How to tell the difference between FAT and LOOSE skin

Do you know how to tell the difference between fat and loose skin?

Introduction

When it comes to fat and loose skin, it’s hard to spot the difference.

Looking in the mirror, they can appear the same. But if you’ve been working hard to lose weight, are you looking at more fat to lose or loose skin that sags?

If you know how to tell the difference between fat and loose skin, you’ll be able to face the situation and get your body looking the way you want it to look.

Fortunately, that’s easy enough to do, though first, you should learn about fat, loose skin, and the similarities and differences between them.

About Loose Skin

Your skin is an incredible part of your body as it can stretch or shrink to accommodate your needs.

As such, if you lose weight, especially in a quick way, you may see loose skin.

Those that bounce back and forth from slim to overweight can make the problem with loose skin far worse.

This is why it’s so important to lose weight in a gradual and safe way so that your skin can adjust to your weight loss.

Women that undergo pregnancy often complain about loose skin after giving birth as well. However, anyone who diets and exercises may find themselves with an abundance of excess skin sagging all around.

Often, it happens in the midsection, though you can have loose skin on your legs or under your arms.

If you want to avoid loose skin, you should lose weight slowly.

When skin is too loose after major weight loss, it requires surgery to fix it.

About Fat

If you want to know how to tell the difference between fat and loose skin, you also need to understand fat itself.

This is excess subcutaneous body fat, and while it looks like loose skin since it is soft and loose itself, it is quite different.

This fat is found under your skin everywhere on the body.

Fat can be burned off by doing cardiovascular exercises like running, swimming, cycling, and other high-intensity workouts.

While loose skin and fat are both unsightly, having excess fat is terrible for your health, leading to a higher risk of heart troubles.

Likely, fat is the reason that prompted you to make some changes to your body. However, looking in the mirror, it may be difficult to see if you’re still looking at more fat you may need to lose, or if your skin is now sagging due to weight loss.

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How You Can Tell the Difference Between Fat and Loose Skin

First, when you want to know how to tell the difference between fat and loose skin, you need to know what they share in common.

Both of them can look exactly the same. Additionally, they both create a look that no one wants.

Fat and loose skin can equally drain your confidence and make you feel unhappy with the way you look.

But to start looking the way you want, you need to find out the difference between fat and loose skin because they need to be treated differently.

The biggest difference is that loose skin is what is left after a pregnancy or a major weight loss, while fat is the excess of subcutaneous fat lurking under the skin all over your body.

For a visual, though, loose skin is easy to pinch and pull away from your body.

Fat can’t be grabbed with ease, though it can be reduced by doing cardiovascular exercises, while loose skin will still remain no matter how much exercise you do.

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See if You Have Fat or Loose Skin

Now here’s how to tell the difference between fat and loose skin…you only need to do one simple thing to see which problem you have.

You’ll need to pinch your skin, though you’ll want to try it on the outer portion of your wrist or the back of your hand.

As you pinch your skin, you should feel there’s not much to this skin between your fingers.

This will be the same if you pinch your skin anywhere on your body.

On the midsection, grab a pinch, and you will see that your fingers don’t come close together like they did when you pinched the skin at your wrist.

That padding you feel there is that fatty layer underneath your skin.

Fat isn’t always a curse, for even the fittest people like athletes and models will have this.

It’s stored energy that helps you stay healthy, but when you have too much of it, it becomes a major risk to your health.

Pinching your skin doesn’t give you the full picture of your health though.

You should delve more into your findings to see what needs to be done. Fat can’t be slimmed off of one body part since you lose it all over.

The same is true for weight gain since fat will deposit where it deposits. This is all out of your control, the result of your own genes, hormones, and body type.

While excess abdominal fat is linked to bigger health risks, having this fat all over is dangerous. You’ll want to get the bigger picture when it comes to fat to see what other changes you need to make with your health.

Loose skin certainly doesn’t look good, but if that’s the problem you’re facing, you’ll need to consult a doctor about having it tightened back up.

The key here, though, is that you should make sure you’re done with your weight loss journey, or else you’ll wind up with more sagging, loose skin.

Keep an eye on your BMI and visit your doctor for a true assessment.

Now that you know how to tell the difference between fat and loose skin, you can take care of yourself and get your body looking in a way that brings your confidence back again.

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