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OK, I am new here but am just starting my final 30 days of P90X 90 day program. I am 48 years old and have lost almost 40 lbs over the last year. Now that I am getting leaner, I have all of this 'old lady' skin that is just driving me crazy. Is there anything at all I can do about it? TIA
[QUOTE=MarshaDunsmoor;783616263]OK, I am new here but am just starting my final 30 days of P90X 90 day program. I am 48 years old and have lost almost 40 lbs over the last year. Now that I am getting leaner, I have all of this 'old lady' skin that is just driving me crazy. Is there anything at all I can do about it? TIA[/QUOTE]
Some of it may tighten up with time. The rest is best dealt with by filling the skin with muscle. Start looking at a solid lifting plan like New Rules of Lifting for Women. Outside of nature and muscle, you're only left with plastic surgery. Nothing wrong with that either :p
^^^^^^^^ agree. lift weights and just wait and see. This is what I am trying to do too.
[QUOTE=freebirdmac;783619103]Some of it may tighten up with time. The rest is best dealt with by filling the skin with muscle. Start looking at a solid lifting plan like New Rules of Lifting for Women. Outside of nature and muscle, you're only left with plastic surgery. Nothing wrong with that either :p[/QUOTE]
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The ugly truth..... Patience.
If one is older and has a lot of extra skin from a big weght loss the only thing that is gonna fix that is surgery. Look at it this way: you need surgery because of your hard work not because you want to avoid it.
Time! I lost over 60lbs and it has taken over a year, but skin gradually tightens up. Not perfect, but much much better especially around the midsection. Drink allot of water as well. Just me experience
[QUOTE=MarshaDunsmoor;783616263]OK, I am new here but am just starting my final 30 days of P90X 90 day program. I am 48 years old and have lost almost 40 lbs over the last year. Now that I am getting leaner, I have all of this 'old lady' skin that is just driving me crazy. Is there anything at all I can do about it? TIA[/QUOTE]
Time.... plus lots of water, a good multivitamin, fish oil pills, and I'd recommend sweet almond oil as a skin treatment. It will still take time, just hopefully less of it.
[QUOTE=Blackjack68;784018383]Time.... plus lots of water, a good multivitamin, fish oil pills, and I'd recommend sweet almond oil as a skin treatment. It will still take time, just hopefully less of it.[/QUOTE]
How does the multi and fish oil pills fit into this?
[QUOTE=freebirdmac;783619103]Some of it may tighten up with time. The rest is best dealt with by filling the skin with muscle. Start looking at a solid lifting plan like New Rules of Lifting for Women.[/QUOTE]
^^^ This. If you plan to continue losing weight, recommend adding or switching over to weightlifting to help preserve as much as muscle as you can.
[QUOTE=Brackneyc;784032963]How does the multi and fish oil pills fit into this?[/QUOTE]
Because they're both good for skin health/elasticity.
[QUOTE=Blackjack68;784087613]Because they're both good for skin health/elasticity.[/QUOTE]
Is this research based or opinion. Not busting your balls, but I doubt there is any proof that fish oil and vitamins are going to help with sagging skin. No more so than an overall healthy diet.
[QUOTE=Brackneyc;784097173]Is this research based or opinion. Not busting your balls, but I doubt there is any proof that fish oil and vitamins are going to help with sagging skin. No more so than an overall healthy diet.[/QUOTE]
No problem. To be clear, I'm not saying they reduce the sag any more than staying well-hydrated. They all contribute to healthy/elastic skin which, purely in my opinion, could help minimize the time it takes. Multivitamins provide lots of nutrients known to be important for skin health, sure you can get all this from proper diet, but it doesn't hurt to make sure.
For the Fish Oil.... A quick search found me the following page which covers a lot of skin benefits from fish oil with study refs at the bottom, which I'm honestly not going to take the time to read for myself. [url]http://www.healthy-oil-planet.com/skin-benefits-fish-oils.html[/url]
My overall point is just that we do know that proper hydration, vitamins, minerals, and omega 3 fatty acids all contribute to skin health, and if you're trying to reduce sagging, it seems like a good idea to me to make sure you're skin gets everything it needs to be healthy.
I have no references for the effects of time, water, or sweet almond oil on skin. Just my observations.
[QUOTE=Blackjack68;784087613]Because they're both good for skin health/elasticity.[/QUOTE]
That's right, I've been in the 200s and as low as 140 and never had skin problems. Also don't go in the sun too much that can be bad for skin. A good test for skin elasticity is pull the skin up on your hand and see how long it takes to go back to normal. Mine is instantly. If it takes several seconds your skin has aged prematurely or you are actually very old.
I eat fish everyday and 9g of cod-liver oil providing 1782mg of Omega 3
do the test.
Test to see if your skin is functionally younger or older than your biological age. For this test – pinch the skin on the back of your hand with the thumb and forefinger and hold it for five seconds. Let go and time how long it takes for the skin to flatten back out. The shorter the time, the younger the functional age of the skin is. Compare you results to the table chart below.
Time (Seconds) Functional age (Years)
1-2 under 30
3-4 30-44
5-9 45-50
10-15 60
35-55 70
56 or more over 70
How did you fare in the skin test? Older or younger than your true age or were you right on target?
If you’ve noticed your skin elasticity isn’t what it used to be, follow these easy tips:
Decrease your sugar intake—this doesn’t mean you should eliminate all sugar since whole grains, fruits and vegetables turn to glucose, a type of sugar, when they’re digested. But you should keep your sweets to a minimum at no more than 10 percent of your total calories. Also, avoid high fructose corn syrup.
Wear sunscreen—skin elasticity is lost more quickly when left unprotected and overexposed to the sun.
Antioxidants!—this word seems to pop up constantly when talking about skin elasticity and anti-aging. These compounds are the weapon against cell-damaging free radicals that can lead to premature aging. Eating healthy foods like cranberries, walnuts, red peppers and red grapes can help save skin elasticity and maintain suppleness and youth.
In order to maintain your skin’s elasticity, avoid harmful and damaging life style choices like smoking, drug, alcohol consumption and using products that are harmful to your skin. If you’re feeling stressed try relaxation techniques to lessen these feeling for the sake of your health, beauty and longevity.
[QUOTE=Blackjack68;784104373]No problem. To be clear, I'm not saying they reduce the sag any more than staying well-hydrated. They all contribute to healthy/elastic skin which, purely in my opinion, could help minimize the time it takes. Multivitamins provide lots of nutrients known to be important for skin health, sure you can get all this from proper diet, but it doesn't hurt to make sure.
For the Fish Oil.... A quick search found me the following page which covers a lot of skin benefits from fish oil with study refs at the bottom, which I'm honestly not going to take the time to read for myself. [url]http://www.healthy-oil-planet.com/skin-benefits-fish-oils.html[/url]
My overall point is just that we do know that proper hydration, vitamins, minerals, and omega 3 fatty acids all contribute to skin health, and if you're trying to reduce sagging, it seems like a good idea to me to make sure you're skin gets everything it needs to be healthy.
I have no references for the effects of time, water, or sweet almond oil on skin. Just my observations.[/QUOTE]
All of this I can appreciate. I just want to make sure that folks understand that any benefits of skin retracting back due to vitamins and fish oil is at best, a nice happenstance. I do not think "loose" skin is necessarily unhealthy skin. I have strong reservations as to the effectiveness of mutli vitamins being much good for anything anyway, least of all helping loose skin to "tighten up." That is JMO. :)
Hydration, healthy diet and time is a good combo imo.
Fact is, as we age, skin is going to loosen up due to lose of collagen. Some tightening from fat loss may happen but the OP's age will play against her. Good nutrition is always helpful but we are playing a loosing game. Build up muscle mass, don't sweat the minor sagging, and consider surgery for major sagging.
No advice -- just checking in to say, "good job!"
Yes, you rock.
[QUOTE=MarshaDunsmoor;783616263]OK, I am new here but am just starting my final 30 days of P90X 90 day program. I am 48 years old and have lost almost 40 lbs over the last year. Now that I am getting leaner, I have all of this 'old lady' skin that is just driving me crazy. Is there anything at all I can do about it? TIA[/QUOTE]
Welcome and congratulations on your weight loss!
[QUOTE=freebirdmac;784119833]Fact is, as we age, skin is going to loosen up due to lose of collagen. Some tightening from fat loss may happen but the OP's age will play against her. Good nutrition is always helpful but we are playing a loosing game. Build up muscle mass, don't sweat the minor sagging, and consider surgery for major sagging.[/QUOTE]
^^^this. Building muscle really does help and and I agree with not sweating the minor sagging. This being a vanity sport (we critique our bodies constantly) I think we see a lot of things others don't even notice. Don't let your focus become too narrow, look at all the positive changes and be proud of those. Like Freebirdmac said, we are playing a loosing game (I'm 54) but hell if we're not going down without one heck of a fight!!
Keep up the great work :)
So, since Collagen was mentioned, is there any reason to think that one of the collagen supplements could help with skin health? Or not? Just curious and don't know anything about it. Starting a search now.
[QUOTE=Brackneyc;784097173]Is this research based or opinion. Not busting your balls, but I doubt there is any proof that fish oil and vitamins are going to help with sagging skin. No more so than an overall healthy diet.[/QUOTE]
You are correct that there's no reason not to get omega 3's from diet rather than a supplement, but there is scientific evidence to support that omega 3's benefit skin health.
[quote]Among the must-have foods for healthy skin: omega-3 fatty acids -- the "good fats" that have recently been credited with increasing heart health as well as helping your skin look healthier.[/quote]
[quote]"These fatty acids are responsible for the health of the cell membrane, which is not only what acts as the barrier to things that are harmful, but also the passageway for nutrients to cross in and out and for waste products to get in and out of the cell," says Ann Yelmokas McDermott, PhD, a nutritionist at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston.[/quote]
Omega 3's also act as anti-inflammatory agents.
[url]http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/features/want-healthy-skin-feed-well[/url]
[QUOTE=MarshaDunsmoor;783616263]OK, I am new here but am just starting my final 30 days of P90X 90 day program. I am 48 years old and have lost almost 40 lbs over the last year. Now that I am getting leaner, I have all of this 'old lady' skin that is just driving me crazy. Is there anything at all I can do about it? TIA[/QUOTE]
Not sure about the loose skin...I'm wading through those same waters right now.
Great job on the weight loss and P90x. You should be proud of what you've done.
I started a weight loss plan in March. The loose skin did slow down for me when I added weight training to the mix in June.
Time will tell....but I've started a fund for a surgical solution...just in case. Early 2013?!?
Again, well done. I'll bet you've had serious fun buying sporty new clothes. :) Very cool.
ya I dont know if any supps are gonna help I mean I take coenz Q-10., fish oil. I hydrate my face with a face lotion with sunscreen and I have used cocoa butter based skin lotion for years...does it help? who knows?:)
[QUOTE=Blackjack68;784211683]So, since Collagen was mentioned, is there any reason to think that one of the collagen supplements could help with skin health? Or not? Just curious and don't know anything about it. Starting a search now.[/QUOTE]
I have been taking NeoCell collagen for three years for joint health, but its also used by some for skin benefits. You can look on "Livestrong+benefits of collagen capsules" for a number of articles. Here is one note from Livestrong:
Skin Flexibility
According to MayoClinic.com, exposure to sunlight can cause the skin to lose its flexibility and strength, leading to wrinkles.
In a study published in a 2000 issue of the "Journal of New Remedies & Clinics," researchers studied the effect of collagen on the elastic properties of facial skin. The team found that taking a collagen drink that contains 5 g of collagen powder for five weeks significantly increased the flexibility of skin.
Read more: [url]http://www.livestrong.com/article/431493-what-are-the-benefits-of-a-collagen-powder-drink/#ixzz1eO21gjhg[/url]
FWIW...Ihave used and continue to use and recommend it to anyone with loose skin a product called thiomax. Available on line.
I utterly swear by it. Won't work miracles but with those with "some" loose skin around the lower abs..this is the real deal. Worked with myself and a few guys I train with who needed it.
Like I said..FWIW.
[QUOTE=MarshaDunsmoor;783616263]OK, I am new here but am just starting my final 30 days of P90X 90 day program. I am 48 years old and have lost almost 40 lbs over the last year. Now that I am getting leaner, I have all of this 'old lady' skin that is just driving me crazy. Is there anything at all I can do about it? TIA[/QUOTE]
In the same situation at 52 but I have noticed that after the weight loss I have made the stomach tighten up with exercise. Just stay with it and don't expect it to happen overnight. Good luck