10 Fastest Ways to Tighten Loose Stomach Skin

Tired of the loose skin around your stomach? Sagging skin hanging off your stomach can be a stubborn problem. But you can tighten your loose stomach skin faster than you think. You’ve come to the right place for the best exercises and most effective ways to tone up the area.

Imagine finally losing the belly flab and seeing tight, smooth skin on your stomach. You don’t have to wait months to get results. Use these exercises and natural remedies to start targeting loose skin ASAP.

Loose skin can be frustrating, whether it’s from weight loss, pregnancy, or just a natural part of aging. Tummy tuck surgery is invasive and expensive, but creams and other promised solutions haven’t worked, making progress even more frustrating.

Here, I’ll show you the fastest and most effective methods to firm up loose and sagging stomach skin. Use these best targeted exercises, foods, and natural remedies (some common household items) to start getting results today.

Can You Really Firm Up Loose Skin?

Loose skin after weight loss happens because the skin becomes too overstretched. Collagen and elastin fibers can become damaged after gaining too much excess fat for too long.¹ Then, with extreme weight loss, you can be left with excess skin that won’t shrink back down.

With pregnancy, your skin can stretch significantly for the growing baby. This stretching can also damage the collagen and elastin fibers. Even though they may only be stretched for a relatively short period, they can still weaken and break apart.

Collagen and elastin production also decreases with age.² So depending on your age and genetics, your collagen levels could already be low, making it much more difficult for your skin to tighten back up.

But you can quickly restore and rebuild collagen levels in your skin. You can also “fill out” the loose skin by building muscle to tone the sagging skin. Oh, and there are also science-backed skin tightening treatments and creams you can use to get fast results.

How to Tone Loose Belly Skin at Home

The below skin tightening treatments are natural ways to get rid of excess skin without having to undergo expensive surgery or other invasive procedures. All of the skin tightening methods below will improve the appearance of sagging skin naturally, but your results will depend on three factors:

Your age, amount of weight lost, and the time being overweight.

This order is what will determine how quickly and easily the skin tightening is. Generally, the younger you are is very important, then the less weight you lose, and finally how long you are overweight.

Combining diet, exercise, lifestyle, and natural topic treatments can help tone excess loose belly skin at home. The more excess loose skin you have then the more you should do a combination of the below skin tightening treatments to get results.

The key will be to improve your skin elasticity and integrity, “fill out” loose skin with muscle, and recycle the excess skin so it re-tightens.

These are the 10 best and fastest ways to tighten belly skin:

Lose Weight Slowly

Your skin needs time to adjust as you lose weight. Rapid weight loss can result in more excess skin because it didn’t get the time it needed to snap back into place. This is why losing weight more slowly can reduce and prevent the amount of loose skin afterward.

Rapid weight loss results in fat loss as well as muscle loss.³ Many people lose a lot of muscle when they lose weight. Muscle is like the underlying support structure for your skin, and without it, your skin will look looser and saggy.

It’ll be hard to supply your skin with the nutrients and hydration it needs during significant rapid weight loss. Usually, this is from severely restricting calories for a long period of time.

But if you lose weight more slowly, it’ll be easier to keep up with your skin’s nutrient needs to keep it from becoming damaged.

So, if you’re still losing weight, then the best thing you can do to prevent more loose skin is to slow down. Focus on the below methods as you continue to lose weight. Slowing your rate of weight loss will allow your skin the time it needs to tighten back up.

Targeted Strength Exercises

Start doing more targeted strength training exercises for your stomach area. Strength training will help to build muscle to “fill out” the loose skin. And muscle has an aesthetic benefit by giving your body shape and preventing skin from looking “deflated.”

This muscle will also help to replace the fat that was lost during the rapid weight loss. The fat that once filled out the skin will now be replaced by muscle. This provides new structural support and volume under your skin that’ll make it look tighter and more toned.

Strength training also increases the release of HGH (human growth hormone).⁴ This boosts collagen production in the skin and connective tissues.⁵ Blood circulation is also increased with strength training in the stomach area as it delivers oxygen and nutrients to the skin, promoting skin regeneration.⁶

Here are 5 of the best exercises to tighten loose skin on the stomach:

Scissor Kicks

Leg Raises

Hollow Body Holds

Flutter Kicks

Bicycle & Rotates

Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting can help tighten skin through a process called autophagy.⁷ Autophagy is your body’s natural way of cleaning out old, weak, damaged cells and regenerating new ones.

With intermittent fasting, you’ll go through periods without food, triggering autophagy and causing your body to then “recycle” weak and damaged cells. This cell recycling will also happen in your skin cells.⁸

This process regenerates healthier skin cells, enhances collagen production, and reduces loose skin. This is how intermittent fasting gets rid of loose skin.

Water fasting for multiple days will put you into a deep state of autophagy.⁹ A 3-day water fast can be very difficult if you’re just beginning, so it’s best to work your way up to longer fasts. Start with 12-18 hour fasts per day before trying a longer water fast.

During your fasting period, try taking MCTs (medium-chain triglycerides). These MCTS are quickly absorbed and converted into ketones, your body’s alternative fuel source.¹⁰ Ketosis has been shown to activate autophagy.¹¹

So by taking MCTs during your fast, you’ll be able to better kickstart ketosis and boost autophagy. Take them with coffee while fasting since it also promotes autophagy by activating the AMPK pathway and lowering insulin levels.¹²

Healthy Diet

Your skin will be made up of the nutrients you’ve eaten in the past few months. You’ll want to eat a collagen-rich, non-inflammatory, nutrient-rich diet since skin cells are replaced every 2-4 months.¹³

You want your skin cells to be made of nutrient-rich from the highest quality foods you can put in your body. This helps the skin get rid of the loose saggy skin by repairing and rebuilding itself from the ground up.

Your skin is made of what you eat. If you want your skin to improve, then you’ll have to feed your body better quality foods. This is why just cutting calories is rarely enough. Your belly skin needs quality nutrients to rebuild itself.

Some foods that boost collagen production to include in your diet:

• Bone broth
• Eggs
• Lean meats (beef, chicken, turkey)
• Citrus fruits (oranges, lemons, grapefruits)
• Berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries)
• Vitamin C-rich veggies: Bell peppers, broccoli, kale
• Shellfish
• Nuts and seeds
• Leafy greens
• Zinc-rich foods: pumpkin seeds, chickpeas, lamb
• Antioxidant-rich foods: green tea, chocolate, berries
• Avocados
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Omega-3 rich fish: salmon, mackerel

For a complete list of the best foods, check out my Food List Cheat Sheet below:

CLICK HERE: Get the Food List Cheat Sheet ➔

Collagen

Imagine your skin is like a rubber band. When you stretch it, it can bounce back to its original shape. But if the rubber band gets old or worn out, it becomes loose and doesn’t snap back as well.

This is similar to what happens to your stomach skin when it stretches too much over time. Then your stomach skin will become like this worn-out rubber band depending on your age, how long it was stretched, and how much weight was lost.

Increasing your collagen levels will be an absolute necessity for skin tightening the stomach. Collagen is a special protein in your body that helps hold your skin, hair, and nails together. Dermatologists like to call it “the super glue for your body.”

Multiple studies have found that supplementing with collagen peptides can quickly replenish lost collagen in the skin and help improve skin elasticity (ability to snap back).¹⁴ Collagen peptides are tiny, broken-down pieces of collagen that your body can absorb easily when you drink them.

When you take collagen peptides, your body uses them to build new collagen in your skin. This helps with skin tightening by repairing the old and damaged collagen with new, healthy collagen fibers.

Collagen also helps your skin stay hydrated and healthy by holding water better.¹⁵ This gives your skin a smoother appearance.

You can add collagen powder to drinks like smoothies, coffee, protein shakes, etc. But don’t take collagen while fasting since it will break a fast since it’s a protein.

Try taking 10-30g of collagen peptides daily. If you’re taking more than 30g, try spreading it out in multiple servings throughout the day.

Dry Brushing

Dry brushing is a way to “wake up” your skin by gently rubbing a soft, natural brush against it. This skin tightening technique gets blood flowing to the surface. Blood carries oxygen and nutrients that are great for skin health.

More blood flow helps your skin repair and rebuild itself, making it look tighter and firmer.

Loose skin has less blood flow compared to firm, healthy skin. Due to the saggyness, blood vessels may not reach the surface of the skin, making it harder for them to circulate properly.

Lymphatic drainage is your body’s natural method of getting rid of waste from your skin and body. Under your skin are lymph vessels that help your body get rid of these toxins. Dry brushing supports lymphatic drainage, helping to make your skin look smoother and firmer.

Use a natural bristle brush that’s soft but firm. Use gentle pressure using circular motions on your stomach area and cover the skin thoroughly. It kinda feels like a light scratch, but it shouldn’t hurt.

Aim to dry brush 2-3 times per week for best results. I prefer dry brushing before a shower and then moisturizing your stomach skin after.

Red Light Therapy

Red light therapy (photobiomodulation) uses specific wavelengths of red light (safe and pain-free) that shine on your skin. These red lights go deep into your cells, reaching the mitochondria (powerhouses of the cell) and helping them work better while not damaging the skin.¹⁶

Red light therapy gives energy to your skin cells to stimulate collagen production. The red lights essentially tell your skin to get rid of the old, tired skin cells and replace them with new healthy ones.¹⁷

Red light calms inflammation in your skin, allowing it to heal faster. It also increases blood flow and circulation, delivering more oxygen and nutrients to your skin. This repairs damaged skin tissue helping to tighten loose skin.¹⁸

It’s one of the newer natural and non-surgical skin tightening treatments that can be done at home. You can get a red light lamp or belt on Amazon and use it right in the comfort of your home.

Cold Water Therapy

Cold water therapy is like giving your stomach skin a “wake-up call,” helping it become firmer and tighter. You can use cold water to boost circulation, increase collagen production, and reduce inflammation in the stomach area.^19,20

The blood vessels in your skin with temporarily tighten when exposed to cold water. When you warm up again, your blood vessels expand, and then send a surge of oxygen and nutrient-rich blood to your stomach skin.

This increases circulation while repairing damaged tissues and boosting collagen production. Cold water also reduces inflammation, a crucial part of the repairing process for skin tightening.

Cold water tightens the outer layer of skin by temporarily shrinking the size of pores. This improves skin texture and helps it look tighter.

How to use cold water therapy for skin tightening:

• Cold Showers: Start by finishing your regular shower with 30 seconds of cold water. Gradually increase to 1-3 minutes over time
• Ice Baths: Sit in an ice bath for 5-10 minutes. This can be more intense, so only do it if you can tolerate it and are in good health.
• Cryotherapy: You can expose your body for 2-3 minutes in a specialized cryotherapy chamber. It’s a quick way to trigger circulation and kickstart collagen production
• Ice Packs: Can place an ice pack on your stomach area for 10-20 minutes to improve circulation and tighten skin.

Compression Clothing

Many with loose skin are starting to wear compression clothes to improve their appearance. The compression will hold your skin in and give your stomach area a slimmer, more toned look.

Many also believe that compression clothing can hold the loose stomach skin in the right place to help it remodel correctly. Gravity will cause the loose skin to hang, and this, in theory, could cause it to rebuild as hanging, too.

Compression clothing can hold the loose stomach skin in place, take its own weight stress off it, and allow it to heal and remodel better. But keep in mind this isn’t proven yet. At the very least, it can improve one’s appearance by holding the loose stomach skin in and help build body confidence.

5 More Ways to Tighten Stomach Skin

• Reduce Alcohol Intake: Cutting back on alcohol helps keep your skin hydrated and healthy because alcohol dries it out and breaks down collagen.²¹
• Improve Sleep Quality: Getting 7-9 hours of good sleep helps tighten your skin because your body makes more collagen, lowers stress, and repairs itself while you rest.
• Not Smoking: Smoking damages collagen and elastin in the skin.²³
• Less Sun Exposure: While some sun exposure is good… too much can cause UV rays to break down collagen and elastin in your skin.²⁴ Stay out of direct sunlight during the sun’s peak hours of the day in warmer months (or use a mineral-based sunscreen).
• Reduce Stress: Excess chronic stress can cause too much cortisol (the stress hormone) to be released, further causing collagen to break down.²⁵