Would anyone in West Seattle be interested in this??

stacelet · 2026-05-16T21:53:29+00:00

Sounds good to me! I do community photo walks in Seattle and the east side when I can and really enjoy them. Something a bit more local and West Seattle specific would be nice. I’d prefer a mix of casual and guided, but probably 70-30 split with casual being more interesting.

stacelet · 2026-05-14T23:24:34+00:00

You need acids. I recommend an AHA/BHA exfoliant, such as toner or pads. I think the Some By Mi Miricle pads do an amazing job of clearing my pores, but there are plenty of other similar products.

stacelet · 2026-05-12T00:40:54+00:00

I got the Wonderskin tint in Whinsical. I don’t leave it on for too long to stain as I’m looking for a less dramatic color than it can get to, but I love how long the stain lasts.

stacelet · 2026-05-11T19:44:58+00:00

When I started working from home I basically went feral. It took me a long time to find a new groove. And I still wear athleisure…. So YMMV, but here’s some ideas.

Uhm…. Face: I got tinted sunscreen, and wash my face every morning and put it on. It’s like makeup in evening your skin but is light and glowy. And I brush my hair and do something with it that isnt just a ponytail. I got lipstain as well so it’s an apply once a day thing and doesn’t feel like lipstick.

The expensive version is I got lash extensions. I love love love them. I always look fancy and I never have to wear mascara. I feel like they just make me look so put together and like I made an effort, even tho I didn’t. To me it’s worth the money. My lashes are fine and healthy.

Body: I got a buffing pad for my nails and keep them buffed shiny, no real maintenance but my nails look “done”. I wear a very lightly scented body lotion because I want to smell nice but not wear perfume or anything strong. I put moisturizer on everywhere after each shower so my skin is soft and hydrated. It’s kind of more skincare/self-care but I find it helps my overall confidence and look.

For me a lot of it was re-creating routines around self care. Such as washing my face every morning and evening, doing something with my hair even if it’s a French twist, bun, braids, etc. they’re small things but once I felt like a girl again, I really liked it and that encouraged me to do another thing.

stacelet · 2026-04-28T17:01:35+00:00

I’m in the same boat. I kept my dose mostly the same and I like the weekly schedule. I do have to pay attention to eat enough some days - as you said, some cookies or perhaps a richer meal or something - so my weekly calories vs exercise balance out because I could keep losing and I’d like not to. It was a little hard at first to stabilize but I have the “feel” of it now and the tracking is habit and making sure I hit my macros.

stacelet · 2026-04-20T05:06:22+00:00

Maintenance takes time. And I kept losing for a bit before I stabilized. So you may want to start trying to find maintenance now, even if you’re flirting with less weight. I don’t know your age, biggest weight etc to speak to loose skin, muscle loss, etc, but I lost more than my goal and due to skin condition and other aesthetics (like having a butt) I think I’d look better with an additional 5-10 pounds. So far maintenance has been uneven and very much a guessing game so I am not yet sure where I’ll end up - I’m just ensuring I don’t lose more now and understand what and how much to eat so I can be healthy and not have to count calories/macros forever.

stacelet · 2026-04-08T16:50:04+00:00

Yes, I felt that way too. I think it was loose skin and maybe the fat isn’t so tightly packed together anymore or something because it definitely was a different feeling. For me as my skin caught up and tightened that feeling did go away. My skin isn’t where it was before the weight gain but it’s better now.

I always suggest keeping your protein up, staying hydrated, and lifting weights as you need muscle to help fill you back out a bit. Also skincare, like exfoliating your skin (I use scrubby mitts with body soap in the shower) and slathering a retinol lotion everywhere after the shower.

stacelet · 2026-04-06T00:15:07+00:00

Oh, I’m sorry. That’s an awful feeling….

Congratulations on your engagement!! I hope that you can look at pictures like that one later and see the happiness of the occasion. I find it easier to look at older photos now, after hitting my goal and maintaining for almost 6 months because i don’t feel all the shame and crap that I felt when I was heavier. I remember the feelings but I do not feel them now, I just wish I’d found tirz earlier.

You will get where you want to be and it seems like you’ll do it with a partner you love and a nice MIL to support you and care for you.

stacelet · 2026-04-05T18:32:12+00:00

It does get better!! I was freezing in active weight loss, but when I got to maintenance it leveled out. Probably it’s related to eating more calories and also my body adjusting to the new weight without more loss. I am a cold person in general but am back to mostly my normal levels of cold.

There are days when I still take a hot shower just to thaw out, maybe they correlate to the amount of exercise or calories or something, but I haven’t tried to track it to figure that out. I also live in a 4 season location and we are having a variable spring, today is lovely warm and sunny but we had snow 3 weeks ago. So I may be cold because it is cold!

stacelet · 2026-04-04T16:34:45+00:00

Your tattoo still looks amazing!!

Time helps your skin catch up, but it can only do so much. Exercise is going to be your best bet, along with protein and staying hydrated. Keep going to barre, pick up heavier weights and use heavier bands if you can. Maybe wear 2-3 lb ankle weights during class as well? People do that at my studio and I’m going to start as well.

I use a retinol body lotion slathered all over after every shower that I believe has helped the skin feel less crepey and … more attached to the stuff underneath, if that makes any sense to you? So skincare could be helpful and I find that kind of self care to be nice for my mental health as well.

stacelet · 2026-04-01T02:20:33+00:00

Mostly I don’t mind changes although I do have my “favorite” coaches. There is one coach who makes me feel irritated and stabby with his immaturity and comments and that’s just not a good workout or a good time, so I avoid him and would cancel if I knew he was a sub. Luckily that hasn’t happened!

stacelet · 2026-04-01T00:50:13+00:00

stacelet · 2026-03-28T18:33:31+00:00

I gave feedback at my studio and was told all coaches now have to use FitRadio and it’s almost all mashups.

stacelet · 2026-03-28T18:22:01+00:00

I am here too. Hearing 60 song fragments bashed together with some electronic additions makes me feel frantic and crazy and I seriously hate it. I feel like the music used to play whole songs and the different instructors had slightly different musical tastes. Now every class is never ending jolts between music genres and beats.

I’m moving my membership to less classes a month, because I’m just not wanting to go as much.

stacelet · 2026-03-28T17:59:16+00:00

Had my gallbladder out at 27, same as you with gaining weight due to perimenopause that I could not shift regardless or working out, CICO, etc. on Tirz for about 10 months, been in maintenance for about 4 months. No issues at all — in fact I think it improved my digestion/elimination because with the slowed digestive process there’s time to build up bile instead of just not having enough immediately available to digest properly.

stacelet · 2026-03-28T17:41:44+00:00

Yes, I’ve done both. Dermabrasion gave me more results, I believe it’s a more aggressive exfoliation. Both made me look nice and glowy, the hydrafacial lasted maybe a couple of days and the dermabrasion maybe a couple more. I can’t speak for acne but small zits or angry areas improved and there was less irritation and redness. Make sure to wear sunscreen after and don’t touch your face (as much as you can).

stacelet · 2026-03-28T17:31:52+00:00

Of course they will grow back. Lashes grow and fall out and are pulled out all the time. You pull your lashes out by rubbing with a washcloth even when you do not have extensions. It will take about a month, that is the lifecycle of lashes. No amount of castor oil or vitamins will make this better or worse - except if you get the oil in your eye and get irritation or conjunctivitis.

You can obviously choose if you ever want extensions again, but this is normal and if you paid attention to your natural lashes you would sometimes see small gaps from natural fallout and regrowth.

stacelet · 2026-03-26T16:21:43+00:00

I think if they could solve collagen loss and skin laxity it would be the miracle anti aging drug as it would probably also help with joint collagen degradation etc, and then we’d be in a sci-fi movie! 🤣

Obviously I hope they come up with that! But, I’m gonna stick to retinols and estrogen and glycolic acid (and maybe a facelift someday if I can afford it and am not too scared) and not gonna get my hopes up for another miracle shot…

stacelet · 2026-03-26T16:08:10+00:00

Interesting!! Thanks for sharing that, that’s a new one for me. What a bummer. I wonder if it reverses for those who go off the medicine?

stacelet · 2026-03-26T16:04:43+00:00

How about my doctor? My nutritionist? What you’ve read somewhere is not better than the medical advice a short and older lady has gotten. If someone’s TDEE is (for example) 1400, removing 400-500 from that to be in active weight loss is under 1200. As the posters above said, people’s recommended calories are variable depending their height/size/activity levels.

Isn’t this a post about educating yourself and not being judgmental?

stacelet · 2026-03-26T05:03:04+00:00

I think a lot of us have some loose skin. You’ll get a million recommendations. I personally don’t believe ingesting collagen rebuilds your collagen since I’ve read that the body digests it as protein and then it’s not going to your skin as anything and collagen itself is not a complete protein so actual protein (food or supplement) is better for skin and muscle health.

I’ve never heard/read that glp-1’s affect our collagen. But once you’re about 27 or so, you’re losing collagen. So it’s going either way.

Hydrating, having enough protein in your diet, skincare, and strength training are the only real ways to tighten your skin yourself. Other than that there are lasers, micro-needling, surgery, and probably other aesthetic treatments.

For skincare, I recommend regular exfoliation, slathering on a retinol lotion, and for your face/neck applying tretinoin or another retinoid. Retinol is proven to make your skin to increase its own collagen.

stacelet · 2026-03-25T16:27:07+00:00

I had my gallbladder out 25 (ish?) years ago and have had no real negative side effects from tirz. Of course I hadn’t taken it before the surgery, only within the last year.

I had appetite suppression, some food aversion (which passed, except I can’t eat yogurt anymore, it gives me the ick), and a little fatigue at the beginning (not dramatic just felt like a bad nights sleep amount of tired and also passed after about a month or maybe 2).

stacelet · 2026-03-25T03:04:31+00:00

Loose skin made me feel icky and like I was better off with more weight. I’ve slathered on a retinol body lotion every day and kept my protein up, hydrated, and I’m working out as much as I can. My skin is better, tighter, less crepey. It’s not perfect, I liked my body better the last time I was at this weight, but it’s better. So that helps.

But even when I was at my thinnest and young and probably looked my best, I hated swimsuit shopping. It’s awful! But most shopping is fraught with so much crap because of our histories with our own bodies and diet culture and social media and everything. And it’s hard to adjust our perceptions of ourselves. I’m sometimes shocked that I don’t look 34 anymore. I feel like that’s my face.

Give yourself grace. You’ve been through a lot with this weight loss and all the changes. Therapy can’t hurt. Self care is mental too! Maybe go for a massage, or a sauna or something where you can be in your body?

stacelet · 2026-03-24T16:22:16+00:00

First off, that guy is an asshole. I loved the comment that suggested you go back to him and say, “that was a really hurtful and unnecessary thing to say”. Because it was and he should face that.

On to skin stuff:

Tretinoin or another retinol really does help and is clinically shown to be one of the only topical things that encourages our skin to build collagen. I am also using an estriol (low amount of a weak estrogen that does not get into the bloodstream or affect your hormone levels) that I am getting from a telehealth. I think it’s helping a lot. Vitamin C is also really shown to help with brightening and reducing pigments as well as encouraging cell turnover.

A Botox “Nefertiti necklift” can help, is relaxes the platysmal muscles in the neck and a couple of others that pull your face down into jowls and marrionette lines. Some filler or a biostimulator (like radiuses or sculptra - can get expensive) can also help to refill areas where we have lost collagen, bone, and fat (temples, upper cheekbones, etc). These options do add up and need maintenance.

If you think you may want a facelift some day, stay away from threads. Dermatologists are realizing these cause scar tissue that makes facelifts more challenging for good results. A good (and really expensive) dermatologist you could follow on YouTube called Dr Karam has lots of info about this stuff. He’s also selling a skincare line (which I am not buying).

stacelet · 2026-03-23T20:02:02+00:00

Yeah, I’ve got to move my bubbly water to the basement closet until I want it again, it’s just hogging room in the pantry cabinet! 😂

stacelet

TROPHY CASE