53 weeks - 216 lbs lost 2 weeks from 1st surgery of 3

Hi there, my name is James, I'm 24 years old and over the past 53 weeks I've lost 216 lbs.

I achieved this through an extreme low carb diet for 8 months - where I lost 196 lbs (And a lot of muscle).
Followed by a 6 week spell of eating a healthy balanced diet, with the majority of the remaining time spent on a diet geared to rebuilding all the lost muscle.

Though I didn't slip or cheat once during the low carb diet, I found it more difficult "behaving" with carbohydrates back in my diet and as I've been waiting for surgery since about august, I've found myself highly unmotivated to maintain a healthy diet on a permanent basis (I might have a couple of days every few weeks having a take out for dinner etc).

Regardless of these slip ups, I've still managed to regain that muscle and lose more fat, which is great and I definitely feel a lot better eating a clean diet (Whole wheat pasta, cooked chicken, whey protein with milk etc)

So here's the stat's

Height - 6 foot (184cm)
Weight -
Nov 4th 2012: 31 st 8, (442 lbs, around 200.4kg)
Nov 13th 2013: 16 st 2 (226lbs, around 102kg)

10 months between photo


50 weeks from the start of my diet


That's my past now.
Right now, I'm less than 2 weeks out from my first surgery, which is an Arm and Breast Lift.
After several consultations, I've been told I have between 40-50 lbs of excess skin which would mean I weigh about 180-185 lbs... which is ideal for someone my build.

I'm having the surgery done abroad in Brno, Czech Republic and I chose there mainly for the cost, though the surgeon and medical facilities come highly recommended.
Over here, in the UK, all 3 surgeries (1st - Arm and chest lift, 2nd - Extended tummy tuck, 3rd - Back and leg lift) would have cost me £22,500+
Over in Brno, including flights, it's costing around £10500.

To give you an idea of the skin on my arms


I'm posting here because I know a lot of people who were severely over weight, like I was, will have a lot of questions about surgery and so whilst I'm over there, I will post regularly about How it's going, answer any questions people have and post before and after pictures of the area's that are being operated on.

And if you're reading this for motivation about trying to lose weight and wonder what kept me going over the past year or so?
it's easy - I stopped making excuses up for what I was eating / drinking.
Every single person has a reason not to succeed at anything, but no one can make a legitimate excuse.
No one has any excuses not to be awesome, so I stopped making them.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer them =]

Best of luck everyone =D