NotnNPC's Journal, 17 May 19

I read your bio... You can do it! Find whatever it is that motivates you and from time to time re-read your own bio, it will help remind you of what you are striving for! The day I found my right motivation was the day the excuses and food didn't control me. It's ok to be angry with yourself that you let things slide... but also be proud of yourself to acknowledge that you let it happen and you want change. Be patient, it's a long term process and it won't happen overnight, but if you challenge yourself everyday and you make smart choices and dig deep from time to time to fight off cravings, you will succeed!  

Hi heavychef, thanks for your comments. It's one of the reasons I signed up. The encouragement will help. I am on board with what you said above: Having let things slide doesn't have to mean staying down. I was amazed by your progress and that's why I decided to follow you. I also wondered how you managed to keep the skin on your stomach in such good shape. When I lost a lot of weight the first time, my stomach skin hung down like a pancake. My guess is it has to do with slow weight loss, patience and the types of exercises you do. Anyway, thanks for your comments! Hope to hear from you again. 

Hey NotnNPC... Stomach issues... I have to say that even at my heaviest weight my stomach was always pretty firm. Lots of weight training helped so when I lost weight my stomach skin wasn't as stretched as I've seen bigger (fatter) guys who weighed less than me. Also my weight went on pretty gradual and came off that way too ( at least as gradual as can be over 17 months). One thing I've always done was to use moisturizing cream everyday on any loose skin, not sure if it helped but I can say it didn't hurt! I do have a far bit of loose skin though but it hangs more below my belly button. Any other advice you want, just ask! I've learned a lot the last 17 months and have tried keto, just caloric deficit monitoring and now I'm focused on macros more than anything while keeping a caloric deficit, it's the way to go! Keto was great while I was recovering from an injury and really couldn't do any cardio. Now that I've been healed for a while now and took a serious look at my macros it made all the difference in weight loss while I'm lifting weights and putting on mass as well. Let me know if you want to know more about my diet and training routine. You don't have to be a gym nut to add lean muscle and you don't need to run a marathon to get in cardio. You do however have to sweat!  

Hi heavychef, I will give moisturizing a try. It can't hurt and it's been suggested before. Also, I bet the weight training helped you. The exercise I do on a regular basis is running. It probably doesn't do much to tone the stomach. I also believe I lost the weight too fast the first time around. But getting the weight off isn't bad, it's good! ha ha. I'd rather have the extra skin than the extra weight. I had more energy at 170 lbs than I do at 220 lbs. Speaking of which, the first few pounds are coming off fast and I'm getting back into running faster than I thought. If I keep the weight off, I'm going to go with patience: Perhaps some of that skin will stretch back into place...