While losing weight is a great way to improve your health, one consequence of shedding a significant number of pounds is saggy breasts. Since breasts are composed of mostly fat and have very little muscle tissue, it's not surprising they would become misshapen and resemble deflated balloons at the end of a weight-loss journey. While a breast lift or other service from cosmetic surgeons is the best option for returning breasts to a more youthful state, here are two things you can do to minimize sagging while losing weight.

Build Up the Pectoral Muscles

While the breasts themselves do not contain muscle tissue, they are supported by the pectorals, a layer of muscle that sits at the base of the breasts. One way to help give breasts a natural lift is to strengthen and build these muscles by doing a variety of chest exercises, such as pushups, chest presses with dumbbells, and fly crossovers using a cable machine.

Building up the pectoral muscles will give breasts a natural lift over time. Since muscles burn more calories than fat, this will also help you lose weight faster. However, it's important to maintain realistic expectations. Your breasts will not get bigger (at least not by a noticeable amount), and there may still be some sagging due to skin issues. However, exercising your pectorals can contribute to a healthier-looking bustline.

Improve Skin Elasticity

When you gain weight, the skin stretches to accommodate the extra fat. If you have poor skin elasticity, your breasts (and the other skin on your body) will have a difficult time "snapping back" to their prior firmness, resulting in sagging. Another thing you can do to help minimize this problem is by protecting and improving the elasticity in your skin.

Start by keeping your skin moist by drinking lots of water and moisturizing on a daily basis. Eat lots of foods with vitamin C, which is necessary for the production of collagen and elastin, two things that help keep skin supple. You'll also want to get plenty of vitamin D, which helps produce new skin cells, and vitamin E, which helps minimize damage from the environment.

You'll also want to incorporate plenty of healthy fats in your diet, namely those that provide omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Fat is necessary for healthy skin, and not getting enough can contribute to dull, dry skin that stretches more easily.

There are many other things you can do to minimize breast sagging. If you've done all you can and your breasts still don't look like you want them to, contact a local cosmetic surgeon about doing a breast lift to restore beauty and functionality to your chest.

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