52 lost, 20 to go? Pics

In 2002, before MFP, I lost 50 pounds to get to 235. I have my dad's 5'10" stout frame on my 6'1" body, so that weight looks decent on me. It was a good thing, since I plateaued hard and could not get below that number.

I met my soon to be wife that summer, and got back into bad habits. I was back up to 285 last October at my friend's wedding. My doc had told me about MFP earlier that year, but I hadn't started.

At the beginning of this year, my wife started her "new year new you" mindset and began using a different tracker. With her motivated and not putting out bowls of M&Ms on the table, I started with MFP. (Not shifting blame. I was the one eating handfulls of the suckers every time I walked by.)

I dropped about 20 going into "The Week," my yearly vacation with the boys. It was this vacation that probably knocked me off the wagon in 2002. We eat big that week. Pizza and Chinese to excess, candy bars every day, pie or cake every night, and Twizzlers and sugar in between. All while sitting around all day playing games. It's awesome. I won't lie.

This year with MFP, I tracked it all and allowed myself a 2 pound gain. When I got back, I went back to my 2 pounds a week loss deficit. It worked. I survived The Week and it only cost me 2 weeks of time.

Back on track, I hit my first goal of 50 pounds, and I did it in time for my niece's wedding. My body fat percentage is in the 25s, down from the 28.6 it was in April. That's decently into the "average" range for a guy of 43, which is nice to see.

Currently weighing in at 233, I am hoping for 20 more, but would be thrilled at 14 seeing a teens number after the 2 on the scale. I am really focusing more on that body fat number at this point anyway. With MFP, I know I can get past this plateau range I hit last time. Seeing my calories per day go down as I lost weight made me remember that I never really changed my diet and exercise last time. So what was a deficit at 285 wasn't enough of one at 235 to show any progress. Now I know, and knowing is half the battle!

Anyway, as promised, pictures:

Christmas 2012 with my siblings. I am in red. (obviously now, since my attempts to resize didn't do anything)


June 2013 at Disney.


October 2013


June 2014. I was hoping to have some of the professional pics from this wedding, but haven't seen them yet. I'll try to post more to the thread when I get them. Both of my sisters lost significant weight as well, using MFP and other programs.