dobra, uwielbiam te samotne poszukiwania odpowiedzi... powiem tak, polskie fora są
znalazłam tam tylko:
- naprzemienne prysznice,
- smarowanie balsamami itp
ale nikt nie umiał logicznie wytłumaczyć dlaczego to ma pomóc...
...ale znalazłam coś takiego: (jutro przetłumaczę, ale wklejam dziś, żeby już coś było)
The Myth of
Loose Skin
by Ron Brown, author of The Body Fat Guide
"Ron Brown is a certified fitness trainer who doesn't have an inch of flab on his body. He'll tell you what you can do to become fit and trim too."
TALK TO AMERICA, Washington DC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A WOMAN once asked my advice concerning her "loose skin," which remained with her despite losing a great deal of excess bodyweight following her pregnancy. I advised her to continue losing body fat until her skin tightened up. Here is part of her angry response to my advice:
"I am disgusted with the way you responded to my question...Not only did it not make any sense, but what you were saying was ridiculous, absurd, and physically impossible."
"...after giving birth to a baby eight months ago, and with having to let my body try and recover from gaining 87 lbs during the pregnancy...you would think that my body would have had some changes made to it. After a tiny 108 pound body stretches to almost double its size, you better bet that you're going to have some major stretched skin."
"And being the 'expert' that you claim to be, you should know this already...... If someone gains a large amount of weight in a short time, or loses the large amount of weight in a even shorter time, there will be extra skin there because it does not have the fat underneath it anymore to make the skin expand to where it was before."
"The skin cannot go back in with just dieting alone because it doesn't have any more "fat" underneath it to get rid of, and it doesn't have the extra layers of fat on the body to cover anymore, so it just hangs there, left as a reminder of how fat you once were, and how much your body was forced to stretch out to accommodate the large amount of weight that was gained. By exercising, the skin does pull in some-with the muscle, but there will still be excess skin left on the body that can't be 'starved off.'"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Skin Thickness and Elasticity
Many people would agree that this woman's argument makes sense. In such cases, plastic surgery is usually offered as the best solution to eliminate hanging remnants of excess skin. But, a closer look reveals this logic to be faulty. Is "loose skin" really unavoidable and inevitable after substantial weight loss? I believe the answer is no!
The human integumentary system (skin) is not a passive layer of tissue that remains stretched out like an empty plastic bag after losing large amounts of bodyweight. Rather, it is a living organ, actively adapting to the body's internal and external environments. People on extended fasts consuming nothing more than water have demonstrated that the skin can lose 20% or more of its size.
The skin is usually thickest on the soles of the feet, and thinnest on the eyelids. As a typical example of your skin's thickness, pinch the skin on the back of your hand. If it were true, as this woman claims, that the folds of skin hanging off her body had absolutely no fat left underneath to diet away, every inch of this skin would hang in sheets as thin as folds of paper. However, common observation of the folds of skin in such examples reveals this is not always the case.
Measuring the thickness of these hanging folds of skin provides evidence that there is still a substantial amount of body fat underneath the skin. The skin is not so much "loose" as it is flabby due to excess body fat. Even if some areas have completely thinned out, there will still likely be excess body fat stored in adjacent areas that contribute to the overall flabby condition.
Age is claimed to be a factor that reduces skin elasticity and thus reduces the ability of the skin to readjust it's size after weight loss. However, it is rare to see a person over 60 years of age undergo large changes in bodyweight of over 100 pounds. Many cases of "loose skin" are found in relatively young people who have lost weight, so the effect of age on skin elasticity is not really a factor in all cases, if at all.
The Cause of "Loose Skin"
Why does the skin sometimes take on this hanging appearance (e.g., abdominal pannus) during the course of losing large amounts of weight? In my opinion the droopy appearance of folds of skin is most probably caused by crash diets that sacrifice large amounts of supporting lean body mass. Even less severe diets can result in a substantial amount of muscle loss over time. For example, say you start at a bodyweight of 115 pounds, in good shape, but you gradually gain 100 pounds of body fat, similar to the lady above. You then go on some sort of crash weight-loss program to lose those 100 pounds.
However, let's say not all of the weight you lose is body fat. Perhaps 20% of the lost weight is lost muscle. This is not unusual on a severe crash diet, and many people lose much more muscle than that on these diets, but let's stick to a modest number of 20% muscle loss in this example.
Now, after your severe diet you have returned to your starting bodyweight of 115 pounds, but your internal body composition is altered. You have 20 fewer pounds of muscle and 20 more pounds of body fat, even though you weigh as much as you did before you put on the extra weight! Would you expect your body to look as firm under these circumstances? NO! The remaining excess body fat is now hanging in folds of skin.
As one employs proper weight management techniques to draw upon and break apart excess body fat reserves, and replenish depleted lean body mass, the internal composition of one's body is normalized and one's skin gradually returns to its normal size and shape. It is just a matter of the dieter learning how to remove excess body fat without sacrificing lean body mass, as well learning how to restore lost lean body mass. To begin to do that properly, it is best to measure changes in one's lean body mass and body fat levels, not just rely on changes in one's bodyweight! More on how to do that in a moment.
Is Surgery Necessary?
The television program Extreme Makeover featured a segment about a man who lost 210 pounds in less than a year, reducing from 405 pounds and a 50+ inch waist to a 34-inch waist. At times he lost up to 30-40 pounds a month. Video clips showed him lifting weights while on his weight-loss diet, a sure way to lose lean body mass (see: Are You Getting Workout Results?) His rapid rate of loss obviously included a large amount of lost lean body mass, which tended to increase the drooping of his abdominal pannus and the hanging skin under his arms and on his thighs, as well as give his face a drawn look.
Yet, at 195 pounds, this man still had at least another 20-30 pounds of excess body fat to lose in order to reach his desired goal of looking good at the beach with his shirt off. Regaining 20 pounds of muscular weight by changing to a diet adequate in the muscle-building nutrients that his reducing-diet lacked would also improve his appearance, and allow him to continue on a healthy diet past his weight-loss plateau. However, after recovering from anemia which he developed on his inadequate unbalanced diet, he opted for an extreme surgical procedure instead—a triple body tuck performed by three surgeons, despite the expense and substantial risk to his health.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Non-Surgical Removal of "Loose Skin"
To eliminate the droopy appearance of the remnants of excess body fat following weight loss, without resorting to surgical procedures, you must change your body composition, not just lose bodyweight. That means paying particular attention to the ratio of your body fat to lean body mass. Gaining muscle to replace some of those lost pounds of body fat and preventing loss of lean body mass while dieting will dramatically improve your appearance.
It is possible to be at the ideal bodyweight according to Body Mass Index charts (BMI), but still have too much body fat and not enough lean body mass. For example, a young woman in her twenties with "loose skin" recently appeared on a popular radio talk show. She had lost over two-hundred pounds in one year, and her bodyweight at 5' 8" was now in the 120's. Yet, her abdomen was covered with flabby skin that hung off of her. I would guess there is at least another 20 pounds of excess body fat stored in those folds of skin. However, if she lost another 20 pounds of bodyweight, she would obviously look like an emaciated stick! But, that's not because she is too low in body fat...it's because she lacks sufficient lean body mass!
After dieting so severely for so long (with the so-called "help" of a gastric bypass), this young woman obviously
sacrificed a significant amount of lean body
mass. It's true that losing 20 pounds of lean body mass over a year may not seem like much considering she lost so much body fat, but that amount of lost lean body mass is enough to distort her body composition, even though her bodyweight is "normal."
My suggestion to this young woman would be to replenish her lost lean body mass with a healthy balanced diet and weight training (See Muscle Mass Myths). Ironically, the gastric bypass that made it easier for this young woman to diet so severely may work against her as she attempts to eat a normal amount of food. Nevertheless, lost lean body mass usually replenishes fairly rapidly on a balanced calorie-sufficient diet. After increasing her bodyweight with 20 pounds of replenished lean body mass, she can then lose the rest of her excess body fat, without sacrificing any more lean body mass. Then she would have both a normal bodyweight AND a normal body composition.
What is required to assist one in doing all this is an easy method to measure changes in one's body composition (muscle and body fat levels), and a method to monitor and modify one's energy balance, which is the balance between the calories one eats and burns each day. Such a method is available in The Body Fat Guide.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is a letter I received from another woman since first publishing this article:
"Hi!
I've read literally hundreds of online sites regarding loose skin which seems to inevitably accompany weight loss. Your site is the only one to list positive news regarding this dilemma! Every other site states loose skin is unavoidable, with post weight-loss surgery as the only solution, which of course is extremely discouraging.
How successful is your advice; does it always work if followed properly? I've read hundreds of personal stories at various forums and everyone seems plagued with loose skin after weight loss. I've read your article on loose skin and I need some further encouragement and convincing!"
It has been many years since this article on loose skin first appeared on the web. I have received numerous positive responses from people who have read the article and have since applied my advice. However, before presenting a testimonial at the end of this article from a reader, here is my response to the woman above.
Anyone who actually measures their level of body fat (very few people know how to do that...that's where my book can help) can easily see that, even after losing substantial amounts of bodyweight, they may still have plenty of body fat remaining under their skin.
Perhaps you are a male who reduced from 40% body fat all the way down to 12-18% body fat. That's an impressive amount of progress! However, if you expect to pose for the cover of a fitness magazine, consider that bodybuilders and male fitness models regard themselves as fat at 12-18% body fat, and usually begin dieting down to 5% body fat or less.
There's nothing special about losing excess body fat in "loose skin," provided you know how to properly measure and modify your diet and activity level. But, restricting yourself to certain foods and following unbalanced diets won't teach you how to manage that. When a person relies exclusively on an unbalanced diet to lose weight they eventually reach a plateau due to nutritional imbalances, boredom and cravings.
The advantage to learning how to lose weight by correctly
balancing the number of calories you eat and burn each day is that you can adjust so many factors to keep on making progress. You can eat whatever you want as part of a well-balanced diet to avoid cravings and imbalances. You can change the speed of your loss, slower or faster as you like, and you can exercise at a pace that suits you. If you go over your calorie intake allowance on your diet, simply consider the extra calories as part of your next day's allowance and get back on track without losing any time. You have complete control and flexibility over the balance between your calorie intake and calorie expenditures. This enables you to continue on to reach and maintain your weight-loss goal in a way that an unbalanced diet alone never can!
I have received letters from readers asking for photos to prove my argument. People have become so brainwashed by before-and-after photos that they neglect simple logic. I challenge anyone to show me a photo of a woman with 10% body fat who has "loose skin." No one will be able to do so because a woman with 10% body fat has very little excess body fat, and therefore she has no "loose skin," regardless how overweight she may have once been. That is your proof! (Click for examples of female Hollywood Celebrities with 10% body fat.)
So, the answer to your question is, yes, anyone can non-surgically reduce skin folds of excess body fat, provided they follow the body composition and energy balance numbers until the job is done right...and if anyone else doubts you and tells you it can't be done because they didn't do it, ask to see their body composition and energy balance numbers. After they scratch their head, you can explain it all to them!
Of course, you can always elect to have surgery to fix your "loose skin" problem, but consider this: First, the more you improve your condition before surgery by natural means, the better your chance of having a safe outcome after surgery. But, second, and more importantly, ask yourself what is going to prevent you from regaining the weight all over again, even after surgery? Sooner or later, you will have to deal with the root cause of your problem, which is your inability to control your weight by properly modifying the balance between the calories you eat and burn each day. There is a way to learn that...