How do you avoid saggy skin during and after weight loss?

Is there anything I can do to prevent loose skin after weight loss?

• I feel like I'm right at the point in my weight-loss journey where I'm about to start getting loose skin on my belly and butt -- I'm talking about the kind of skin people have after weight loss that kind of hangs from their formerly-larger parts and can be quite uncomfortable. How can I prevent this? I have recently lost 20 pounds, and am on track to continue losing. This is the first time in my life I've stuck with a good diet and exercise routine, and I'm confident that I'll stick with it. I'm worried about getting loose skin -- I want to lose about 60 pounds total. I understand that loose skin results in part from a lack of elasticity in the skin, and that for some people it goes away with time. Is there anything I can do now to help prevent it and/or help it go away faster? I was in an accident a few years ago, and my doctor told me to use coconut butter on the scars to help keep them small -- and a few years before that, I successfully used Moderma to minimize some stretch marks that I suddenly developed. Would something like that be helpful in this circumstance? I'm trying to avoid relying on vague, quakery claims on product labels -- I'm looking for actual experience people have had with products like this in similar situations. I'm 41 and generally have good skin, although it is dry. I do not look my age, so maybe my skin is already somewhat elastic, but I know it is less so than it used to be. I know nothing is guaranteed, but I'd like to give my skin whatever help I can.

• Answer:

  Your skin's ability to spring back depends on genetics, how far your skin was stretched, how long you carried the extra weight and how fast you lose it. Moisturization and hydration are pretty much all you can do (that, and Spanx). Palmer's Cocoa Butter is my lotion of choice based on how much it helped to fade my stretch marks. Your skin will never be taut without surgery. I'm much younger than you and a few years after losing 80 pounds, my skin is still about as loose as it was when I reached my final weight. However, all my stretch marks have turned white and faded.