Down 110 lbs in 11 months. Now sticking with my weight.

Hello dear friends at MFP. First time poster here, so, please excuse me if I sound stupid somehow or if my posting does not fit well to this board. I would also like to say one excuse me for not writing in English very well, I hope that you guessed - yep, it is not my native language, so if you do not understand a thing from what is written in my post, it is closely related to my limited English :-)

Here is my success story in a few words and even fewer photos. I started gaining weight since I finished high school in 1998. I was 202 lbs my last day in high school. I am 6'2" tall and did not got taller since then since then (I am 32 now). I was always unhappy with my weight, but things went uglier during the last 4 years since I ceased smoking and alcoholic drinks. I gained about 35 lbs after my smoking cessation in 2008 and it would not be hard to tell that in 4 years I erased my gains from stopping smoking cigarettes (decreased risk of hear diseases, hear attacks, having more energy after sleep etc.). It was very difficult to find jeans in stores in my home town. I could not fit T-shirts of size smaller than 2XL and even had some difficulties to fit in to my old shoes. Not to tell that it was nearly impossible to climb the stairs without taking a small break right before climbing to 5th floor. Even walking was somewhat difficult to perform with this weight.
It was my uncle's birthday this year, in the beginning of January when I decided to just change my life style. It had to be something that could bring my weight down to pre-university years. At that point it sounded more than impossible for me. I was unsure that I could bring this story a happy end, however made some first steps in reducing the bad habits of eating way too much. I started with a low calorie diet and just ceased putting any sugar in my coffee, tea and completely cut the white bread, white rice and pasta. The first week after changing the diet I noticed that my weight plunged very faster. I was happy to see my first good results which my friends were not able to notice at this point because we me on daily basis. It was some other contacts of mine who were the first to notice the change in my body and face. Some of them were asking me what happened to me that my weight changed as sharply. This just encouraged my that my new life style just worked. So after sticking to my low calorie diet for about 6 months I was able to loose about 45 lbs.
Just before the end of June 2012 I decided to start visiting a gym. It was first the cardiovascular training which got my attention, but then I started some strength training in order to rebuild my muscles that I've lost during the years of being the fat and lazy guy.
In the end of July 2012 I decided to completely cut the hight high glycemic carbs including all kinds of bread, rice, pasta, bananas and increased the consumption of unsturated fats and lean protein foods (mainly adding loads avocados, chicken and turkey meat in my diet). I noticed even sharper decrease of my weight. It was the end of September when I notices some longer platoes but it was not a big issue as I was only about 20 lbs away from my final goal of 187 lbs which I finally reached on the 3rd of December 2012.
As I managed to full-fill my goal of getting down to normal BMI which is about 24 during the moment of writing this message I am finally making some adjustments to my diet in order to not loose, neither gain weight any more, but to keep the current weight for the years to come and have a healthier life as long as it is possible. I am walking for about 2 to 3 hours per day, I am still avoiding the high glycemic foods, sugary foods, starchy foods, saturated fats and try to stick with a healthy food. The only thing that left a bit unchanged is that sometimes I go to bed a bit too late, but I always try to give my body enough time after exercises so I could avoid over-training. I am not visiting the gym during the winter, but I keep on working out at home which I find more conformable to do.

I shall lie to you if I tell you that loosing so much weight was as easy as writing this post, but more or less it was pleasant to see the progress and enjoy the good change in my new life. I was able to improve my self-esteem, my stamina, my look and even the self-confidence. I am so thankful that I decided to make this change and did not waited any longer as I was always doing in the past. There was no "not todays" any longer and you could see the result from the pic in the end of this post.

I am wishing you good luck and be confident in yourselves while loosing weight. It might be somewhat difficult to complete but definitely not impossible, so do not give up while being hit by platoes.


295 lbs here

290 lbs here

297 lbs here a week before starting the diet

6 months later after changing the life style. I weighted 251 lbs on this photo

9 months later - 205 lbs

10 month later 196 lbs

I am very sorry that I do not have an up to date image of myself right now when I finally reached my goal weigh of 187 lbs but IMHO the change is not very drastic comparing to the last photo that I published here.