Loose skin on the abdomen is a very common problem. Moreover, it concerns not only overweight people, but also quite slender ones, since there are many reasons for this phenomenon. If you encounter it, you will have to start working on yourself to make your tummy slim, beautiful and toned again. The solution to the problem must be comprehensive and include a whole list of measures.
Loose skin on the abdomen: what to do
There is an opinion that stretching and sagging of the skin affects only overweight people, or, on the contrary, very thin people. In fact, this problem can manifest itself in any body type, and its main reasons boil down to the following:
- Thinning of the skin associated with age-related changes. At the same time, the synthesis of collagen and elastin fibers is significantly reduced, and it is they who create, although extensible, a strong frame of the skin.
- Severe stretching of the skin, which can occur with large and sudden weight gain, during pregnancy, with endocrine diseases, metabolic disorders - all this provokes rupture of intradermal fibers in the connective tissues. A fairly common phenomenon is loose skin on the abdomen after childbirth, since during pregnancy the abdomen increases significantly in size.
- Rapid weight loss, in which the length of collagen and elastin fibers becomes excessive for the body area, which has greatly decreased. The level of weight loss in this case is not so important, so the skin may become flabby even in those people who still have not lost weight to the desired shape.
It happens that a woman who has experienced sagging skin after losing weight wants to gain weight again.
But here it is important not to go to extremes, because it is with a healthy body that you can have firmness and elasticity of the skin. If you want to tighten sagging skin on your stomach, be prepared for the fact that it will not be quick. Even if a sufficiently prompt result is achieved, it needs to be consolidated and the problem should be prevented from arising in the future. The approach to this issue should be comprehensive. It will include physical activity, nutritional correction, and cosmetic procedures at home or in a salon. In some cases, women resort to surgical correction.
Indications for tummy tuck
There are many methods and methods for getting rid of sagging skin of the abdomen, but the most effective in this case was and remains plastic surgery.
Many women are concerned about the problem of a sagging belly, accumulated fatty tissue in this area, and formed skin and fat folds. A sedentary lifestyle and poor diet only aggravate the situation; for many, sagging skin on the abdomen becomes a real problem, because with the help of creams, masks, wraps, and rubbing it is not always possible to get rid of it. Increasingly, when faced with the question of how to remove sagging skin on the abdomen, women are turning to plastic surgery.
If all methods have already been tried, but the expected result still does not occur, then it would be time to resort to liposuction. This operation is less traumatic, but it may not have the desired effect in every case. It is always better to discuss all these nuances with a doctor, who will advise and tell you which of the existing methods will be most appropriate in this case.
Tummy tuck is an effective operation that is performed to remove excess fat and skin from the lower abdomen and tighten muscles. Its main goal is to correct the shape of the body. The result is consistently long-lasting, but may fluctuate due to sudden changes in weight and pregnancy.
Indications for tummy tuck will be:
- the presence of excess skin and subcutaneous tissue on the anterior abdominal wall, if it was not possible to eliminate them through physical exercise and cosmetic procedures;
- rough postoperative scars in the lower abdomen;
- separation of the rectus abdominis muscles, general stretching of the abdominal muscles;
- skin-fat apron, ptosis of the anterior abdominal wall;
- a large number of stretch marks with excess skin;
- impossibility of liposuction;
- muscle protrusion;
- pronounced excess fat.
The most common reasons for the appearance of a fatty apron are childbirth, where in addition to ptosis of the anterior abdominal wall, diastasis of the rectus abdominis muscles is also observed. In this case, the skin on the abdomen takes on a convex shape, and when the child is born, it does not always return to its original position.
Metabolic and hormonal disorders are also significant factors that play a role in the accumulation of fat in the abdominal area, including a sedentary lifestyle and poor diet.
How to remove loose skin on the stomach with exercise
At first, it may seem that physical activity and sagging skin on the abdomen are in no way connected. But this is not so, since between the skin and muscle tissue there are connecting elements in the form of connective tissue fibers. If the abdominal muscles are toned, they pull behind them the fibers that connect it to the deep layers of the skin. An actively working muscle improves blood circulation, thereby increasing the delivery of nutrients and vitamins to the skin, which has a beneficial effect on its condition.
If you want to get rid of loose skin on your stomach, pay attention to the following exercises :
- Warm up your muscles by bending your torso laterally. Leaning to the right, stretch your left arm up along your body and try to stretch as hard as possible. Tilts to the left are accompanied by stretching of the right arm. Repeat the exercise on both sides the same number of times.
- You need to lie down on a semi-hard surface - a rug or gymnastics mat. Hands need to be clasped above your head. At the same time, lift your upper body by lifting your shoulder blades off the floor and bending your knees. Try to touch your elbows to your knees.
- Bend your legs, place them completely on the surface with your feet. Raise your torso with twists, trying to touch your right elbow to your left knee and vice versa. In this case, the feet should not leave the floor.
- Stretch your arms down along your body, straighten your legs and lift them up. Now you need to raise your legs and pelvis, trying to get into the position of a birch tree, and then smoothly lower them down.
- The plank exercise helps a lot. You need to focus on extended bows and toes, straighten your body and stay in this position for 30-60 seconds.
It is recommended to perform each exercise in addition to the plank in two sets of 10 times. The hula hoop with massage balls tightens the skin on the stomach well. This is a great way to improve the appearance of your belly as it combines both muscle work and a massage effect.
Nutritional Features
Any fitness trainer will tell you that body beauty largely involves nutrition, and only then workouts. In how to remove sagging skin on the abdomen, a proper and healthy diet is very important. Initially, remember that your enemies are overeating and starvation, since both sudden weight gain and rapid weight loss lead to deterioration of skin tone.
The main enemy of a beautiful belly is simple carbohydrates and saturated fats. These are everyone’s favorite sweets, fast food and other similar harmful things. A balanced diet should be based on proteins (they are very important for muscles, for the synthesis of collagen and elastin), fruits and vegetables, and cereals as sources of complex carbohydrates. Polyunsaturated fats, the sources of which are fish and seafood, are healthy.
Try to exclude sugar, alcohol, and sweet carbonated drinks from your diet. It is also important to accustom yourself to eat often and in small portions - fractional meals significantly speed up the path to a beautiful belly.
Avoid crash and short-term diets. They give completely unstable results, can have a negative impact on health, and for sagging skin this is the main enemy. Safe weight loss is 1 kilogram per week. If you lose more, the skin will not keep up with such changes, and the risk of it sagging is very high.
Causes
Overstretching of the skin on the abdomen leads to the formation of an unsightly skin pouch in the following cases:
- Age-related loss of tone and a decrease in the thickness of subcutaneous tissue cause thinning of the dermal layer. Against the background of a decrease in the volume of natural synthesis of collagen and elastin, a dense but easily stretchable layer of skin is formed.
- Stretching of the skin on the abdomen during pregnancy. Due to rapid weight gain, increased abdominal volume and hormonal changes, intradermal microtears often occur. As a result, the skin of the abdomen not only becomes flabby and sagging, but also becomes covered with striae (stretch marks).
- Rapid weight loss is the most common reason for skin tightening after weight loss, when sagging abdomen is caused by excess length of elastin and collagen fibers against the background of reduced volume.
Cosmetology measures at home
Cosmetology can give you the answer to the question of what to do with loose skin on the abdomen. In some cases, you don’t even have to resort to the help of specialists – effective home measures are enough. These measures are aimed at improving the internal structure of the skin and increasing the density of the collagen fiber framework. To develop fibers and make them stronger, you need to take care of your skin regularly.
At home, you can perform the following procedures, alternating and combining them to improve the result: wraps, peelings, self-massage and home mesotherapy. You can also buy a good cream for sagging belly skin, which will help speed up the achievement of results. Of course, cosmetics alone will not be enough, but as an additional, securing measure, it will not be superfluous.
Self-massage
There are many massage options that will help improve skin tone. But in any case, it is important to use massage oil (you can use vegetable oil: olive, almond, apricot).
The simplest version of massage is performed with the palms of your hands. must be performed sequentially :
- stroking;
- rubbing with the edge of the palm;
- vibration movements with finger pads;
- shading movements with fingertips;
- final strokes.
Vacuum massage, for which special jars are used, gives good results. You can find out about abdominal massage with cupping for weight loss here. They can be bought at the pharmacy. Japanese medicine offers its own massage method to improve the tone of the skin of the abdomen. You need to roll a terry towel into a tight roll, lie on your stomach and roll it up and down, thus kneading the anterior abdominal wall.
A simple way to remove sagging skin on the abdomen is a home hydromassage with a change in temperature.
Wraps
Wraps are a great way to saturate the skin with useful substances, tighten it, and speed up the processes of fat burning and metabolism. One or another mixture is applied to the skin, then the abdomen is wrapped with film, and its area is insulated. There are a large number of mixtures for tightening the abdominal skin, including the following:
- Honey-butter. Mix 2 tablespoons of liquid honey and 50 ml of olive oil, add a couple of drops of liquid vitamin E.
- Composition with cocoa. Knead the cocoa butter in your hands, apply it to the anterior abdominal wall and wrap with film.
- Honey mustard. Combine four tablespoons of honey and two tablespoons of mustard. Before application, the composition must be warmed up.
You can also buy powdered seaweed and clay at the pharmacy for wraps. usually recommended to perform wraps in courses of 10-15 procedures, repeating them periodically.
Peelings
A procedure such as peeling perfectly helps to tighten sagging skin of the abdomen. Exfoliation of the dead layer of skin helps to activate regenerative processes. You can use store-bought scrubs for peeling or prepare them yourself. You can pay attention to the following recipes:
- Combine two tablespoons of ground coffee and one egg.
- A combination of liquid honey and coarse sea salt works well.
- Mix three tablespoons of medium-leaf green tea and two tablespoons of vegetable oil.
Home mesotherapy can also be used. To carry out this procedure, you need to purchase a special device called a mesoscooter, equipped with a mass of tiny needles. They puncture the skin and inject medicinal compounds into it. Hyaluronic acid serums, vitamin mixtures, and protein concentrates can be used as active substances.
How to tighten your stomach at home
Are you young, have elastic skin and are you thinking about how to tighten your abdominal muscles to make your tummy flat and beautiful? Perhaps the easiest way to get him back in shape is to simply “take care of yourself.” In this case, you will only need minor cosmetology intervention. Exercises combined with myostimulation will help you tighten your stomach. Exercises for tightening the abdomen are numerous: first of all, these are all kinds of ways to pump up the abdominal muscles, swimming, and dancing.
Myostimulation, using pulsed current, causes the muscle to contract, which significantly enhances and accelerates the effect of physical activity.
But, unfortunately, physical exercises to tighten the skin of the abdomen are effective only in cases where the skin is slightly stretched, but elastic. A typical example is a tummy tuck after pregnancy, if the expectant mother is young and athletic, if she followed all the rules for managing pregnancy and did not gain excessive weight. In this case, it is really possible to tighten your stomach with exercises alone - and the skin will fall back into place.
It’s another matter when the question of how to tighten the stomach after childbirth is asked by a not very young woman who has had several pregnancies, especially if they ended in cesarean. Or, for once, they came to their senses and the person lost weight, but the stomach was disfigured by a skin apron. You can’t do this with exercises alone; you need to take more serious measures.
Professional cosmetology for abdominal skin tightening
Home measures are not always enough to combat the problem of sagging skin. For example, not everyone manages to remove sagging abdominal skin after childbirth using only these measures. Then professional cosmetology can come to the rescue. It is significantly more expensive, but gives quick and lasting results. Modern experts can offer us the following methods:
- Skin reinforcement with slowly dissolving hyaluronic acid gels. The specialist makes numerous subcutaneous injections, forming a framework that provides nutrition and support to the skin.
- Bio-reinforcement with mesothreads, which help keep the skin from sagging, providing it with a kind of fixation.
- LPG massage that tightens elastin fibers. It is performed with a special device that retracts an area of skin and kneads it with roller massage elements.
- Cryotherapy , which involves tightening the skin due to low temperatures.
- Mesotherapy at a professional level also involves the introduction of compositions with active ingredients under the skin.
In particularly difficult cases, aesthetic surgery can help combat sagging skin on the abdomen. The procedures have contraindications and require a rehabilitation period, so you should decide on them only after examinations and consultation with a specialist. They usually do not leave scars and are not fraught with negative consequences if performed by qualified professionals.
Now you know how you can overcome the problem called sagging belly skin, and you can start working on it right now. Remember that, having achieved results, you need to continue to maintain a healthy lifestyle, since no one is immune from re-sagging skin.