lost 168lb and had life saving heart surgery :-)

This is an update to my story. Some of you may have seen a few of these pictures before, for that I apologise. I am kinda hoping to show anybody who needs a little something to help motivate them that you can change. Things can get much better.

Some of you will know I was quite poorly and suffering with congenital heart failure, type 2 diabetes, sleep apnoea, gout and arthritis. I used to smoke the wrong kind of tobacco, drink like a park bench wino and was on first name terms with every single assistant in every take out joint within a 10 miles radius of my house. Needless to say I needed to drastically lose weight and I am talking 12½ stone. My real aim was to get from 23½ stone down to 15 stone to have life saving heart surgery. I'm not over dramatizing this its just the way it was. Well I have been on this journey since the end of May 2013 and I finally achieved my original aim of getting me ticker fixed. Along the way I lost the diabetes (I think I left it in France but that's another story). I shed 32 inches from my waist; I lost 168lb of fat, I kicked the gout and arthritis into touch, and I no longer sleep with a pap machine for the sleep apnoea. Although I am told I still snore like a bear. While I was in intensive care last week I kept hearing the lady in the next bed asking for help then realised my snoring was pissing her off much more than the tubes they had threaded down her throat lol

A message to anyone who thinks they can't do it. You CAN do it if you really really want to do it. Don't listen to the distractors, dump all the negativity and excuses you make for not doing it. I have made every single excuse there is possible to make for not losing the flab, I could write an anthology of them. I have heard them all before and realise that I needed to stop kidding myself. I am totally aware that we are all different and some people face challenges others do not have to face. I have faced quite a few myself. Get to know what it takes your body to comfortably and healthily lose weight. Dont listen to half assed internet rumours or cuckoo fad diets or even worse the "my friend lost 17 stone by eating chocolate only" stories you hear every day. None of them apply to you. You all know how to lose weight. 4 words for you "eat healthily and exercise". It's that simple. You may have many questions to ask regarding whether something is healthy for you or whether something fits into your diet plan, that's fine ask away and you will learn what makes YOUR body (not somebody else's) body tick. Nothing is bad for you as long as you eat healthily and even stuff like sugar can be eaten on a sensible diet.

I hope this doesn't come across as me being a jumped up pr**k. You will never know how much inspiration I have drawn from my MFP friends and community in general. All the words of wisdom and advice I have learned and used along the way. For that I am forever in debt to you all.

If my logic, grammar or spelling seems a bit skewiff I am told by my heart surgeon that many people can struggle to concentrate fully for up to 12 months after surgery so my thought processes maybe all over the place atm. Thats my excuse anyway.

Ok I will stop rattling on. Here are a few pictures of my progress. There are couple of before and after pictures of me to show that we can all change if we really want or need too, no matter how desperate the situation. Plus a couple of gruesome war wound pictures. Last picture with my cheeky little grandson photobombing me was taken yesterday. 7 days after my surgery.

Enjoy your day and be healthy