MetabolicTrash
Member
The mainstream summarizing is that loose skin is because of damaged elastin, collagen, etc. from weight loss.
I was significantly overweight for a fair amount of time, and sadly lost it all through all of the wrong ways (calorie depriving; excess cardio/movement; poor nutrition probably too). I also partly lost some of the excess weight as I was in my teens presumably going through puberty, which may've aided in some way.
In any case it left me with loose skin that no amount of training, fat loss or etc. has done anything for. My concerns now are understanding what the real mechanism at play is here: who is/what are the culprits?
Is it really just an elastin/collagen issue? The skin seems to have no "memory" because it remains in the same form/shape as it needed to occupy when I had rapidly gained weight. I really have never heard/read of any biochemical or even just a thorough biological explanation as to why the skin will not naturally shrink itself back to your new shape. I guess this might lend some weight to the idea that there is no "memory" much of an organism -- it can change and thus doesn't "know" what its past form, shape, size or etc. was or "should be" according to all accounts/factors surrounding said mechanism and body composition.
I agree that it's purely cosmetic, but the implications go deeper -- it's really about esteem. People may not realize it, but looking at a normal, taut body is fulfilling (given my bodyfat I'd have taut skin and a normal, lean-ish body, give or take, if not for the excess skin) -- seeing droop and sag is just a self-esteem crusher. It would be fabulous if someone could propose a neat theory or mechanism through which significant loose skin can be altered in a way that compliments the new, smaller form prior to rapid and excessive weight gain.
I've heard pregnenolone can help, but I've never tried that. Anyone tried it for loose skin and not just slight touching up of facial tone, which is arguably much lesser of a feat? Any other ideas/suggestions on topical stuff? I have DMSO/etc. and can try pretty much anything, but the thing is I'm at a loss as to how to tackle this without going the surgery route. Diet and lifestyle and etc. doesn't seem to be doing anything, so I'll need to try other stuff like maybe preg, (elastin?), and other hormones/chemicals.
I don't believe I've read anything from Ray Peat himself regarding this, but maybe he has talked about it?
Either way it would be great to be one step closer to having an actual "normal" body that matches my build/fat/composition more naturally.
I've never used thyroid hormones directly, but use plenty of surrogate-like things, more or less (caffeine, aspirin, pinch of extra salt here and there as desired, niacinamide/thiamin, bag breathing/etc.)
I was significantly overweight for a fair amount of time, and sadly lost it all through all of the wrong ways (calorie depriving; excess cardio/movement; poor nutrition probably too). I also partly lost some of the excess weight as I was in my teens presumably going through puberty, which may've aided in some way.
In any case it left me with loose skin that no amount of training, fat loss or etc. has done anything for. My concerns now are understanding what the real mechanism at play is here: who is/what are the culprits?
Is it really just an elastin/collagen issue? The skin seems to have no "memory" because it remains in the same form/shape as it needed to occupy when I had rapidly gained weight. I really have never heard/read of any biochemical or even just a thorough biological explanation as to why the skin will not naturally shrink itself back to your new shape. I guess this might lend some weight to the idea that there is no "memory" much of an organism -- it can change and thus doesn't "know" what its past form, shape, size or etc. was or "should be" according to all accounts/factors surrounding said mechanism and body composition.
I agree that it's purely cosmetic, but the implications go deeper -- it's really about esteem. People may not realize it, but looking at a normal, taut body is fulfilling (given my bodyfat I'd have taut skin and a normal, lean-ish body, give or take, if not for the excess skin) -- seeing droop and sag is just a self-esteem crusher. It would be fabulous if someone could propose a neat theory or mechanism through which significant loose skin can be altered in a way that compliments the new, smaller form prior to rapid and excessive weight gain.
I've heard pregnenolone can help, but I've never tried that. Anyone tried it for loose skin and not just slight touching up of facial tone, which is arguably much lesser of a feat? Any other ideas/suggestions on topical stuff? I have DMSO/etc. and can try pretty much anything, but the thing is I'm at a loss as to how to tackle this without going the surgery route. Diet and lifestyle and etc. doesn't seem to be doing anything, so I'll need to try other stuff like maybe preg, (elastin?), and other hormones/chemicals.
I don't believe I've read anything from Ray Peat himself regarding this, but maybe he has talked about it?
Either way it would be great to be one step closer to having an actual "normal" body that matches my build/fat/composition more naturally.
I've never used thyroid hormones directly, but use plenty of surrogate-like things, more or less (caffeine, aspirin, pinch of extra salt here and there as desired, niacinamide/thiamin, bag breathing/etc.)
