40lbs down, got fit, got healthy, with pics

jayclock

Short version: I ate less, got sporty, lost weight, look and feel better! Still need to shift some more though

Long version; No excuses, I always ate a lot but did a fair bit of exercise, and in particular, cycling (commuted 5 years).

Age 21 I did the F Plan diet and got to 72kg! At 30 I slimmed down to about 75kg

At neither of these points did anyone say I was too skinny/scrawny/underweight!

At various times in my 30s I trained up for 10 k runs, but that was a 2 month burst, and then nothing. Then, like many my 30s was child care time. I moved abroad and the lovely food helped me put on a lot and was up to about 100kg,

Got to 40 and was just getting divorced so treated myself to a mountain biking holiday in Mexico. The other people were fitter, slimmer, and for once I was struggling to keep up, and age/weight were holding me back. The "before" photos are from that holiday. The suncream one was the real epiphany as of the other two people in it one is normal and one very skinny. I just looked at it and knew I had to slim down. The one with the shirt on (it looks like a sports bra over the top but is just a design feature!) was not too flattering either.



So 11 years ago I started what was the precursor to Weight Watchers online (they sent you a CD rom).. Pretty similar to MFP. In short order I shifted about 30 lbs and upped the cycling. I got down to about 92kg and hovered there for a year or two…I could not mentally see myself getting below 90.

Eventually I did and have been around the 88kg mark on average for the past few years. In addition I got into swimming then running, and then mixed them altogether to do triathlons. The “after” pic is my first Ironman in 2011. I look super slim but looking at what I weighed I was not particularly light (maybe 87kg)



Recently I have crept up to around the 90-92kg mark. To get a BMI of “normal” I need to be 78kg! That is about 30 of your old fashioned pounds….. I know I am very muscular and athletic but most of that is in the legs. The upper half is still wobbly gut and man boob.

I am getting remarried in May, and want to look great and fit into clothes that make me look great. SO the aim is to get to 79.999999 kg. Starting 3rd January I have gone from 91.7 to 87.3, so a very happy 2 pounds (900g) per week. That is based on around 1650 cals suggested by MFP, and loads of exercise. A typical week is one or two swims of an hour with a club, a one hour bike ride, a 2-3 hr bike ride, a 1h20 turbo trainer bike session, a 10k run and possibly a short run. I know that sounds a lot (it did to me before) but you need to find what you like doing, and you need to build it into your life. For example I read about people lifting weights and going to gyms… I hate that, and I do not stick long at things I hate.

Same with food - find the healthy stuff you like, and works for you. Again I read about people eating scrambled eggs for breakfast - I love them, but I love my high fibre cereals more

So my top tips

1 Find activity you enjoy and build it into your life
2 Calories in and calories out is the key formula. You may be the one in a thousand with a slow metabolism but you probably eat too many calories and do little exercise
3 Personally I suggest you change your eating habits to something you can stick with for life. That excludes the Slimfast and such-like
4 Learn what is genuinely the calorie amounts of various foods. My weakness is sweet stuff. Those little chocolate cornflake thingies? 54 cals each for small ones. I can eat a dozen easily with no effect on my appetite so guess what, I put on weight? Conversely if you eat stuff you hate (cottage cheese YUKK) then you will fall off the wagon pretty fast.
5 FIND WHAT WORKS FOR YOU and ignore the various gurus who have the answer with whatever they believe in.

Thanks for reading, and best of luck

Jay

jayclock

ok, so how do i get the pics to show> I can see a little blue question mark box

I posted the links which are http://imgur.com/VcXzXZo and http://imgur.com/qo0VpLQ and top and tailed them with

any tips?

jayclock

need help with pics don't I?

http://i.imgur.com/qo0VpLQ.jpg

and http://i.imgur.com/VcXzXZo.jpg?1 are the links...

jayclock

ok, so the pics look wrong sizes, any ideas?

elle_321

I haven't tried to post pics yet but I did notice there is a post about this at the top of all the other posts. It is a sticky thread so that it stays at the top. Maybe there might be an answer in there on how to fix it.

mamma_nee

WOW !! NICELY DONE !!! You look great !! I was able to open pic in a new tab and can see the pics that way .

Thank you so much for sharing ! Dedication pays off.

SingingSingleTracker

Congrats Jay on taking charge!!!! That's a nice improvement from the Mexican beach photo to crossing the line at the Ironman!!! Way to go and congrats on the upcoming marriage in May.

A couple of dumbells with plates would - although boring in your words - help tone things up and help fire up the muscles which in turn fires up the metabolism so your body is burning more calories all the time. Even if you simply did two 30 minute sessions a week of a full body dumbell workout, it does help with the metabolism and is simple to do in your apartment/home due to the small footprint...


by

Do you live in Austria? Or did you travel from a neighboring country to Klagenfurt for the Ironman that you participed in? I ask, because I lived in Vienna for many years (until 2003) and did a lot of mountain biking and skiing in Austria when I lived there.

I ate way too much Schnitzel, Nudeln, Tafelspitz, Sachertorte, etc...and drank too much Bier und Wein while living there. After I hit 212, I said enough and pedaled my way down to the low 180's that I have maintained the past decade.

TimmyT66

Great work ! and just helped me realize I need to up my game, be on 1800 cals for over a month with a little exercise thrown in but not moved on the scale for 3 weeks! Doing my head in, obviously need to up the exercise

jayclock

trying again to post pics the right size

BEFORE



AFTER

jayclock

Congrats Jay on taking charge!!!! That's a nice improvement from the Mexican beach photo to crossing the line at the Ironman!!! Way to go and congrats on the upcoming marriage in May.

A couple of dumbells with plates would - although boring in your words - help tone things up and help fire up the muscles which in turn fires up the metabolism so your body is burning more calories all the time. Even if you simply did two 30 minute sessions a week of a full body dumbell workout, it does help with the metabolism and is simple to do in your apartment/home due to the small footprint...


by

Do you live in Austria? Or did you travel from a neighboring country to Klagenfurt for the Ironman that you participed in? I ask, because I lived in Vienna for many years (until 2003) and did a lot of mountain biking and skiing in Austria when I lived there.

I ate way too much Schnitzel, Nudeln, Tafelspitz, Sachertorte, etc...and drank too much Bier und Wein while living there. After I hit 212, I said enough and pedaled my way down to the low 180's that I have maintained the past decade.

thanks. Will look at the weights. Austria was because it is a great location and race. We live in the UK. I also did Switzerland last year and a few half ironmans too. Mallorca again in May for a stag weekend

Angila

Wow you look awesome!!

craignev

Whoa....it's hard to believe it's the same person!!

SingingSingleTracker

thanks. Will look at the weights. Austria was because it is a great location and race. We live in the UK. I also did Switzerland last year and a few half ironmans too. Mallorca again in May for a stag weekend

Great way to travel, for sure.

You probably do plenty of resistance leg work on the bike (hill repeats, force reps, high wattage intervals, etc...), so firing up the upper body to match that - even if it was body weight resistance (push ups, pull ups, core work, etc...) once a week certainly is a nice way to keep the calories burning.

I am amazed you are able to keep that weekly training schedule you listed on only 1650 calories a day. I plug my daily exercise in at MyFitnessPal to add those so I can eat more than what MFP suggests I need to eat to reach my 10 pound weight loss goal (2300 calories per day). I'm pretty sure on the two days you list of a 2 hour bike ride, and a 1:20 turbo session I would find myself eating whatever I could get my hands on after the ride if I was only on 1650 calories a day. Do you adjust your daily intake to include the exercise for more calories to eat?

jayclock

I eat back half the calories of exercise. This Sunday for example I am doing a 3 hr ride. MFP says for moderate ride (19-23kmh) it is 2100 and for vigorous (23-26mmh) is 2600 cals. So I would add half of that (maybe average them as I do 23kmh per hour typically) so I would have the 1650 base amount PLUS 1200 from the exercise.

That 1200 allows a juicy steak and potatoes, a nice desert plus my normal daily meals

I have discovered that I can cope fine on a ride of up to about 2h30 with nothing other than water or an electrolyte drink. After that I need food. I will typically have a cereal bar (Mule or Clif) about 2hrs in.

With running I have nothing if doing under 90 mins. In hot weather I take some water or fill up along the way

ouimouton

Great work! What an amazing transformation...very inspiring!