Why is Belly Fat so Risky and Stubborn?
Worried about that belly fat accumulating around your midsection? You may not be worried enough. Find out why you need to take action to reduce it soon!
How Your Body Changes After Extreme Weight Loss (And How We Can Help)
There’s no question about it — losing weight boosts your health by:
- Lowering your blood pressure
- Decreasing your risk of heart disease
- Lowering your risk for certain cancers
- Improving your insulin resistance
- Increasing mobility
- Enhancing sexual function
- Reducing triglyceride levels
- Alleviating stress on your joints
There’s seemingly no downside to losing weight. But those who have shed extreme weight can tell you that their new body takes some getting used to.
At Frederick H. Watkins, MD, in McLean, Virginia, and Rockville, Maryland, we specialize in helping people feel comfortable in their skin, and that means something different to each individual.
If your body feels a bit foreign to you after losing a significant amount of weight, Dr. Watkins can develop a customized treatment plan to help you love your new physique. Here’s what you need to know.
The weight loss effect no one talks about
If you’ve recently lost a lot of weight, we congratulate you. The journey is long and arduous, but the results are worth it. Dropping just 10% of your body weight can trigger improvements in your blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol.
However, if you’ve lost 100 pounds or more, you’ll notice a few other changes you may not have anticipated — namely, excess skin.
Although sagging skin can occur after weight loss that results from diet and exercise, it’s most common after bariatric surgery, which prompts rapid weight loss and doesn’t allow your skin to shrink back gradually.
Excess skin makes it difficult to shop for new clothes. Although you technically should be able to size down, the extra skin gets in the way.
Loose skin can also cause some health issues. Skin-on-skin creates a moist environment where bacteria thrive, and friction can irritate skin and breach the barrier, allowing the bacteria to enter and develop an infection.
Finally, extreme weight loss can lead to stretch marks — striated scar tissue that appears in pink, white, red, or silvery strips on your skin.
How we can help
Dr. Watkins offers several procedures that address hanging skin, stubborn fat pockets, stretch marks, and drooping body parts.
Tummy tuck
In addition to weight loss, aging contributes to loose skin because older skin lacks the proteins collagen and elastin that help it snap back. The abdomen is a common site for sagging skin that ruins your waistline. With a tummy tuck, Dr. Watkins surgically removes excess skin and reattaches lax muscles to trim your belly, so it reflects the new you.
Breast lift
Breast tissue also tends to succumb to gravity after weight loss. Dr. Watkins skillfully restores your breasts’ youthful shape and position with a breast lift.
Liposuction
It’s common to have stubborn areas where the fat just won’t go away, even if you’ve experienced a total body transformation. We can banish those exercise- and diet-resistant pockets with liposuction. Dr. Watkin’s advanced techniques enable him to safely remove stubborn fat and contour your body by smoothing out bumps and bulges.
Body contouring
Wherever you have loose, hanging skin, Dr. Watkins can trim away excess tissue to enhance your silhouette and rebalance your proportions. You may need an arm lift to shore up flabby batwings, a thigh lift to reduce the skin on your upper legs, or a buttock augmentation to reshape your backside. Our body contouring procedures help you achieve the symmetry and shape you desire.
Contact us online or by phone to schedule a consultation with Dr. Watkins at our office most convenient to you, and finish your extreme weight loss journey by getting rid of that excess skin.
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