To avoid loose skin from weight loss the best thing you can do is lose weight slowly and efficiently. Healthy weight loss is around 1lb to 2lbs per week. Your body always seeks balance and does not respond well to rapid weight gain or loss. Hence the stretching of your skin. It takes around two years for your stretched skin to return to "normal" so be patient. Losing weight fast is a goal most people have and you hear stories of people losing 10 lbs a week and believe that is the way to go. Considering your age it's best to take things slow. Besides not losing weight too rapidly, here are three other tips for keeping skin tight.

Switch to a high raw food diet. Raw food diets are often referred to as "Facelift Diets". People who eat a majority of their food raw (60% plus) look younger than most because of the high antioxidant and phytochemical count in raw plant foods. I have seen hundreds of raw foodists lose weight and cellulite at the same time. Raw food helps the body stay hydrated, refreshed, and repairing rapidly. Fruits are my favorite skin food. Avocados, coconut, bananas, peaches, tropical fruit, grapefruit, berries, etc are all potent skin renewing and correcting foods.

Hydration is the key to elastic skin. A simple test to see if you are hydrated is to pinch the skin on the top of your hand for two seconds and then releasing. If the skin snaps back you are hydrated. If it slowly pulls back to position you need to hydrate. The best way to hydrate is to drink two glasses of room temperature water as soon as you wake up. As maintenance drink 8 ounces of water every two hours. Remove or lessen the amount of dehydrating foodstuffs like coffee, tea that is not herbal, table salt, animal products, artificial sugars.

Take care of your skin now by exfoliating daily, doing salt scrubs, using non toxic and natural beauty products. A rule of thumb is "if you wouldn't put it in your mouth don't put it on your skin". Your skin has a direct pathway to your blood stream so be careful what you put on it. I use coconut oil on my skin daily as a moisturizer and that is it. My skin has never been better.