For a lot of people, the thrill of losing massive amounts of weight is mixed with redemption, joy, and, unfortunately, some disappointment. Rapid weight loss doesn’t give the skin much time to shrink back to its usual tautness, so loose skin remains. But for John Glaude, the loose skin that resulted from his 160-pound weight loss over the course of seven months isn’t something to run from.

Glaude sometimes hides his excess belly skin under his waistband and wears pants over shorts, but he knows the skin is a sign of accomplishment. In a recent vlog post, he encouraged people to adopt the same mentality. “I want people watching this video to understand that you should never let loose skin or anything else stop you from going for your dreams,” he said. “And my dreams are to be very happy in my skin.”

In the post, Glaude takes off his shirt on-camera for the first time. Generally, he says, he tries to minimize the amount of exposure his excess skin gets, because he knows it’s less than ideal. As part of his transformation, he wanted to break that mindset, both for himself and for the people watching who may be on a similar journey.

“Loose skin and all, I’m happy with where I’ve come from and where I am at now,” he said. “This is who I am, and I’m proud of it.”