You’re loving the way your clothes fit, the extra energy, the number on the scale … but feel confused by your reflection in the mirror.
Experiencing a significant weight loss can take a toll on your skin. As we age, skin loses some of its elasticity. It can struggle to adapt to the contours of your face as you undergo this major overall change.
That’s why maintaining — and even amping up — a safe, nourishing daily skin care regimen throughout your weight loss journey is vitally important.
What Happens to Your Skin During Weight Loss
Our largest organ, skin stretches over time as our bodies grow. As we gain weight, the skin stretches further. This stretching can weaken skin’s underlying support structures like collagen and elastin proteins. (Click here to read more about the importance of collagen and elastin.) Additionally, as we age, our bodies naturally …
- produce less of these proteins
- produce a lower quality of these proteins than when we’re young
- break down existing collagen at a faster rate
This results in reduced skin elasticity and firmness even without a change in weight.
When a sudden extreme weight loss occurs, skin struggles to keep up. It stretched over time to fit a growing body. A quick reduction in body size can leave skin sagging and crepey.
Additionally, the loss of subcutaneous fat — the layer of fat just beneath the skin — in a short period of time, will have skin struggling to adapt to the new contours of the body, and often more noticeably, the face.
How to Protect Skin Health During Weight Loss
From the outside: At the very start of your weight loss journey (even before!), it’s important to practice a daily skin care regimen using products made with only safe, effective ingredients fortified with ingredients known to promote hydration and support skin elasticity. Consider these key factors when building or adding products to your routine:
- The basics:
Be sure to engage in a core routine of cleansing, toning, and moisturizing skin, as well as using under-eye cream. More importantly, be sure the products in that routine don’t contain harmful ingredients that can cause more damage than good. Steer clear of products made with fragrance, dyes, silicones, and parabens. (Click here for a handy list of ingredients to avoid.)
- The extras:
Consider the extras your skin may need during this time of transition — and longer — like skin-soothing and nourishing serums with a boost of added moisture for day and night.
- The protection:
Include sun protection in your routine, as long-term sun exposure causes collagen to break down and elastin to degrade. Look for products made with physical sunscreen ingredients, like non-nano zinc oxide, that sit on top of skin, physically blocking UV rays.
Chemical sunscreens use toxic synthetic ingredients (oxybenzone, octinoxate, and others) that have been shown to enter your bloodstream after just one application, linger for days or even weeks, and potentially disrupt your health.
- The overnights:
Get your beauty rest — both your ZZZs and your overnight skin care products are critical for your complexion’s most productive nighttime hours.
- The complements:
Gentle facial massages or exercises to promote circulation can complement other measures.
From the inside: Skin care goes beyond what you put on your skin. A nutritious diet rich in skin-loving nutrients will go a long way toward maintaining your skin health and will contribute to your overall wellness, also.
- Vitamin C and zinc:
Foods like pumpkin seeds, broccoli, spinach, citrus fruits, and oysters are rich in vitamin C and zinc, nutrients that can help increase skin’s self-repair capability.
- Omega 3s:
Salmon, sardines, dark green vegetables like Brussels sprouts and kale, chia and hemp seeds, and walnuts are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which can help reduce inflammation and support heart health.
- Reduced sugar intake:
Sugar can contribute to rigid and brittle collagen and elastin proteins.
- Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate:
Drinking plenty of water will aid in skin’s self-repair. When dehydrated, you risk oxidative stress, which generates free radicals that can result in signs of premature aging.
- Consider a supplement:
Adding a daily collagen supplement into your diet can help improve the appearance and wellbeing of not only your skin, but hair, nails, bones, and joints*, each of which can also use extra support during weight loss.
What to Look for in Safe Elasticity-Boosting Skin Care Products
As you embark on your weight loss journey, surely health is top of mind. In this vein, you want to choose the safest, most effective products made with only non-toxic ingredients for your skin care routine and nutritional needs.
Best Skin Care Ingredients for Elasticity During Weight Loss:
- Plump skin and reduce fine lines and wrinkles:
Hyaluronic acid is a light-weight, non-oily serum perfectly formulated to intensely hydrate dry skin and help restore elasticity.
- Add an extra dose of hydration:
Beauty booster is a rich serum for your complexion with uplifting and anti-aging benefits.
For an all-over lift, use firming body oil. this light, super moisturizing body oil features a special blend of plant extracts that helps firm and tighten skin.
- Protect skin from the sun:
Long-term sun exposure causes collagen to break down and elastin to degrade. Protect skin with a mineral face moisturizer made with non-nanoparticle zinc oxide to help protect against damage caused by the sun’s UV rays as well as blue light emitted from electronic devices. Use mineral body lotion and mineral sunstick on other parts of your body for daily defense.
- Get your beauty sleep:
Enhance your skin’s rejuvenation while you rest with a powerful overnight duo starting with ultra-moisturizing and super soothing refresh night serum. It’s formulated to balance your skin’s microbiome and, with the help of antioxidant-rich ingredients like vitamin E and CoQ10, protect skin from free radicals (evil forces in the environment) and block elastase (an enzyme that breaks down elastin).
Add overnight firming cream, made with collagen- and elastin-friendly ingredients like Mexican arnica flower, melatonin, pomegranate fruit extract, astragalus membranaceus root extract, and ubiquinone, for added skin-tightening and firming action.
- Supplement your diet:
Pure skin collagen peptides is a non-toxic daily collagen supplement that helps replace collagen as your body’s collagen production slows down and delay signs of aging such as wrinkled, crepey, and sagging skin. It’s made with only wild caught hydrolyzed fish collagen, which is broken down in a way that makes it easier for your body to absorb than traditional food sources. (Click here to read more about what to look for in a collagen supplement.)
Ingredients to Avoid During Weight Loss Skin Changes:
- No parabens
- No fragrance
- No dyes
- No silicone
- No sulfates
- No formaldehyde
In short, no toxins, no compromises!
Take Pure Haven on Your Weight Loss Journey
Age, skin elasticity, and rate of weight loss are all factors that contribute to facial volume and fullness. A thinner, less plump appearance results in looser skin and an increase in visible fine lines and wrinkles. But with proper skin care and nutrition, you can support your skin through this transition and minimize unwanted effects.
Augment your skin care regimen safely with 100% safe, effective, non-toxic products you can trust from Pure Haven.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Results may vary.