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How to prevent loose skin when losing weight (masterpost)

Diet

⚡️Eat foods high in vitamin C! Vitamin C is required to create collagen, a protein that supports healthy, bouncy skin.

Good sources of vitamin C include strawberries, kiwis, bell peppers, broccoli, brussels sprouts, and citrus fruits.

⚡️Eat foods high in linoleic acid, a fat that helps support the structure of your skin.

Good sources of linoleic acid include nuts, seeds, chicken, and vegetable oil

⚡️Limit your intake of sugar- it damages skin over time. Baked goods, sodas, candies, etc. Keep it natural.

⚡️Lean proteins and healthy fats are your friends. They keep your body as healthy as possible during transformation, and they are key elements to keeping your skin where you want it.

Exercise

⚡️Cardio is important whether you’re concerned about loose skin or not. Better cardiovascular health boosts your overall metabolism, which means that you burn more calories even while resting than you would otherwise. Cardio can help reduce muscle loss when losing weight, so at the very least you should be aiming for 40-60 minutes a few times a week. I have a mini stepper machine in my bedroom that I use while watching TV, listening to podcasts, or scrolling through my phone, and am able to knock out the day’s cardio in one episode.

⚡️Light strength training can help tone muscles, even when in a caloric deficit. Yoga, using resistance bands, or lifting weights is a good way to incorporate strength training into your day. Personally I like to do about 15 minutes of yoga before work in the morning to get my muscles warmed up for the day, and it helps improve my flexibility too! As an added bonus, the stretching makes your limbs appear longer and slimmer. Again, if you’re in a deficit, you’re not going to “bulk up.”

General Skin Care

⚡️ Moisturizing is soooo important for healthy skin, and doubly so when you’re trying to prevent loose skin. It puts an extra barrier of hydration between your skin and the environment, and often has nutrients like collegen and elastin formulated into it to help boost skin regeneration and elasticity. Even if you have super oily or acne-prone skin, you need to be moisturizing. By putting moisture directly back into the skin, you’re sending the cells a signal that they can slow down oil production because there’s no risk of dehydration.

⚡️WATER. Water. Water. Water. You hear it all over the place, but water is so important for all parts of your body, including your skin. Adequate hydration keeps your skin plump. If your cells aren’t hydrated, they’ll lose their plumpness (and their barriers to the outside world) and become dry and more prone to injury, wrinkling and sagging. Your skin is one of the last organs to receive hydration when you drink water, so be sure to drink enough every single day.

⚡️ Don’t lose weight too fast. This is probably the most important point on this post. I know it’s tempting, but really try to limit your deficit to 1000 calories/day. This means if your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) is 2500, you should be eating a minimum of 1500 calories/day. You’ll lose 2 lb per week, and your body won’t be dipping into muscle stores for energy. I know a lot of people in the ED community don’t think they want muscle mass, but trust me, you do. Your muscles are what hold your skin up. No muscle= loose, saggy skin. You won’t get bulky; as long as you eat below your TDEE, you’ll lose weight.