Saggy Skin After Weight Loss
… “a Little Jiggle” After Losing Weight
We’ve been getting quite a few comments like yours in recent months, including an e-mail from a reader who worried about losing weight but gaining a “loose suit.” Another lamented that after losing 40 pounds, she was starting to resemble a “saggy, baggy elephant.” One even said she thinks it looks better to be fat than thinner but with sagging skin.
“If you’re talking about losing 20 to 30 pounds it’s different than 200 pounds.”
John Jakicic, director of the Physical Activity and Weight Management Research Center at the University of Pittsburgh, says people who are overweight, with a body mass index between 25 and 30, may experience “a little jiggle” after weight loss. Obese people with a BMI of 30 or more, especially those with BMIs upwards of 35 and 40, will have more excess skin after losing significant weight.
Gastric bypass patients, for instance, who might lose 50 percent or more of their body weight, should expect some sagging skin, Gold says. “Unquestionably, your skin is not going to have the elasticity to recoil and tighten to what it used to be.”
Other factors that can play a role in skin resiliency include sun damage, smoking, a person’s age and genetics, how much yo-yo dieting they’ve done and whether they have stretch marks (an indication of poor elasticity), according to Gold.
Excerpt: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28354842/
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