The question is, "Is it really loose skin or is it an issue of excess subcutaneous fat underneath the skin?" The answer lies in your body fat percentage.
The Body Fat Difference
The way to tell the difference is though body fat testing. Until your body fat percentage measures around 10% for males and 18% for females, most likely you still have fat to lose under the skin. Once the subcutaneous fat is gone, your skin may shrink back to its normal size.
So what if you have your body fat percentage down and you still have loose skin - what next?
Well, there are some supplements you can take and topical ointments to apply to your skin to help improve its elasticity. If much of your weight loss was muscle mass, then building back muscle will help tighten up some of your loose skin and give you a tighter, healthier look.
You May Consider A "Body Sculpting" Procedure
More drastic measures involves getting rid of excess skin through cosmetic surgery called body sculpting. As an example, one of the more common procedures is called circumferential body lift which involves a making an incision across the back, and around the flanks and abdomen, removing the excess skin and suturing the incisions back together. The surgery alone can account for a 10 to 15 pound weight loss just from excess skin removal.
Losing a lot of weight is only half the battle. Having a lot of excess skin not only takes its toll physiologically from the pain chafing can cause, but psychologically too. To be whole again, you want to feel like you are thin when looking in the mirror, not a thinner person inside a fat person's skin.
Surgical body sculpting plays a part in restoring that healthy self-image, plus it is said that people having excess skin removed, gain back less weight than those who don't.
If you've lost a lot of weight and have excess skin, you now have a couple of options to consider. Speak to your doctor who can best advise you. And bear in mind that many insurance companies now cover excess skin removal surgery. So, it's worth checking with your insurance provider to see what types are covered.