2 year anniversary

sunman00

tomorrow, 4th Jan, marks the 2 year anniversary since I embarked on my MFP journey.

some time over Christmas/ New years 2012/13 I was eating a bowl of peanuts and drinking a beer and chatting with my nephew who'd lost a considerable amount of weight. I asked him how he'd done it? his reply was beautifully simple, 'eat a little less, exercise a little more'.

I'd tried various diets over the years, ended up eating things I detested, stopped eating things I liked and inevitably fell off the wagon repeatedly. I had some real reasons to take it more seriously this time; my father had died of a heart attack aged 51 & I had just turned 53; and my cholesterol readings were way high & I'd begun medication. So I decided to do something about it.

I searched the internet a lot and eventually found MFP which captured me pretty well straight away; the tools to manage one's own intake and the overwhelming wealth of information and support had a huge impact on me.

I decided to walk as my 'increase in exercise', and input my measurements into the MFP profile, set a 20% caloric deficit and on January 4th set out on my first walk, 3 miles around my local park having weighed in at 98.5kg, 217lb.
this is me at the beginning.

[img][/img][img]I'd read on here that weight loss is 80% in the kitchen and 20% in the gym so I did a lot of research into nutrition and different food stuffs. A mention here for Sarah & Side Steel of the Eat/Train/Progress forum, they have a ton of links and threads of the highest quality of advice, even now I surf their threads over whenever I think of trying something new, I'm yet to find a topic they haven't covered. after 3 months or so I'd successfully lost my first 14lb (a stone in the UK) and people began to notice, which was lovely it gave my ego a good boost and reinforced my dedication to carry on. by then I'd customised my own macro nutrient goals and calculated my own TDEE, which at just over 2200 calories was pretty low, but it made my goal settings pretty easy and for the next longest time I ate pretty exactly 1765 calories per day. as I was pretty lethargic other than my walking I didn't eat my exercise calories back and the MFP did exactly what it said on the tin, I was losing 1.25lb per week. this is me after 5 months.[/img][img]as you can see, we can't choose where our bodies deposit fat, my jowls were a popular choice for me so much of my early loss came from my face and neck. and I carried on walking. I upped my basic walks to 4, then 5 miles and late in the summer I walked 7 in one go, which felt like walking a marathon! but felt great I went on holiday & ate & drank as I'd normally did, inevitably I 'stalled' but hey ho that's what happens when you over eat and as soon I got back and started weighing and logging again the weight began to fall off consistently again. and on the subject of eating there's no doubt that my eating habits changed, almost on their own, I cut out fatty foods, the most obvious being good old fish & chips, I pretty well cut out drinking beer, I ate more lean meat, chicken mainly, tins of tuna, salmon, whole grain rice, pulses, chickpeas, lentils, all delicious, and drank a 175ml glass of wine with dinner just about every evening, so I still very much enjoyed eating. on the 16th October 2013 I hit my original goal, 80kg, 176lb, in roughly 40 weeks I'd lost 40lb, after the 1st elated feeling of joining the '100 club' on the 19th of March this was very much the 2nd, day 285! and boy did it feel good. and this is how I looked.[/img]

sunman00

the bottom of my post missed some text, here it is;

I took the brakes off a bit after that, I enjoyed my birthday & Christmas but kept logging and walking and at the end of my 1st year I weighed 78.8kg, 173.7lb.

I wanted to keep my new lifestyle going so I joined a walking group, by now I was walking 25-30 miles a week, 12-15 with the group on Saturday's and a couple of 5-7 mile walks on my own in the week.
the increased walking kept my mind busy, I added hillier climbs, walked further afield and after a few months I found that I wasn't logging food any more, I was confident that I could manage my intake, I'd finally recognised what it felt like to know when I was hungry or full up and I learned a lot about fuelling my longer walks and in April 2014 I walked the London marathon, 26 1/2 miles in 7 1/2 hours, pretty good going and a great sense of achievement.

my younger son (aged 14) got into what I was eating and drinking, learned about macro nutrients & asked for a pull up bar for his birthday, we was lifting household items such as a saxophone case so when we saw that he was becoming dedicated we bought a home dumbbell set with a bench & we both began a 5x5 programme.
so I'm walking 3 days a week & lifting 3 days a week; he wants to build, I don't, I'm all about improving my fitness strength for walking, aiming for longer & faster distances.

approaching the end of 2014 I was thinking about goals for 2015. I have poor posture & suffer with backache a bit & got the odd injury while lifting, mostly I guessed through poor lifting form.
so my change for this new years is to see a personal trainer. I did a bit of research & have found a nice guy who studied nutrition & physiology at University who trains & rehabs a couple of local Rugby & Soccer teams, we've had 2 sessions & he focuses on my hamstrings, quads, glutes and abs/core, I'm already feeling the benefits, feeling really strong around the middle section of my body below my ribs down to my knees, and it's a great feeling.
I see him 2 days a week & go to my own little gym on another day.

my own lifting has given me a good start, i'm happy with how I'm looking, and looking forward to getting stronger with my PT.
oh, and I'm logging intake again, I'm making sure I get enough fats & protein, the carbs look after themselves within my goals & I fuel exercise to make sure I feel strong during the endurance of my walks.
and this is me now, 2 years since the beginning; 166lb

sunman00

and sorry, here's the last bit


I'm posting this as both a success story but mostly to encourage anybody who is starting out, it's really worth doing, here's my mantra's
1.- set your reasons/ goals; work out why you want to do it & where you want to get to.
2.- dedicate; devote yourself, daily to your new lifestyle
3.- honesty; log EVERYTHING that passes your lips, WEIGH everything, and if you go out eat what you want and over estimate it on your log.

I'm a little older than most folk on here but I feel connected to everybody, I respect the age differences & understand I'm out of place on some of the frivolous chit chat but we're all connected on this journey via our goals and I appreciate that greatly and value what MFP has offered me INCREDIBLY highly.

thanks for reading folks, & good luck with all your journey's, I respect each and every person who's brave enough to make the change.

Liftng4Lis

Awesome job!

pdawnfloyd

Great job!

snowflake930

Congratulations!
You look great! All the hard work you put in shows!

ewhip17

love it - nice work!

robynrae_1

Amazing job!!

Monicagustin

Wow you are such an inspiration. Thanks for sharing your story.

Jennifer_Lynn_1982

awesome job! really great recount of how you did it too! Proof that it can be sustainable and it doesn't happen overnight, it's the small changes that lead to bigger changes. Thanks for sharing your journey with us!

subversive99

Love this, and thanks for all the detail. Very good work and very inspiring. "Eat a little less, exercise a little more" is the same motto I've been following recently, love the simplicity of it.

sunman00

my Dad would have been 79 this week, he died aged 51 full of cholesterol & overweight, he's the main reason I started this 2 years ago, I'm bumping this in his memory