — I care about my looks, so I think I’m going to comb my hair and wear a shirt that’s ironed to work on Monday.  You wouldn’t hardly call that conceited.

You know what else you wouldn’t call conceited?  Changing the way you look:

• Because you can’t fit into the booth at the restaurant
• Because you’re too big for the ride
• Because you have to ask where they keep the 48-waist pants

If you have never been obese, you don’t know what it’s like to care about your looks.  It’s not the kind of on the surface, conceited, “my hair gel is wearing off” kind of deal, it’s the “oh, looks like I can’t take this flight because they don’t have two seats” kind of deal.

Don’t worry though, I have plenty of concerns some might call conceited (I don’t want to disappoint!).  I’d like to have my teeth whitened.  I’d like to have the bags under my eyes removed (about to give some eye cream a try).  I’d also like to be able to spike my hair in the front without it looking absolutely ridiculous.

Maybe one day.

When people e-mail me and tell me they’re losing weight to look better, I’m quick not to judge.  I know what they’re really talking about.   They want to look better and ride the roller coaster with the friends, instead of being told cold and bluntly, in front of their closest friends and dozens of strangers:  “You’re ain’t gunna fit.”

The fair is next month.  I can’t wait.

I have loose skin from losing weight.  The problem areas (at the present time) look to be my stomach, upper chest, upper arms, and my upper thighs.

I traded 110 pounds for probably 2-3 pounds of loose skin. By the time I’m done losing 150 pounds, I’ll probably have 4-5 pounds of lose skin.

From what I’ve read, loose skin is a physical imperfection that I have no way of fixing anytime soon.  I’ve been researching the topic for months and have found a variety of methods to deal with loose skin.  With that being said, a lot of options are marketed and sold by charlatans and snake oil salesman.

A few real possible options for removing loose skin includes:

• waiting
• muscle building
• surgery
• creams & lotions

Waiting. Skin is fairly elastic and can simply retract to fit your new body over a few years.  However, the more weight you lose (and the quicker you lose it) the less likely your skin will ever looks like it “fits” you.

Muscle building. By building muscle, I’ll make myself large again with weights instead of cookies.  My loose skin will mold around my new muscles.

Surgery. I’ve seriously considered surgery to remove loose skin.  Typically, surgery is the first option people think of when they decide to lose loose skin.  I’m not sure why.  While it is extremely effective in removing loose skin, it also gives you a permanent scar for the rest of your life — just check any plastic surgery forum to see this for yourself. I’ll go further into depth about my reasons against surgery to remove loose skin later on, but the main reasons include its cost (high $X,XXX), permanent scar(s), and its seriousness.

I’m losing weight to save my life — not to open myself up to new risks.

Creams and lotions.
There are countless sites featuring reviews of stretch mark creams and other lotions that are designed to tightened loose skin and erase the effects of rapid weight loss.  Most “loose skin products” have reviews right in the middle of the road, with some people seeing results and other people seeing nothing at all.  I might try a lotion or two, but I’m not investing too much time or money — it might just be one of the other countless scams out there.

My ultimate plan for losing loose skin?  Build muscle over the next 1-2 years.

I want to build a lot of muscle.  I’m not going to hover around 194 pounds for long, I plan on turning right back around and going into the 200s again.  I want to add about 30 pounds worth of lean muscle to my frame.

Do you have any advice or ideas for removing loose skin?