It's taken a while, nearly there.... T-4kg!

Robide · February 2012

I was going to post this over in the rock bottom thread, but actually, though it would probably be far more appropriate here, as it's more a journey with a few rock bottoms as opposed to one specific turning point in my life, although I hope that the last one is the final turning point!

When I was younger, I went to a private boarding school, and had an amazing group of friends that felt more like a family. I was playing rugby/football matches twice a week, training 3 ties a week for a couple of hours, and reguarly did additional excercise on top of it. I was pretty slim, a 32 inch waste, 16 inch shirt collar (and this was because I liked my shirt loose, not because I needed to be any more than a 15), and was a happy teen.

Sadly, said school closed. I went from being in a fairly small circle, with regular excercise and school provided meals (which were pretty healthy when I look back at them) to spending near enough 12 hours going out to a college a 2 hour journey away to get my exams done inside a year rather than repeat. I started eating crap food and drinking as I would often have lunch with friends at a bakery, and then a couple of pints before heading home. I was drinking fizzy drinks, and snacking on crisps and chocolate.

When I went to uni, I got really depressed, and without home offering one good meal a day, I started eating really unhealthily, and even when I ate healthy foods, my portion sizes were ridiculous. The sad thing is, even though I could see the changes, I could see how big I was getting, I could see the stretch marks, which are also all down my bicepts, I didnt understand why I was so big, and wouldnt do anything about it.

When I left uni, I had to buy a suit for graduation. I was just shy of 20 stone, a size 18.5 collar, which was tight, and 38 inch suit trousers (and that was only because I tried on a few to find some where the trousers would fit, and I wouldnt have to buy 40inch trousers.) I was huge, and I had absolutely no neck, just several chins.

After that, I joined a large company who did health checks, so I decided to do one, and whilst some of it was good, cholesteral levels etc, I was still 18 stone, obese, and told I had to do something about it. I did a few fad diets, and tried a bit of excercise at home, and lost a stone and a half over 18 months, and slowly started to see the difference. After a couple of years, I got down to about 15 and a half stone:

I then had a major setback when I lost my father to cancer. I again turned to eating, and quickly found myself at 16 st 4lbs, in Jan of last year:

This was my real turning point. I had enough of where I was, I'd had enough of yo yoing, and started keeping my own diary, and stepping up the excercise. My brother then told me about MFP, and I thought it couldnt hurt to try. When I joined, I was here about 15 stone 8 lbs:

Having continued my journey, although hitting a bit of a wall at the moment (mainly due to the huge number of 30ths I'm going too at the moment, meaning far too much alcohol and snacky food consumption!), I've now got down to 14stone, and the last photo of me is:

406178_10150472094236540_590756539_8873739_630392928_n.jpg

406178_10150472094236540_590756539_8873739_630392928_n.jpg

I'm still not quite there, I have another 4 KG to go before I hit my target weight, which is 85kg, but I'm pretty damned sure I'll get there!!

sandram82 · February 2012

I was going to post this over in the rock bottom thread, but actually, though it would probably be far more appropriate here, as it's more a journey with a few rock bottoms as opposed to one specific turning point in my life, although I hope that the last one is the final turning point!

When I was younger, I went to a private boarding school, and had an amazing group of friends that felt more like a family. I was playing rugby/football matches twice a week, training 3 ties a week for a couple of hours, and reguarly did additional excercise on top of it. I was pretty slim, a 32 inch waste, 16 inch shirt collar (and this was because I liked my shirt loose, not because I needed to be any more than a 15), and was a happy teen.

Sadly, said school closed. I went from being in a fairly small circle, with regular excercise and school provided meals (which were pretty healthy when I look back at them) to spending near enough 12 hours going out to a college a 2 hour journey away to get my exams done inside a year rather than repeat. I started eating crap food and drinking as I would often have lunch with friends at a bakery, and then a couple of pints before heading home. I was drinking fizzy drinks, and snacking on crisps and chocolate.

When I went to uni, I got really depressed, and without home offering one good meal a day, I started eating really unhealthily, and even when I ate healthy foods, my portion sizes were ridiculous. The sad thing is, even though I could see the changes, I could see how big I was getting, I could see the stretch marks, which are also all down my bicepts, I didnt understand why I was so big, and wouldnt do anything about it.

When I left uni, I had to buy a suit for graduation. I was just shy of 20 stone, a size 18.5 collar, which was tight, and 38 inch suit trousers (and that was only because I tried on a few to find some where the trousers would fit, and I wouldnt have to buy 40inch trousers.) I was huge, and I had absolutely no neck, just several chins.

After that, I joined a large company who did health checks, so I decided to do one, and whilst some of it was good, cholesteral levels etc, I was still 18 stone, obese, and told I had to do something about it. I did a few fad diets, and tried a bit of excercise at home, and lost a stone and a half over 18 months, and slowly started to see the difference. After a couple of years, I got down to about 15 and a half stone:

I then had a major setback when I lost my father to cancer. I again turned to eating, and quickly found myself at 16 st 4lbs, in Jan of last year:

This was my real turning point. I had enough of where I was, I'd had enough of yo yoing, and started keeping my own diary, and stepping up the excercise. My brother then told me about MFP, and I thought it couldnt hurt to try. When I joined, I was here about 15 stone 8 lbs:

Having continued my journey, although hitting a bit of a wall at the moment (mainly due to the huge number of 30ths I'm going too at the moment, meaning far too much alcohol and snacky food consumption!), I've now got down to 14stone, and the last photo of me is:

I'm still not quite there, I have another 4 KG to go before I hit my target weight, which is 85kg, but I'm pretty damned sure I'll get there!!