Happy New Years!

This is the time of year when a lot of people make their New Years Resolutions. I think one of the most common resolutions people make is to start working out and getting into shape. Working out can help you lose weight and tone or build up your muscles. But did you know that you can’t significantly tighten loose skin by working out? Sure, if you bulk up, you can fill out some of the loose skin, but you are not really tightening the loose skin.

Take the 42 year old lady above. She had loose skin in the lower part of her belly after having a baby. She had worked out religiously doing sit-ups and crunches, and her muscles were in good shape. If you look at her “Before” picture, it is obvious that there is no way that she could bulk up her belly muscles enough to fill out the loose skin.

She underwent a Skin Only Tummy Tuck. In a Standard Tummy Tuck, loose skin is removed, the belly muscles are tightened, and the remaining skin is pulled tight. It is the muscle tightening that makes recovery from a Standard Tummy Tuck such a big deal. However, her muscles were very tight and flat, so no muscle tightening was needed. Only the loose skin was removed (Skin Only Tummy Tuck) and the rest of her skin was pulled tight. Her recovery was much easier and quicker than recovery from a Standard Tummy Tuck.

So, good luck to all those people who made a New Years Resolution to lose weight and tone or build up their muscles. But remember that you cannot significantly tighten loose skin by working out!