45lbs down some pics

barrattandrew · March 2013

You have such handsome features. It's amazing how losing the pounds makes your face stand out. Keep up the great work! I love hearing about supportive families too. Thanks for putting this out there.

how very kind, thanks!

barrattandrew · March 2013

I am actually quite surprised how much the weight loss affects my face. I think I've got one of those fat-blind-brains as I'm pretty sure when I've looked in the mirror for the last few years my brain has been telling me I look the same. However when I took those photos and then started to look at them on the phone it was like that moment when you catch yourself in the mirror and your brain doesn't have chance to lie to you!

livingfortheone · March 2013

Hi everyone, weighed in yesterday and looks like I've dropped about 45lbs since I started tracking properly. Have been up and down a bit with my weight. Similar story to many men I suppose. Was really fit before I went to university, played rugby and Taekwondo a lot. Got to Uni, and well, beer , pizza, curry, beer hit me. piled on the pounds, tried the old Atkins approach a few years later and lost a bit only to gain it all again and probably more.

I've a pretty hectic work life that involves lots of travel and often eating in hotels and had basically started to build more and more excuses up. Got up to about 18.5 stone / 117kg / 259lbs (think thats all regions covered

Carried on regardless. Not smart really. Last year my father was diagnosed with cancer, and watching him fight through the chemo losing lots of his overall body mass, and still coming out smiling I realised that if he can get through that I've got to be able to get my own *kitten* in gear.

So I did.

Nothing major - I've not suddenly become an olympian, I've just tried to maintain a good calorie deficit, track everything I eat save up calories for a chinese or other take-away. Started to introduce a bit more exercise into my schedule, and do a bit of lifting. Will start more compound lifting soon - should be good for me.
Introduced a lot more protein into my diet as it seems to keep me fuller for longer, and also generally feel better!

Anyway here are the progress pics :-

Weight - circa 260lbs I think

Weight a little less here - but not entirely sure as I wasn't tracking soon enough!

Weight here shows an improvement probably down about 7 kilos here

And as of yesterday I'm now 95kg roughly.

a little bit of bicep showing too (im no SideSteel - but he's a great advisor)

My tips really are :-

1) Don't weigh yourself too often. - one of the best feelings I'd had was when I weighed in and had dropped 11lbs. Having not weighed for a while (my Wii fit tracks it all which is handy).
2) Try to balance protein intake with good fats / carbs and cut down sugar - I seem to hit regularly
3) Change your mindset from 'being on a diet' to using systems like MFP to re-educate yourself on what you are eating.
4) Sleep more.

I've been lucky my family have been great and my wife's doesn't stress over me eating different foods!

My plan is to change slowly, so that it sticks and try to get fit enough to do a tough mudder next year. So hopefully I'll have some more progress pics to post too!

If you're looking for some extra motivation feel free to add me.