Loose skin: A frank discussion....

Let's tackle the elephant in the room. This isn't an easy issue to talk about, but it's there and it's real:

So with large amounts of weight loss comes loose skin. Think of it this way:
If you put a brick in a garbage bag for 5 minutes and suspend the bag so the bag is hanging, the brick will cause the bag to sag. Take the brick out and the bag will mostly go back to its original shape and not be saggy.
Take that same bag and same brick and leave it in there for a long period of time then take the brick out, the bag will remain saggy.
The same is true with skin. You lift weights when losing weight to help alleviate that, but there will always be loose skin.

I have loose skin. I do. My arms don't have loose hanging skin because I lift a lot of weights. The same is true with my chest. I don't have droopy man-boobs because I've been lifting.
However, even due to countless crunches and back extension exercises, my stomach and my back have loose skin. I put a lot of weight on around the midsection, so it got loose when I lost the weight. The only thing you can do about that is have surgery.
One of the guys that works out at Mercy Wellness Center had gastric bypass and lost a ton of weight. He doesn't do much lifting. He recently had his tummy tuck surgery scheduled at Des Moines Plastic Surgery (I think it was there). I haven't talked to him since as I don't make it over there to work out these days as I go to Anytime Fitness in Urbandale. We talked about it a bit before he had the surgery. It was going to cost him $7,000 as insurance doesn't cover it in most cases. And that $7,000 has to be up front. I hope at some point to have a tummy tuck to get rid of the skin around my stomach and back. It's not terrible, but it's there.

I have abs under this skin and want to see them!
I'll have to follow up with Mike at some point and see how his surgery went!

Still working out 5 days a week....

I'm still working out 5 days a week at Anytime Fitness in Urbandale. I love it there. GREAT machines! Satellite TV to workout to.
I've been tanning, too. The girl I'm seeing didn't tell me that you need to start out slow when tanning; 5 minute sessions to start then build up. The first couple times I went I did 20 minute sessions and got burnt! It didn't hurt like a regular sunburn, but it did itch! I've now cut back to 10 minute sessions.

I REALLY notice a huge difference in my muscle mass. My arms are much more muscular than a year ago. My legs, too. I've noticed my flexibility is way better as well.

Lately I've been doing 30 minutes of cardio and 30 of weights. Some days I'll do cardio then just upper body and crunches then the next day I'll do cardio then just lower body and crunches. Some days I'll do all 3. Since tomorrow is my day off, I'll probably do all 3.

I'm now doing 310 pounds on the leg press and could probably do a bit more yet. Not much more and I'll be maxed out on the machine and will need to go to squats on the free weights.

I feel great!

Upcoming possible speaking engagement....

So Sonya Heitshusen emailed me today and said that Guide One Insurance wants me to speak to their employees sometime after the new year!
They're apparently going to be doing a 'Biggest Loser'-type thing and want me to kick it off by speaking to their employees about my weight loss successes. That'll be exciting. This will be the first group that I've spoken to where the people want to lose weight thru diet and exercise! I think they'll really enjoy my speech!
I told Sonya she could have them contact me. I can't wait to talk to them about it!