4 months and getting there

So where to start, pictures and stats at the end

Mid Feb: Doctors. Well you are going to inject for life unless you make some changes. Even if you make some changes you still might need to inject for life. You are prediabetic, you still have a choice. I took it to heart.

First 7 weeks, some changes, all unstructured, didn’t understand exactly how many calories I was putting into my body. I lied to myself about the alcohol I consumed, I lied to myself about how much fruit and veg I ate. I could still demolish a 800g loaf of bread inside 2 days, all by myself. However, I must have done something right as I did lose 17 lbs in those 7 weeks. However I only knew the scale weight and in weeks 4 to 7 didn’t even record that. I was eager for results but not keen to wait, got bored and frustrated

There was a lot of buzz about Insanity and I saw the Infomercial but decided it was too extreme for me. But also saw T25, 25 minutes a day, how hard could it be. Bought it, took pictures, measured things. I saw the pictures and hated them, and that was after losing 17lbs. In fact I don’t like the current version either. The language has changed from hate to do not like.

Fast forward 10 weeks of listening to ShawnT daily, I rarely do the double day, I spread the workouts over 6 days and get to do the stretch as well on the seventh. Tania at the start was my best buddy. My knees still dislike me, my shoulders don’t like me, my triceps are just awakening and they really don’t like me. However everything else is getting on ok.

Biggest non scale victories, waist down 5.5 inches to 42.5, I have to wear belts to keep trousers up and I really need to buy some new trousers, the old barely stay fastened. I have some shirts and jeans that I now can get back into, instant new wardrobe. Body fat, both from scale and measurements down 7 and 5%, respectively. Meds, no longer need ventolin/ salbutamol, (rescue inhaler) to survive as soon as I get up.

Things I am proud of, starting T25 and sticking with it. It has formed some good habits. I can do 30 mins of exercise in the morning, I can survive without eating loads of bread, pasta, potato and rice. I can drink alcohol in moderation, average over the last 10weeks has been 9.5 units a week, from 30 to 40. I can eat fruit and veggies, 8 to 11 portions (80g) a day, every day. I can also eat calorie dense foods without feeling bad about myself or that it is a treat or a cheat meal. It is normal, it is just abnormal to have lots of them day in and day out. I choose when I want to eat calorie dense foods and which of them I will have, and there is always portion control. I am still understanding what a normal(?) adult portion looks like and realize that when I had rice I was tucking away 4 to 5 adult portions in a single sitting. The recognition that I cannot out exercise a poor diet, this is where I have gone wrong in the past, and, that in the main, diet controls weight and exercise controls fitness.

10 weeks of T25 resulted in losing 34 lbs on top of the 17 I had already lost (51 total). BMI, I know people don’t like it but I am not a trained athlete, I deal with it, down from 36 to 29.5. I am merely overweight. I am the lightest I have been for 12 years 6 months. I have not lost weight it is banished, I have no intention of finding it again. For me, T25 did some good things, but I need to develop the muscles that were so lacking, so stronglifts for me next week, along with C25K if my legs will stand it. Not sure when I will decide I am the weight I want to be, my goal since February is to get to 99 kgs, break the 100 barrier, and reassess from there. Some time in July is on schedule. Whew long post but I had to get it out of my system.



Edited to size pictures