Looks like I made it! (106lbs gone)

Hey guys, I just want to let you know I've reached my first MAJOR milestone of losing 7 and a half stone (105lb, 47.6kg). I had set myself a big target of getting to 18st (252lbs,114.3kg). I had many little milestones a long the way.

This is me at my heaviest


This is me at my first major milestone;



My next major milestone (and my last) will be to get to a 36 inch waist. 36 inches is a slightly arbitrary figure, but it seems to be the standard men's waist size. In reality I probably have another 3 and a half to 4 stone to lose to achieve my waistline goal. I may have excess skin when I get to my goal but that doesn't worry me and I don't mind if it takes surgery to sort out. That said I'm doing what I can to minimise this happening.

I am constantly asked how I have achieved this weight loss. My first answer is to say 'not through dieting'. In my opinion and in the opinion of many people here diets are just a waste of time. When I decided that I needed to lose weight, I started living a healthy lifestyle. No diets, no restrictions, just looking at my diet (as in what I ate) and recording it so I know what I was eating. Having looked into food and its nutrition value, I found that I was eating healthier foods and portion sizes. I found myself not craving the foods that I previously craved. When I say no restrictions, I obviously looked at what calories I was putting into my body, but if I wanted something I'd make allowances for it else where, and every now and again I'll have a blow out day where I'll just eat what I want. But now I'm finding my body will tell me when it's hungry rather than me just piling it in.

The great thing with this milestone was that I was waiting for the scales to say 18st so I could photograph it, but they never did - I stood on the scales yesterday and they said 17st 13